New Points on Stage@Lab (菸Lab新主藝) triparte offering at Taipei’s Songshan Cultural and Creative Park opens tomorrow night with Huang Huai-te’s (黃懷德) Slit (撕裂).
The vast second floor space in the park’s East Building has proven a fertile ground for Taipei’s young choreographers and others to experiment, and this month’s three shows appear unlikely to break the winning streak.
Freelancer Huang is on something of a winning streak himself. The National Taiwan University of Arts (國立臺灣藝術大學) graduate, who has worked with Horse (驫舞劇場) for several years and created works for the Kaohsiung City Ballet’s (高雄城市芭蕾舞團) Dance Shoe platform, is now on Cloud Gate 2’s (CG2, 雲門 2) shortlist of choreographers.
Photo courtesy of Stage@Lab
His first CG2 creation, for this year’s Spring Riot program, was the very intriguing Horde (暫時而已) and he is on the list for next year’s Spring Riot as well.
CG2 artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung (鄭宗龍) is listed as a “creative adviser” on Slit, which features Huang and three dancers — Hung Yi-chen (洪苡真), Ho Chia-en (何嘉恩) and Chuang Ping-heng (莊秉衡).
Slit is described as something of a “dance noir”: a mystery that explores the relationship between speed and psychological control — and perhaps multiple personalities.
Photo courtesy of Stage@Lab
There is a warning that latecomers will not be admitted, and a post-show discussion will be held after tomorrow night’s premiere.
The second program of New Points on Stage@Lab is also a dance piece, Lin Yi-jin’s (林宜瑾) Tsai hung de jintou (彩虹的盡頭), which can be translated as “The End of the Rainbow.”
Lin’s piece, set on four dancers, is an exploration of time, space and the conjunction of life and death, with the questions about existence and awareness.
Photo courtesy of Stage@Lab
Lin’s piece will be performed four times from Dec. 9 to Dec. 11, but three shows are already sold out. The only tickets (NT$600) left are for the Dec. 10 matinee.
The show comes with two advisories: first, there are no seats. Audiences are expected to move as the viewpoints shift. Second, the subject matter is not suitable for people younger than 12.
The final New Points work shifts from dance to theater, with a show about magic and illusion: Sean Chou’s (周瑞祥) Animator.
Chou’s show, created in collaborated with Wang Yu (王磑) and Chung Chia-rong (鍾嘉容), explores the question of future of magic in the Internet era. If a magician is a man — or woman — with magic, does the magic really need to be demonstrated to be proven? What does magic mean to others?
There will be five performances of Animator, beginning on Dec. 16 and there are still seats available for the three evening shows and two afternoon matinees. Latecomers will not be admitted.
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