Kaohsiung City Ballet

Innovation is the lifeblood of contemporary dance, but behind the success there is always hard work building the foundations with classical ballet. However, the prominence of Cloud Gate and modern dance in Taiwan has left ballet somewhat in the shadows.

"Taiwan was late developing in terms of dance," Kaohsiung City Ballet (高雄城市芭蕾舞團) (KCB) founder and artistic director Chang Hsiu-ru (張秀如) said. "Modern dance has progressed well over the last 20 years. Ballet training is used to prepare modern dancers, but not [to train] performers of ballet."

KCB is bringing the third installment of its Dance Shoe series -- featuring works by six young choreographers, that will be performed by 15 dancers -- to local audiences beginning tomorrow in Tainan.

"Taiwan needs new ballet dancers, however, there are very few choreographers. I want to give young dancers a chance. Maybe in five or 10 years time another company as successful as Cloud Gate will emerge," Chang said.

Dance Shoe premiered in 2004 and gave young choreographers the opportunity to bring their new perspectives to the public in Southern Taiwan.

The third installment will be presented in the form of dance theater that focuses on modern interpretations of ballet and will take to the stage in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Taipei.

Tung Kuei-ju (董桂汝), a graduate from London Contemporary Dance School has choreographed a triptych for four dancers including herself.

"It's very contemporary and influenced by European dance. In the piece I am searching for the space inside everyone's body," Tung said.

The five other choreographers include Luo Wen-jinn (羅文瑾), Cheng Mei-yun (鄭梅筠) who won recognition at the 2002 National Creative Dance Competition sponsored by the Council for Cultural Affairs, Chen Po-wen (陳柏文) and Chang Lan-yun (張藍勻), both graduates of Taipei National University of the Arts and Tsai Po-chen (蔡博丞).

For the show KCB will also perform the final act of Paquita, originally staged by Joseph Mazilier in Paris (1846). The ballet was later exported to Russia and reworked by Marius Petipa who added a grand pas at the end. As with many romantic ballets it became a lost work and has since been reconstructed.

The story is set in Spain during the Peninsular War (1808 to 1814) and tells the tale of a gypsy girl who saves the life of a French officer.

Paquita, raised by a group of gypsies, comes to the romantic attention of French general's son Comte Lucien d'Hervilly, however, he is already betrothed to Dona Serafina, the sister of a Spanish governor. The soon-to-be-weds are cool on the marriage of political convenience.

Back in the gypsy camp the head of the group, Inigo, a most unsavory character, falls in love with the young Paquita and hatches a plot to dispatch of d'Hervilly. The heroine thwarts Inigo's plan and saves the dashing French officer. At first reluctant to accept Lucien's love because of her inferior social status, Paquito discovers she is not really a gypsy, but the daughter of upper-class parents and off the pair go to get hitched.

Performance notes:

What: Kaohsiung City Ballet (高雄城市芭蕾舞團) presents 2006 Dance Shoe III (2006點子鞋-系列三)

When: Tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm at the Eslite Theater, Tainan City (台南市誠品書店); Feb. 25 at 7:30pm and Feb. 26 at 2:30pm at Chih-shan Hall, Kaohsiung City (高雄市至善廳); March 11 at 2:30pm and 7:30pm at the Crown Theater, Taipei City (台北市皇冠劇場)