Russia's reputation in Taiwan as a cultural powerhouse has been bolstered over the past few years by visits from outstanding performing arts groups, including top ballet troupes from St Petersburg and Moscow, orchestras and jazz groups, theaters and circus troupes.
The visits by these groups have been significant in terms of their tour schedules, which have taken them to many of the country's smaller cities, instead of only the main venues in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
This weekend three Russian troupes will perform around Taiwan. Two of these groups -- a ballet and a clown production for kids -- will kick off major national tours that will involve at least 20 performances each. The third group is the famed Russian comedian Slava's Litsedei theater, which is bringing its famed Snowshow to Taiwan for the first time. Below is an introduction to these three groups.
Slava's `Snowshow'
With something that may cool people down a bit, the mime comedian Slava is leading his 12-member theater group Litsedei to Taipei to stage its popular Snowshow. The production won Slava the Laurence Olivier Award in London in 1998 and the Triumph Lifetime Achievement Award in Moscow the following year.
The stage sets are spectacular, with snow scenes that stretch into the first floor seating space. During the 120-minute performance, Slava does a spectacular solo in which he plays two characters with the help of an overcoat and eventually turns into a locomotive.
Slava, 51, was born in Russia and began to study mime performance at 17 in St Petersburg, at the time called Leningrad. He cites Charlie Chaplin as a major influence in his mime training and credits Marcel Marceau's acute ability to portray inner feelings and emotions through mime.
Slava founded Litsedei in 1979 in an effort to take clown performances out of the circus and into streets and theaters. He moved Litsedei to London in 1988 and has been touring the world ever since. Snowshow has been performed to over one million people in more than 50 cities around the world since 1993.
Russian Sun Clown Company
Moscow-based Sun Clown brings together 14 famous clowns from leading circuses in different parts of Russia. The show is intended for children and four of the clowns are kids themselves. Established in 1999, the troupe has been a sensation in their native country and Europe, where they have been dubbed the funniest clowns in the world.
Sun Clown tours for six months out of the year and in their off-time the performers return to their respective troupes to develop new routines to incorporate into their acts. The 90-minute program consists of 18 short acts with an intermission after 10 acts. The performances include the classic funny gestures and grotesque expressions expected of clowns, but the troupe also makes creative use of drums, hula hoops, balloons, bicycles and other items taken from their 500kg of props and costumes.
This is the troupe's first time performing outside Europe and Russia. Sun Clown will tour Taiwan until Aug. 28 beginning in Taipei this weekend.
Russian Royal Children Ballet
Russia's leading ballet dancer Faiziev Timour, who worked closely on Rudolph Nereyev's annual world tours, put together a small-scale troupe three years ago with 22 young ballet talents from across Russia to make the Russian Royal Children Ballet.
RSS