Modern dance pieces often take their cues from rave culture these days.
"I've made enquiries from ravers on numerous occasions and been amazed by the way they dance, with their body movements so free of restraint and with a touch of primitivism. I draw my inspiration from them and created this piece titled Crossing Fire (過火), a term taken from the Taiwanese ancient ritual of crossing fire that symbolizes purification," said director and choreographer You Shao-jing (游紹菁).
One of the best professional dancers in Taiwan, You is also the choreographer of White Dance Temple (白舞寺), which was founded in Ilan County, 2001. It fuses traditional art forms such as puppet theater and Taiwanese opera.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WHAT DANCE TEMPLEN
Crossing Fire is the company's first attempt to return to a more pure and absolute form of dance.
In a telephone interview, You said he deconstructed the body language of ravers and added layers of movement until there was a climax at the end.
"Crossing Fire is the most physically demanding and satisfying dancing experience a performer could ever have. The level of energy needed is unbelievable high," You said. "We have to let go of our mind and let our bodies take total control to probe deeply into a state of trance. It's a direct sensory experience. The audience won't understand the piece if they try to think," You said.
In an intimate setting the dancers bizarrely blend into projections of fast-moving Taiwanese urban landscapes in an attempt to convey the historical and cultural condition of modern life.
Crossing Fire is not meant to be about personal expression, You said, but intends to attain a collective state of oneness, as achieved in ancient rituals held during temple celebrations.
Crossing Fire will start on Aug. 10 in Ilan County, then tour in Taichung and conclude with two shows in Taipei. Tickets are NT$100 for shows in Ilan and Taichung; NT$300 for shows in Taipei, available at the door, or call (02) 2272 6899.
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