"In today's society, we're all second-hand goods in love's flea markets. No one is new and pure anymore, but we make do with whatever broken pieces that we find," said Hsiao Wo-ting (蕭渥廷), the main choreographer of Hsiao Jing-wen Dance Group (蕭靜文舞蹈團), explaining the idea behind the group's new work Three Sorts of Flea Markets for Sweet Sense Organs (甜蜜感官的三種跳蚤市場).
Established in 1985, the group has been putting on very socially conscious performances, taking on topics ranging from teenage prostitution to capital punishment, Taiwan's election culture and the building of nuclear power plants and the demolition of the 44 South Village in Taipei.
Their new piece, set to go on stage tonight, unexpectedly deals with a softer, and more universal topic - love - from a woman's perspective. Hsiao ascribes her inspiration to Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, which, she said, revealed to her a mirror image of herself. Reading the book prompted her to present the different attitudes toward love and relationships between the two sexes.
One episode has a group dance showing teenage girl's naively enthusiastic and often irrational attitude toward love. Their blind passion drives them to despair when their expectations of a fairy-tale love clash with real life. "When they are young, they plunge into love, only to get hurt. But when they've learned about reality, something's lost," Hsiao said.
Through dealing with a common subject, the precision and creativity of Hsiao's choreography makes the dance both emotionally touching and visually stunning.
Three Sorts of Flea Markets for Sweet Sense Organs will be performed at Washang Art District tonight at 7:30pm. Tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7:30pm, and Sunday at 2:30pm. Tickets are available for NT$350 through Acer ticketing outlets. The show is for adult audiences only. ID cards are required for admission.
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