Print

Mail

wiki links

In the Blink of an eye

A scene from Toru Shimazaki's work Run PHOTO: COURTESY OF DANCE FORUM TAIPEI

Life comes at you fast and furious; everything can change in the blink of eye.

Fast movement, though perhaps not furious, is the order of the day at the Dance Forum Taipei (DFT, 舞蹈空間) right now, as the company prepares for two shows of its latest work, Blink, at Taipei's Novel Hall next week.

The nine-member contemporary dance troupe has a reputation for presenting avant-garde creations by well known and up-and-coming choreographers from around the world. Blink is no exception.

Blink will showcase the work of Taipei-born Lin Wen-chung (林文中), formerly of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and noted Japanese choreographer Toru Shimazaki, head of the dance department at Kobe Jyogakuin College, whose work can be found in the repertoire of companies ranging from the Royal Ballet of Flanders and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago to the Polish Dance Theater.

What is interesting about these two seemingly dissimilar choreographers are the commonalities in their lives and work. Both men came to dance relatively late - in their late teens - although they had both been exposed to the world of dance through their family. Lin's mother, Tsai Li-hua (蔡麗華) is the founder and artistic director of the Taipei Folk Dance Theater (台北民族舞團). Shimazaki's sister began studying ballet as a child.

Performance notes: What: Dance Forum Taipei,Blink When: Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30pm Where: Novel Hall(新舞台),3-1 Songshou Rd, Taipei City(臺北市松壽路3-1號) Tickets: Only the NT$800 and NT$1,000 tickets are left for both night;avalible through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw

Both men had originally been interested in very different careers: Lin wanted to do costume design; Shimazaki was an equestrian whose love of horses and riding took him to Canada. But once they began taking dance classes - Lin at the National Institute of the Arts, Shimazaki at a ballet school in Vancouver - both were hooked and never looked back.

They both are interested in very physical dance that demands a lot from the dancers.

Lin's 40-minute piece is set to Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto Op. 35. He describes it as "very physical, very challenging."

Shimazaki has reworked Ran, a ballet for 20 dancers that he originally created for the Dance Association of Japan. In a telephone interview with the Taipei Times, Shimazaki said that he had always wanted to see contemporary dancers do the piece. Since he was only approached by DFT in August, he didn't have time to create a whole new work, and so he asked if they wanted to try revamping the ballet.

" I knew it could be very powerful [with contemporary dancers]," he said. " I changed a lot, since it is only nine people now, so I tried a lot of different things."

"It has been a challenge for the dancers," he said. "My movements are continuous, I like movement to flow; one movement leads to another, there is no border between them."

"They [the DFT dancers] have a new vocabulary now, their muscles are able to create a new 'sound,'" he said. "That is why dancers need to work with different choreographers, so they can learn new 'sounds.'" 

This story has been viewed 1113 times.