Interesting things happen when Taipei’s Century Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC, 世紀當代舞團) joins forces with foreign artists, as most recently demonstrated earlier this year when it worked with Leipzig Ballet artistic director/choreographer Mario Schroder for a production for the Taiwan International Festival of Arts that included Schroder’s Wild Butterflies (狂放的野蝶).
This time, as part of the 17th Taipei Arts Festival (2015台北藝術節), CCDC founder Yao Shu-fen (姚淑芬) teamed up with Melbourne-based Fragment 31, founded in 2008 by Leisa Shelton as a multidiscipline performance collective, to present eXchange (雙城交鋒) at Taipei’s Zhongshan Hall for three shows this weekend.
The program is a continuation of a three-week residency the CCDC had in Melbourne with Arts House as part of the Dance Massive project in February and features three Taiwanese dancers and three Australians, who have created six solos for the show.
Courtesy of Century Contemporary Dance Company
The artists are: National Taipei University of the Arts graduate and former Cloud Gate Dance Theatre member Lee Tsung-hsuan (李宗軒); hip-hop dancer and teacher Wu Yu-hsien (吳郁嫺),who is also a member of a member of Wonderland Crew and Baby Locker; CCDC dancer Tien Hsiao-tzu (田孝慈), another TNUA graduate who has also danced with Shu-Yi & Dancers (周先生與舞者們); dancer/choreographer Melanie Lane and dancers Natalie Abbott and Peter Fraser.
The wide variety of training and performing interests of the six dancers practically guarantee a visually interesting and intellectually stimulating show. There should also be some good dancing.
However, there is a parental discretion warning attached to the 90-minutes show that says the production includes adult subject matter.
■ eXchange (雙城交鋒), tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm at the Guangfu Auditorium (光復廳) at Taipei Zhongshan Hall (台北中山堂), 98 Yanping S Rd, Taipei City (台北市延平南路98號)
■ Tickets are NT$700; available at the door or online at www.artsticket.com.tw and convenience store ticketing kiosks
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