Dancing around difference

Liu Feng-shueh (劉鳳學) has a 30-year history of creating abstract and minimalist dance performances that draw on Oriental and Western elements. The artistic director of the Neo-Classical Dance Company (新古典舞團) has, however, over the past few years taken an interest in the anthropological aspects of Aboriginal culture, elements that she has incorporated into Flying Fish in Silence (沉默的飛魚), her latest dance creation that begins tonight at the National Theater.

Part Aboriginal dance and part modern dance, the performance was inspired by the Tao people's (達悟族) flying fish ceremony that takes place every spring and summer on Orchid Island (蘭嶼). But Lin doesn't relegate her focus to one tribe, as she perceives dance to be a universal medium found in all cultures.

She distills the movements of the Aboriginal dances that she witnessed and experienced during her travels and studies of Taiwan's indigenous peoples, and blends them with modern dance. The result is a sublime and simple work of the soul.

The stage is bereft of a set, which focuses the audiences' attention on the dancers' movements that tell the story of cultural confrontations.

During rehearsals on Wednesday afternoon, a man lugubriously walks diagonally across the stage holding the hands of two children (his perhaps?) as rain falls down from the back of the stage. The atmosphere created by the man walking slowly and the simplicity of the movements creates a pathos rarely executed so well on the stage.

In a different, more light-hearted scene, scores of dancers link arms, demonstrating the solidarity that can be found in a people, tribe or nation.

Note: As of press time, Flying Fish in Silence had almost sold out.