"Is it possible for people to hide themselves?" was the question Wu Bi-rong (
The title comes from the same rhetorical question posed in the Chinese Classic, The Analects, (
Our small gestures, Wu said, are often habitual and unintentional, so that they sometimes betray the feelings we want to hide. "Hands. They are our assistants in communication and our eyes in darkness," Wu said.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SAN SHIH DANCE THEATER
Gestures and Behavior and Her Shadows, the two parts of the show, deal with the connection between thought and behavior when people are awake, asleep and dreaming.
The various scenarios in which the slightest movements of our hands, shoulders or head lead to changes in our relationships with others are explored through their expression.
As in San Shih's many previous performances, the dancers don exquisite and stylish costumes to perform with impressive vigor. Their bodily expressions are drawn from daily life as much as modern dance.
"Today's dancers not only have to dance with great skill and precision, but they need to be good actors, too," Wu said. The dance will be accompanied by subtitles, to help the audience better understand the performance.
Wu set up San Shih, which means "30" in Chinese with choreographer Chang Hsiou-ping (
From 1999's Collecting Tears, 2001's Dancing to the National Anthem and Mirrors, to last year's Princess, in Preparation, the group has proved to be highly innovative in a wide range of themes, while presenting a quintessentially urban female perspective.
San Shih Dance Theater will perform How Can People Hide Their Thoughts: Wu Bi-rong Postures and Attitudes Show (
Performances begin 7:30pm today and tomorrow, with 2:30pm matinees tomorrow. Tickets cost N$350 and are available at the venue or at San Shih Dance Theater, 4F, 102, Chunghsin Rd, Sec 1, Sanchung, Taipei County. Call (02) 2973 6786 for more information.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby