From the grand spectacular vision that is Dimitris Papaioannou’s The Great Tamer (偉大馴服者) to a minimalist, intense work by up-and-coming Chinese choreographer Gu Jiani (古佳妮), Exit (插銷), to Wu Chien-wei’s (吳建緯) sensual stunner The Floating Space (浮域誌異), there is a lot to tempt theatergoers this weekend in Taipei.
Note the term theatergoers. Two of these shows, The Great Tamer and The Floating Space, offer visions that transcend the usual lines that divide theater and dance, and both explore the worlds of gods and men.
The shows by Papaioannou and Gu are part of the National Theater Concert Hall’s (NTCH) biennial “Dancing in Autumn series, while the third production — at NTCH’s new cross-town rival, the Taiwan Traditional Theatre Center — is second chance for one of Taiwan’s most talented dancer/choreographers and his young company.
photo Courtesy of Zhang Xiao-xiong
The Greek choreographer and director trained as a painter before turning his creative energies to the stage, and The Great Tamer, a broadly painted fantasy exploration of time and the meaning of life is more about the images than the movements.
The show, which had its world premiere in Athens in May and was coproduced by the NTCH and several other theaters, is like many of Papaioannu’s works, inspired by the great Greek classics of the ancient world, in this case the tales of Homer, as well as the dance-theater techniques of the late German choreographer Pina Bausch and Butoh.
The bodies of his 10 performers are disassembled, reassembled and extended to create images from classic painters such as El Greco and Botticelli, the works of contemporary Greek artist Jannis Kounellis, and films, such as Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odessy and those by Fritz Lang, turning two-dimensional works into three dimensional representations.
Photo Courtesy of Julian MommertJCM
The 100-minutes show opens tonight at the National Theater. It contains partial nudity and so comes with a parental warning.
Upstairs in the Experimental Theater, Taiwanese audiences will have the chance to see a work Gu and her Untitled Group for the first time.
Like Papaioannou, Gu, who grew up studying ballet and classical Chinese dance, is also a painter who likes multi-media projects. She was a dancer with the Beijing Modern Dance Company before striking out on her own.
Photo Courtesy of Untitled Group
Exit, which had its premiere at the Shanghai International Arts Festival in October last year, is an exploration of the perpetual cycle of creation and destruction, and humans’ endless desire to escape the mundane.
Gu and her two dancers explore the physics of cause and effect, conflict and acceptance, moving within their small gray world like the cogs in a perpetual motion machine.
The world the Wu creates for his Tussock Dance Theater’s (野草舞蹈聚落) production of The Floating Space is anything but gray, thanks to costumes by famed Taipei designer Sophie Hong (洪麗芬) and a stunning hanging set designed by Li Hui-qiu (李慧秋) and James Teng (滕孟哲).
The show premiered at Wu’s alma mater, the Taipei National University of the Arts (國立台北藝術大學), in December last year, and he was quickly invited by the production team at Taipei’s newest theater complex to restage the work this year in their Experimental Theater.
The Floating Space tells the a tale about mankind, greed and mountains of trash, featuring the mythical Chinese goddess Nuwa (女媧) who created humans and repaired the Pillar of Heaven; the mountain spirit Shangui (山鬼); and the legendary inventor of Chinese characters, Cangjie (倉頡).
Wu generously credits his fellow performers, Wang Yuan-li (王元俐), Shen Ying-ying (沈盈盈), Chen Jia-hong (陳佳宏) and Lin Yu-hua (林鈺華), with co-creating the piece.
The show runs about 80 minutes.
Performance notes
WHAT: The Great Tamer
WHEN: Tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm
WHERE: National Theater (國家戲劇院), 21-1 Zhongshan S Rd, Taipei City (台北市中山南路21-1號)
ADMISSION: The only seats left are in the NT$500 to NT$2,000, available at NTCH box offices, online at www.artsticket.com.tw and at convenience store ticketing kiosks. Saturday night’s show is close to selling out
What: Exit
WHEN: Tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at 7:30pm, 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: Tickets are NT$600, available at NTCH box offices, online at www.artsticket.com and convenience story ticket kiosks
What: The Floating Space
WHEN: Saturday at 2:30pm and 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm
WHERE: Taiwan Traditional Theatre Center’s Experimental Theater (臺灣戲曲中心小表演廳), 751 Wenlin Rd, Taipei City(台北士林區文林路751號)
ADMISSION: Tickets are NT$700 and NT$2,000 (sponsorship), available at the theater center’s box offices, online at www.artsticket.com and convenience story ticket kiosks
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