What associations do choreographers make when they hear Taiwanese contemporary music? In Morendo, transposed from A minor to E major, (失憶邊境，A小調轉降E大調) choreographer Yao Shu-feng (姚淑芬) presents some answers to this question.
This latest work of Yao's was created at the invitation of the CKS Cultural Center, which has held the regular contemporary music concerts titled "Tune in to Taiwan: Taiwan Composers Series" (啟動台灣的聲音) to promote the works of contemporary musicians.
Morendo is a dance performance that bring together the work of composers Lien Hsian-sheng(連憲升), Chian Yu-shan (簡郁珊) and Lee Yuan-cheng (李元貞).
"Contemporary music has complicated rhythms which offer few cues for dancers to follow. It's very difficult to choreograph pieces that go with this music. When I listen to these musical works, I work through one situation after another. It is the flow of time," said Yao, leader of the Century of Contemporary Dance Company. (世紀當代舞團).
This sense of discontinuation in music, Yao said, is like human memory. "As you think back on your life, what you remember is not a continuity of life, but many scattered scenes from your life," Yao said. "A person relies on his or her memories for the formation [of personality]. If a person has no memory, is he or she still a person?" Yao asks.
Like many of Yao's previous works, a sense of personal alienation as a result of the bustling modern life is evident in most of the episodes of the dance.
If Yao's interpretation of human memory seems on the bleak side, that may only be typical of artists. "All artists seem to remember bad moments. They always remember where they are flawed," Yao said.
Morendo will be performed at the Experimental Theater of the National Theater (國家劇院實驗劇場), 21-1, Chungshan S. Rd, Taipei. (台北巿中山南路21之1號) tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm. Matinee performances will be held tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm. Tickets are NT$350 and available at the CKS Culture Center or by calling (02) 23431647.
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