This weekend is the beginning of a dance-packed summer that will offer a dizzying multitude of performances around Taipei.
One of the more unusual offerings is by WCdance (林文中舞團), whose founder Lin Wen-chung (林文中) is giving a new twist to the term audience participation.
For Touch (掽,碰!), which opens tomorrow night, Lin and company have returned to Nadou Theater (納豆劇場) in the Dadaocheng area (大稻埕) of Datong District (大同), where they performed Fluidity (流.體) in December last year.
Photo Courtesy of Lin Wen-chung
The theater is part of the Lin Liu-hsin Puppet Theater Museum (林柳新紀念偶戲博物館) and Lin said he likes the way it looks and feels, but more importantly, he can book it for two weeks at a time, or more.
“The space has potential, I like the wood. It’s an old tea factory, like a small theater in Europe. I think it’s beautiful compared with other small theaters in Taipei — like (the ones in) Avignon,” he said.
Touch, unsurprisingly is about tactile sensations and interactive performances.
Photo courtesy of National Theater Concert Hall
Lin said he wants to bring more of a sensation of touch to dance so he is using plastic bags, bubble wrap, bicycle chains and fresh vegetables as props and costumes.
The production is an experiment on a multitude of levels — for Lin, his dancers and the audiences.
“It’s my first time to choreograph something so full of chance. I can’t control the audience’s decisions, so I’ll have to see what happens,” Lin said.
To begin with, those who buy tickets for this weekend will just be seeing a portion of the show — about 40 minutes — and their actions and reactions will contribute to its final form the following weekend.
For this weekend, Lin has divided the theater into five or six spaces, without seating, and two entrances, so audience members — just 30 each time — will be free to choose where they enter and whether they move about during the show.
For next weekend, the cast will be whittled down to five dancers, the show will run about 70 minutes and there will be seats for the audience.
“Everything is happening at the same time, so you are going to miss something,” Lin said of this weekend’s shows.
He said he was inspired by the Johnny Depp movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and all the different rooms in the factory, as well as by a play where all the action in the story took place at the same time.
“It’s colorful, I hope it is interesting,” said Lin, who added that he will be moving about videotaping the dancers and the audience.
He’s a choreographer in search of an ending.
“I have choreographed about 80 percent of the second week’s show, not just the end,” he said.
“I have to see how audience reacts after the first week, maybe they will contribute some great ideas.”
Several blocks away from Dadaocheng, the dance portion of the National Theater Concert Hall’s Innovation Series opens this weekend at the Experimental Theater.
Taiwan Dance Scene-Mixed Program is the first of three dance programs and it features three well-known dancer/choreographers: Lin Yu-ju (林祐如), Chen Wu-kang (陳武康) and Liu Yan-cheng (劉彥成).
Lin’s piece is titled Sponge (朵朵), Chen’s is One dance, one dances, one danced and Liu’s is Monster (怪獸).
Chen will perform in his work at the Saturday and Sunday matinees, while Fan Ting-yu (方妤婷) will perform tomorrow night and Yeh Ming-hwa (葉名樺), who is a dancer/choreographer in her own right as well as Chen’s wife, will perform on Saturday night.
Lin, Chen and Liu are each presenting their own stories, which are linked by the idea of metamorphosis, the cycles of life, reconstruction and manipulation of the body.
The show is about 75 minutes and comes with the cautions that the performances include nudity, noise and smoke effects.
In addition, there are two more dance productions on this weekend: Dark Eyes Performance Lab (黑眼睛跨劇團) is at the Wellspring Theater (水源劇場) for four performances of Time’s Silent Changes — Project Muo Muo 2017 (時間沉默地改變了什麼 ─ 默默計畫2017), starting tomorrow night.
Over at the Guling Street Avant-Garde Theatre (牯嶺街小劇場), there is a Hong-Kong-Taiwanese production of Moving Arts Hong Kong’s Broken Wing (斷翅飛翔) by Vinci Mok (莫潁詩), a Butoh-inspired exploration of memories and time.
This story has been updated since it was first published to correct the characters in dancer Fan Ting-yu's name.
Performance Notes
WHAT: Touch
WHEN: Part 1: Tomorrow at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm; Saturday at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 7pm, 8pm and 9pm; Sunday at 1, 2 and 3pm; Part 2: Friday, June 9 and Saturday at 7:30pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2:30pm
WHERE: Nadou Theater (納豆劇場), 79 Xining N Rd, Taipei City (台北市大同區西寧北路79號)
ADMISSION: NT$500; available at NTCH box offices, online at www.artsticket.com.tw, at convenience chain store ticketing kiosks and at the door. The afternoon shows on Saturday and Sunday are sold out.
WHAT: Taiwan Dance Scene-Mixed Program
WHEN: Tomorrow and Saturday at 7:30pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2:30pm.
WHERE: Experimental Theater (國家實驗劇場), 21-1 Zhongshan S Rd, Taipei City (台北市中山南路21-1號)
ADMISSION: NT$800; available at NTCH box offices, online at www.artsticket.com.tw and convenience chain store ticket kiosks. Sunday’s matinee is sold out.
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