Collaboration, time and place are key elements of dance productions being staged in Taipei this weekend by two of the newer companies in Taiwan’s dance firmament.
The first show is being staged as part of the Kuandu Festival of Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts (國立臺北藝術大學) by the Tussock Dance Theater (兩個身體), which was established last year by TNUA grad Wu Chien-wei (吳建緯).
Another Country (他鄉) was choreographed (and photographed) by one of Wu’s former professors, Zhang Xiao-xiong (張曉雄) as part of his Virtual or Real series.
Courtesy of T.T.C. Dance
A lush romanticism imbues Another Country, which explores the history and story of Taipei through a combination of documentary and virtual reality, truth and fiction, and a multi-media mix of dance, literature and photography.
TAIPEI MEMORIES
It tells the story of a Taipei teenager who discovers a “closet full of memories,” a kind of chamber of secrets that doubles as a time tunnel, traveling back to the city’s earlier days.
The work is very much a collaborative effort between Zhang and his performers: Wu, TNUA associate professor Wu Su-chun (吳素君), who was one of the first-generation Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (雲門舞集) dancers; two more recent alumnus of Cloud Gate — Wang Yuan-li (王元俐) and Yu Chien-hung (余建宏); Liu Qi (劉琦), the former artistic director of Guangdong Modern Dance Company (廣東現代舞團); and dancer Chan Jia-hong (陳佳宏).
Another Country also invokes the feeling of exile, something Zhang himself knows all too well, given his rather nomadic life. Born in Cambodia, he went to university in China, and then moved to Australia, where he was a principal dancer with the Australian Dance Theatre, One Extra Dance Company and Vis-a-Vis Dance. As a choreographer and teacher, he has worked in Australia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, shuttling back and forth between cities and cultures, and between the disciplines of dance, photography and filmmaking.
A time-traveling experience of another sort is being staged at the Bopiliao Historical Block (剝皮寮) in Wanhua District this weekend by T.T.C. Dance (張婷婷獨立製作), the two-year-old company founded by Chang Ting-ting (張婷婷) an assistant professor at National Taiwan University of Arts (國立臺灣藝術大學).
‘A BLOSSOMING TREE’
Chang has been working on the project, In the Name of Poetry — A Blooming Tree (以詩之名:一棵開花的樹) for the past six months in collaboration with NTUA alumni Chen Chang-chih (陳長志), the photographer of choice for many dance companies in Taiwan.
The project was inspired by poet/painter Hsi Mu-rong’s (席慕容) 1980s poem A Blossoming Tree(一棵開花的樹;) from her Chi Li Xiang (七里香) collection.
Chang said she has tried to create a conversation of words and movements that cross time and space, reimagining Hsi’s ideas. The performance will also be traveling, as the dancers move across five buildings in the Bopiliao complex.
While tickets to TTC Dance’s six shows are free, they must be reserved in advance by calling 0983-664-514.
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