Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA, 國立台北藝術大學) alumni and a current student are presenting works in Taipei this weekend, highlighting the dominant role of the school’s in the nation’s performing arts scene.
Hsu Chen-wei’s (許程崴) two-year-old eponymous troupe, the Hsu Chen Wei Dance Company (許程崴製作舞團), will appear at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park’s Song Yan Creative LAB to present Purgatory (肉身撒野).
Hsu’s troupe might be young, but the Kaohsiung native has attracted attention for his dancing and his own works for several years, even before he earned a master’s degree in choreography from TNUA in 2013.
Photo Courtesy of KEN Photography
He has had pieces in the Kaohsiung City Ballet (高雄城市芭蕾舞團) Dance Shoe programs, won a Lo Man-fei scholarship, picked up awards at the National Creative Dance Competition in 2011 and 2012, was selected for the Next Choreography Project (下一個編舞計畫) in 2012. His The Sacrifice of Roaring won a S-An Cultural Foundation Arts award in 2015 and earned strong praise at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Hsu’s works often draw inspiration from traditional rituals and culture as they examine society and daily life — and death.
The obsession with death — and Hsu’s emphasis on the importance of being alive — is clearly a result of a childhood spent in his parents’ funeral parlor.
For Purgatory, Hsu said he was inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, which shows the struggle between good and evil that humans face between birth and death. Hsu said that for some, purgatory might prove as attractive as heaven.
Hsu said his four female dancers represent the maternal and the ability of women to create life. It also acknowledges the homophone link in Mandarin between the words “four” and “death.”
In Guandu, Malaysian-born Kek Siou-kee (郭少麒), a former dancer with Cloud Gate 2 (雲門2) is presenting his final project for his master’s in choreography this weekend at TNUA’s Dance Theater.
Kek and classmate Wang Yi-hsiang (王怡湘), who has choreographed for the Shier Dance Theatre (三十舞蹈劇場) and others, are presenting a double bill for three shows, starting tonight.
Their show is titled Collide x 致樂土 and the two pieces examine how collisions — of bodies, ideas, events — can redefine one’s life. The dancers are all TNUA students.
Tickets are NT$500 and NT$1,000, available at NTCH box offices and Eslite bookstore, online at www.artsticket.com.tw, at convenience chain store ticketing kiosks and at the door.
One of TNUA’s most famous graduates, former Martha Graham Dance Company principal Sheu Fang-yi (許芳宜) is making a rare appearance in Taiwan and a few seats have suddenly become available.
Salute at the National Theater was listed as almost completely sold out when I wrote about the program at the end of last month (“A salute from a Taiwanese treasure,” Aug. 31, page 13), but as of press time last night there were 11 seats for tonight and tomorrow’s shows and 12 for Sunday’s matinee, at NT$2,000.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist