One of the few performances which have not been canceled or postponed due to the SARS epidemic, Kumud Dance Company's (
Having prepared for this performance for the past one-and-a-half years, Wei Guang-ching (
He said the group would donate all profits from its Taipei performance to set up a SARS medical fund.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KUMUD DANCE COMPANY
The four episodes of The Heaven Descends, the first part of the show, are all inspired by Aboriginal folklore. Swimming Away tells the Tao tribe story about a mermaid snaring children near the seashore. Wei will take the part of the legendary animal in the solo piece, wearing only bodypaint.
Ying Yang, as its title suggests, deals with the two universal forces, as told in Ami folklore, where man and woman are represented by the sun and the moon. Circles looks at snakes -- a Paiwan tribe symbol.
Evaporation is a more modern-looking piece. To electronic music, four black-clad dancers twirl at amazing speeds and support each others' movements with precision and grace. These well-executed portraits of breezes and gales are breathtaking.
The audience may find it hard to relate the episodes to the stated theme of the show, but that does not render the performance any less enjoyable.
Being an Aboriginal Ami tribesman, Wei has made genuine efforts to incorporate Aboriginal traditions in his works. What makes his efforts valuable is that he manages to do so without stereotyping Aboriginal culture. Rather he fuses traditional Aboriginal viewpoints into his reflections on modern society.
Performance Notes:
Song of the Sky will be performed at 7:30 tonight and 2:30 and 7:30 tomorrow at Novel Hall, 3-1, Sungshou Rd, Taipei (
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50