By Diane Baker
Taipei Dance Circle (光環舞集) founder and choreographer Liou Shaw-lu (劉紹爐) usually drenches his dancers in baby oil before setting them loose to glide about the stage. The lack of friction between the dancers' bodies and their surroundings has been an essential component of his work.

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By Ron Brownlow
If art reflects life, then the Taipei Philharmonic Foundation's new musical comedy is a mirror pointed straight at an important cultural trend.

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By Noah Buchan
Long before Kylie Minogue was crowned Australia's top pop diva, the blonde and beautiful Olivia Newton-John had audiences getting physical. For many forty- and fifty-something's, Newton-John's music is indelibly intertwined with 1970s disco and 1980s new age pop. Those wanting to relive those heady decades should head down to the Taipei Arena (台北巨蛋) this weekend to listen to her version of soft rock and spiritual pop.

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By Ho Yi
Have you heard of the bowl that sings and helps you keep in tune with your inner self? If not, on Sunday, sound therapist Hans de Back from the Netherlands is offering to take you on a deep trip into the supposed powers of singing bowls at his sound message workshop organized by Spiritlands (身體工房), a subsidiary company of Wind Music (風潮音樂), an organization that aims to explore the possibilities of music to enhance and sustain well-being.

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By Gareth Price
The newly-renovated Ministry of Sound's stunning layout and awesome sound system make it one of the city's truly ass-kicking venues, which would be as suited to an acoustic set by Suzanne Vega, or an impromptu get-together by Radiohead, as easily as it holds court to dance music. But as The Smiths said, hang the DJ. Matt Hardwick's weak trance schlock last Saturday was appreciated by the odd crowd of suits and hard-cases, but one hopes that their future bookings bring in some true talent, as Hardwick was hardly a big draw for anyone with a sophisticated taste in electronica. However, MoS has at least booked Ronski Speed for 28 April, which holds some promise.

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While `The Science of Sleep' may not, in the end, be terribly deep, it is undoubtedly -- and deeply -- refireshing
By A. O. Scott
The Science of Sleep, Michel Gondry's beguiling new film, is so profoundly idiosyncratic, and so confident in its oddity, that any attempt to describe it is bound to be misleading. While points of comparison are available — to Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gondry's collaborations with Charlie Kaufman; to early Surrealist artworks or the later films of Luis Bunuel — they don't do much to illuminate the puzzling, mostly delightful experience of watching The Science of Sleep unfold.

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A brilliant inventor, a mysterious stranger and some very strange family members team up for a showdown
There's been such an onslaught of animated movies over the past year or so, it only feels like they're coming at you in 3-D.

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By Ho Yi
This week's gossip rags are filled with love, lust and sex. Leading the news is the reunion of Carina Lau (劉嘉玲) and Tony Leung (梁朝偉) as the pair attended the 26th Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday and made a public display of their mutual affection. To the untrained eye, holding hands may seem a trifling matter, but the move was interpreted by the Chinese-language press as a public announcement that the biggest crisis in the couple's 18-year relationship had been resolved.

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Thelma Schoonmaker has edited every Scorsese movie since `Raging Bull' and has earned three Oscars in the process
By Mark Feeney
"Oh, go ahead and heft it," Thelma Schoonmaker urged. "Everyone else has."

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The sequel of the remake of Wes Craven's original horror film has mutated into a boring mess of a movie
By Peter Bradshaw
Open to ridicule ... The Hills Have Eyes 2. They've also got one hell of a cheek, forcing this nonsense on us again: a sequel to last year's remake of the 1978 Wes Craven original. Once again, we are out in the middle of nowhere. It's an eerie, isolated stretch of New Mexico desert where nuclear testing half a century ago created a feral gang of mutant hillbillies hiding out in their own underground network of tunnels, killing innocent incomers and raping the womenfolk to perpetuate their deplorable race.

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Australian actor Eric Bana is to star in a movie adaptation of Audrey Niffnegger's novel The Time Traveler's Wife, it was reported on Wednesday.

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By Noah Buchan
The region around Sandimen (三地門) in Pingtung County (屏東縣) provides some of the most breathtaking scenery in southern Taiwan. Perched on the side of a mountain is Quiyue's Shop, an art space that was recently renovated into an outdoor restaurant and cafe by renowned Aboriginal artist Sakuliu (撒古流) for his wife Qiuyue (秋月).

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By Jules Quartly
In ancient times tao hua yuan (桃花源) was a kind of utopia, a harmonious society, far from the maddening crowd, tucked away inside a valley. This is the kind of atmosphere that designer Syu Da (徐達) was tasked with creating at Shinyeh 101, a restaurant serving new-style Taiwanese cuisine on the 85th floor of Taipei 101.

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Theater

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