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Pairing up for a party

The Duet Dance Gala brings three generations of dancers and choreographers to the National Theater's stage. PHOTO: COURTESY OF NTCH

The National Theater has another "vitality capsule" on offer this weekend and next at the Experimental Theater, and it is a collaborative project in the best sense of the word. It has been a joint effort between the theater and choreographers and between the artists themselves.

This is the first time the theater has produced a Duet Dance Gala (五蹈雙重奏). The original idea apparently was to have three generations of dancer/choreographers each create a duet, with themselves as one of the dancers, on the theme of the National Theater's 20th birthday.

But some of the older choreographers invited to participate weren't interested in dancing themselves, said Lin Hsiang-hsiu (林向秀), who is in her early 30s and had been asked as one of the "middle generation."

Lin, who has continued to dance while building up a reputation as a choreographer, said she was asked to join the project almost a year-and-a half ago, although the final list of choreographers wasn't decided upon until last fall, including major names such as Chen Wu-kang (陳武康) of M_Dans, Shih Gee-tze (石吉智) of the Acme Physical Theater (極至體能), and Dominique Yen (嚴鳳曦), whose work has been performed by the Kaohsiung City Ballet, in addition to some lesser known performers.

Performance notes WHAT: Duet Dance Gala WHERE: The Experimental Theater at the National Theater WHEN: Program A is tonight at 7:30pm and tomorrow at 2:30pm; program B is tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm; program C is May 18 at 7:30pm and May 19 at 2:30pm; program D is May 19 at 7:30pm and May 20 at 2:30pm TICKETS: NT$450; available at the National Theater box office or online at www.artstickets.com.tw

Four different programs of five dances will be offered, starting tonight, with each program being performed twice, once in the evening and then again at the next day's matinee.

The theater's former artistic director, Ping-heng (平珩) determined who would be asked, and the order of the programs, but didn't dictate who each artist's partner had to be, Lin said. In fact, the partner didn't even have to be another dancer; he or she could be a musician or another type of performer.

The choreographers were told to create something between 10 and 20 minutes long, but most have reportedly settled on somewhere between 12 and 15 minutes.

Lin's partner for her duet Happy Anniversary (生日快樂) is Wang Wei-ming (王維銘), a former Cloud Gate Dancer Theater member, whom she had known for five years but had never worked with before.

"I wanted a new partner to give [me] different stimulation … he has a unique way of moving … but his body is still very Cloud Gate," she said.

Lin said the inspiration for her piece came from a poem by Wislawa Szymborska called Golden Anniversary.

"I have had her poem for a long time. I often read it when I am free. It was not in my mind when I first started to work on the duet," Lin said. "One day, I looked at my rehearsal tape and it suddenly jumped into my mind. Then I read the poem again and realized they were very similar."

Lin's duet is part of Program C and will be performed next Friday evening and Saturday matinee.

With four separate programs on offer, dance lovers will be able to pick and choose the one that offers the choreographers they like with the performance time that fits their schedules. And with tickets priced at just N$450, you might be able to afford more than one. One caveat, however, is that the Experimental Theater has limited seating, so don't wait too long to get your tickets. 

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