French choreographer Jerome Bel early on developed a reputation as an agent provocateur, someone who would leave critics scratching their heads and searching for words to describe his shows, while leaving audiences either enthralled or frustrated enough to walk out of performances.
He brought his Compagnie Jerome Bel to Taipei 12 years ago for the Novel Hall Dance Series, with performances of his Jerome Bel and Nom Donne Par l’Auteur, as well as his dialogue with Thai classical dancer and choreographer Picher Klunchun that grew out of a 2005 residency in Thailand, entitled, naturally, Picher Klunchun and Myself.
Bel is back in town for the Taipei Arts Festival, which invited him to stage his 2015 production Gala at the Zhongshan Hall for three shows, starting tomorrow night.
Photo Courtesy of Josefina Tommasi
He recruited local participants to appear alongside a small crew of his dancers and actors for the 20 person cast of Gala, which was created to make audiences to reconsider the judgments they tend to make about performers on stage.
The idea for Gala grew out of series of workshops he gave in Paris for non-dancers. Inspired by their energy, enthusiasm and enjoyment, he decided he want to produce a “professional show” for non-professionals, as well as challenge the established notions of what a dancer should look like, what a dance or theater production should be, what constitutes “a performance” and what differentiates a failure from a success.
The idea of perfection bores him, he has told interviewers.
Photo Courtesy of Veronique Ellena
“Dance should be for everyone: kids, old people, disabled people, sexy people, non-sexy people, introvert people, extravert people … there are no limits! The more we have different bodies, the more we have different dances,” he is quoted as saying in notes from the Taipei Arts Festival.
While Bel has said he wanted to create something that was accessible to amateurs of all ages and backgrounds and give them the flexibility to make it their own, there are always a few professionals.
He has also said he also wanted to celebrate the idea of community. A crucial element in the creative process is that he does not “choose” the performers; they are “invited.”
Gala which has been performed in more than 20 countries and 50 cities, is different in each place because the cast is different.
The show begins with a slideshow of empty theaters and stages, and then the cast enter one by one to an excerpt of music from Giselle. As the show continues, the score proves to be as diverse as the performers.
Bel might be the host of the party, but it is the people he invites that make it a memorable experience. The show has been hailed as revelatory, joyful and fun, for performers and audiences alike.
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
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
A fossil jawbone found by a British girl and her father on a beach in Somerset, England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. Researchers said on Wednesday the bone, called a surangular, was from a type of ocean-going reptile called an ichthyosaur. Based on its dimensions compared to the same bone in closely related ichthyosaurs, the researchers estimated that the Triassic Period creature, which they named Ichthyotitan severnensis, was between 22-26 meters long. That would make it perhaps the largest-known marine reptile and would