Hung Dance’s ‘Birdy’ features feather headpieces inspired by 18th

In Taiwanese choreographer Lai Hung-chung’s Birdy , the dancers wear 4-foot-long pheasant feathers on their heads. The effect, according to a review in the Vancouver online magazine Stir, is sculptural and surreal, the feathers sometimes appearing to move in slow motion.

Lai’s group, Hung Dance, recently performed Birdy in the Canadian city as part of a monthlong tour of North American sponsored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture. The tour closes next weekend in Dallas, presented by TITAS/Dance Unbound.

The headpieces, called Ling Zi, are a feature of Peking opera, worn by warriors to indicate their rank. But the eclectic late 18th-century Chinese form known for telling stories from history, mythology and everyday life was just one of Lai’s influences. As in so much contemporary dance,