Capital Ballet Taipei (台北首督芭蕾舞團) is one of those companies that can float under the radar for years, known mostly to a loyal fan base. Which is too bad because it has been around for 19 years, working hard to pursue a vision of ballet with a Taiwanese flavor in a country that has become a center for modern dance.
However, the company, founded by Hsu Chin-feng (徐進豐) and his wife Lee Shu-hui (李淑惠), has a higher profile this year, having won top prize in the performance arts category in the 7th Taishin Arts Award (第七屆台新藝術獎) last month for one of last year’s works, Surround (井), an exploration of spatial and temporal relationships.
The company’s output frequently focuses on the larger world outside the ballet studio, though still centering on Taiwan. For example, in January last year they performed Media Tycoon (媒體大亨), in which the protagonist gave up his family, friends and soul to gain wealth and power, while 2005’s Postman (郵差) examined the cyclical nature of human history.
Tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon the company will be performing a more mixed program, Ballet Pageant III (玩芭蕾3), a compilation of short ballets by four choreographers who have drawn on a diverse range of music and sources for their works.
The program begins with Life, To Be Continued (生命•未完待續), by dancer/choreographer Chiang Chiou-o (蔣秋娥), inspired by Franz Schubert’s plaintive string quartet Death and the Maiden (Der Tod und das Madchen) and his own travels in Europe. Jiang danced in Germany and elsewhere in Europe for several years, and was in When Ballet Meets Tchaikovsky by Taipei Chamber Ballet (台北室內芭蕾) two years ago.
Next up will be Hsu Chin-feng’s Salome (莎樂美), inspired by Oscar Wilde’s play about the Biblical heroine and set to music from Richard Strauss’ one-act opera of the same name. If the photos are anything to go by, this piece will be dramatic, with the dancer portraying Salome dancing a pas
de deux with John the Baptist’s head on
a platter.
The third ballet will be At the Other End, Unexpected Encounter (在另一端遇見), choreographed by Lin Wei-hua (林惟華). This work, like Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, is a reflection of time spent with friends in years gone by, set to an eclectic mix of music by Yo-yo Ma (馬友友), Ennio Morricne and Lionel Richie.
The final work is Chicago Swans (芝加哥天鵝) by choreographer Liu Qiya (劉啟亞), which the company describes as an “elegant and wild work.”
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry consumes electricity at rates that would strain most national grids. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) alone accounted for more than 9 percent, or 2,590 megawatts (MW), of the nation’s power demand last year. The factories that produce chips for the world’s phones and servers run around the clock. They cannot tolerate blackouts. Yet Taiwan imports 97 percent of its energy, with liquefied natural gas reserves measured in days. Underground, Taiwan has options. Studies from National Taiwan University estimate recoverable geothermal resources at more than 33,000 MW. Current installed capacity stands below 10 MW. OBSTACLES Despite Taiwan’s significant geothermal potential, the
In our discussions of tourism in Taiwan we often criticize the government’s addiction to promoting food and shopping, while ignoring Taiwan’s underdeveloped trekking and adventure travel opportunities. This discussion, however, is decidedly land-focused. When was the last time a port entered into it? Last week I encountered journalist and travel writer Cameron Dueck, who had sailed to Taiwan in 2023-24, and was full of tales. Like everyone who visits, he and his partner Fiona Ching loved our island nation and had nothing but wonderful experiences on land. But he had little positive to say about the way Taiwan has organized its
The entire Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀) saga has been an ugly, complicated mess. Born in China’s Hunan Province, she moved to work in Shenzhen, where she met her future Taiwanese husband. Most accounts have her arriving in Taiwan and marrying somewhere between 1993 and 1999. She built a successful career in Taiwan in the tech industry before founding her own company. She also served in high-ranking positions on various environmentally-focused tech associations. She says she was inspired by the founding of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in 2019 by Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), and began volunteering for the party soon after. Ko
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) returned from her trip to meet People’s Republic of China (PRC) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) bearing “a gift” for the people of Taiwan: 10 measures the PRC proposed to “facilitate the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.” “China on Sunday unveiled 10 new incentive measures for Taiwan,” wrote Reuters, wrongly. The PRC’s longstanding habit with Taiwan relations is to repackage already extant or once-existing policies and declare that they are “new.” The list forwarded by Cheng reflects that practice. NEW MEASURES? Note the first item: establishing regular communication mechanisms between the Chinese Communist Party
RSS