Did you come here alone? Is repeated like a mantra throughout Pub and Pop (Pub, 怕不怕), the new performance by the Century Contemporary Dance Company (世紀當代舞團) which takes the stage early next month. For choreographer Yao Shu-feng (姚淑芬) the question is on of the tenets of the younger generation's new "religion" - clubbing.
At a rehearsal Wednesday, Yao said that for many, going out is a ritual similar to going to a weekly church service. But, Yao said, many go to these "services" with the intention of finding short-term liaisons instead of relaxation form the rigors of daily life. To emphasize the nightlife-religion parallel, Pub and Pop's five acts alternate between nightspot and church settings.
Yao, who teaches at the National Taiwan College of Arts (國立台灣藝術學院), used to be a nightowl herself and drew on her experience for inspiration. She created the piece to explore why people decide to go out, or why some others may be reluctant to do so. Because Yao "does not want to give a definite answer or provide a value judgment," there is not story line.
Yao, however, offers a somber view about this new religion of "going out." In one act, a skeleton takes center stage to symbolize a dim view of modern nightlife, The six main performers take turns trying to talk or dance with the skeleton only to end up talking to themselves, in a scene that reflects the often failed attempts at communication in a nightspot. One dancer tells the skeleton it looks too pale and should take some vitamins to keep on dancing - a thinly veiled reference to the drug-taking commonly equated with clubbing.
Like Century's first performance, Exit (走出•出走), Pub and Pop also combines dance, theater, music and video.
Musicians were drawn form three vastly different genres - Koji Sakurai (櫻井弘二) made electronic dance tracks, Yin Zheng-yang (殷正洋) produced classical and pop songs and Huang Shu-ying's (黃淑瑛) wrote jazzy cello pieces.
Liu Chi-hsiung (劉吉雄) and Liu Chien-wei (劉建偉), who won first-prize in the Experimental Film category at last year's Taipei Film Festival, provide the visuals for Pub and Pop.
For this generation, religion has been replaced by clubbing. Both offer rites of passage, producer Hsu Ya-hung (許雅紅) said. "By going to pubs, young people find their identity."
Performance Notes:
What: Pub and Pop, by Century Contemporary Dance Company
When: May 3, 7pm; May 4, 7pm; May 5, 2pm and 7pm; May 6, 2pm.
Where: Experimental Stage at the National Theater (國家戲劇院實驗劇場)
Ticket: NT$400 at the venue, FNAC and other ticket outlets
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