Taipei Crossover Dance Company (台北越界舞團) delivered as close to a “film noir” piece as a dance company can with Time Hotel (越界15─時光旅社) this weekend.
The Taipei National University of the Arts Dance Theater was sold out Friday night as the company opened its 15th anniversary program, and the audience was not disappointed. While there was more theater than dance in Time Hotel, it was beautifully staged and fascinating to watch. Director Michael Li (黎煥雄) created a moody nine-scene murder mystery, peopled by a voyeur, an amnesiac, a mysterious woman, a detective, the hotel manager and three suspects.
The bulk of the piece took place in a cavernous hotel lobby, a vast expanse suggested very simply by Liu Dar-lurn (劉達倫) through the use of huge squared columns that were raised and lowered as needed, a two-part staircase, an elaborate wooden doorway, a single armchair and a bench. The rest of the set was created with a scrim and beautiful lighting by Kao Yi-hua (高一華). Liu and Kao made one of the most effective sets I have seen for dance or theater in some time.
It was wonderful to see company founders Cheng Shu-gi (鄭淑姬), Wu Su-chun (吳素君) and Yeh Tai-chu (葉台竹) on stage, though Yeh, as the detective, had little more to do than skulk. Cheng and Wu showed they can still seduce an audience, whether, as in Cheng’s case, it was simply running her fingers through her hair, looking as beautiful as a mermaid in her coral and sea-blue silk jacket, or Wu vamping as the mystery woman, especially in a duet with Zhang Xiao-xiong (張曉雄).
Company director Ho Hsiao-mei (何曉玫) saved the best choreography for the four younger dancers, Wu Chien-wei (吳建緯), Chu Huang-yi (朱晃毅), Yang Hsiao-hsuan (楊孝萱) and Chan Shu-han (詹舒涵), especially the pas de quatre toward the end of the show. It was great to see the long-legged Yang again after her time in Australia; she’s a gorgeous dancer.
I found myself hoping that the younger quartet remain as committed to performing when they are the age of their older colleagues and, perhaps more importantly, they have a platform to express that creativity. I also hope the company is able to restage the piece someday, even if they have to recast some of the parts — it’s too good to fade into oblivion.
MEN IN TUTUS
The atmosphere at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on Saturday afternoon was as light-hearted and sunny as the weather as Les Ballets Grandiva reached the halfway point of their Taipei debut run. The vast theater was three-quarters full, a testament to the power of artistic director Brian Norris’ public relations blitz last month, with an audience that ranged from elementary-age children to grandparents.
Norris gave a brief introduction before each of the five pieces on the program, though without a translator, one had to question just how much was understood by the bulk of the audience. But there was no language problem once the dancing started.
The show opened with the troupe’s version of Jules Perrot’s 1845 Pas de Quatre, which gave the “ballerinas’’ ample opportunity to upstage one another. Victor Trevino’s staging of George Balanchine’s Tarantella tries to instill some comedy, but Balanchine’s choreography is too fast to really allow for much.
Bothale Dikobe was outstanding as Liberty Bell in Robert La Fosse’s restaging of Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes Forever Pas de Deux, crisply nailing the point work and high kicks of the piece. He is an amazing dancer I hope to see again — in any role.
The finale was the second act of Swan Lake, with a very princely prince in Sebastian Rinaldi, a great Von Rothbart in Ari Mayzik and small but scary flock of swans. While the men’s arms were more muscular than the usual swan corps and there were more visible tattoos than one normally sees, the flock stole the show.
Overall the show was not as polished a performance as those done by the Grandivas’ older rival, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, but the audience didn’t seem to mind.
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