The 32-year-old Neo-Classic Dance Company was founded by one of the doyen of modern dance in Taiwan, Liu Feng-shueh (劉鳳學), who began her career in 1950. Her work has combined Western techniques with Chinese classical dance and, in recent years, with Taiwan's Aboriginal cultures. 1957A.D. is a retrospective of her work and features six pieces: Sparks, The Last Trail, Ambushed From All Sides, 24 Hours and 1 Second, Nilpotent and Figurines1 - Han Figurines.
Liu considers 1957 to have been a pivotal year for her and her works, hence the name of the program.
Double C was founded in 2001 by former Cloud Gate Dance Theatre soloist Wu Chun-hsien (吳俊憲) and Frenchwoman Chrystel Guillebeaud, a former member of Pina Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal. They met in 1998 when Wu was invited to work on the 25th anniversary celebration of Bausch's company. Now married and based in Wuppertal, the couple has produced several works that draw on their different cultural heritages.
Wu choreographed Reflex in 2006 under a commission from PACT Zollverein in Essen, Germany. A dance for four women, set to a score by Christoph Iacano, Reflex explores the world of reflex movement and instinctual reactions.
The following weekend will see French choreographer Thierry Bae in the Experimental Theater with a semi-autobiographical production of Journal d'Inquietude (Diary of Worries).
Journal tells the story of a dancer-turned-choreographer who is working on a solo but can't find anyone to perform in it, or to stage it. So he lies and says he has a famous dancer interested in the project, which wins him a spot on the bill of a dance festival. Now he has to deliver, and Journal recounts his quest to find a dancer and create the solo. Bae takes on all the live roles - interspersed with film clips of his meetings with various dancers his character is trying to recruit.
In previous productions there have been a lot of in-jokes that only people familiar with the French dance world might get, but they don't detract from the work itself.
Capping off the program the first weekend in June will be the Taipei's own Dance Forum (舞蹈空間) in a joint production with French choreographer/rock 'n' roller/clothing designer Christian Rizzo. Since it is a work-in-progress, not many details were available as of press time - not even the name of the piece. But Dance Forum founder and artistic director Ping Heng (平珩) says she and her dancers are very enthused by the chance to work with Rizzo, who had residencies with the Taipei Artist Village (台北國際藝術村) last year and in 2006.
Ping founded the forum as a collective that would provide opportunities for different dancers and choreographers to present modern works, so this collaboration certainly fits the bill. Rizzo and Dance Forum are scheduled to take the work on tour in Asia and France later this year.
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