Someone in Taipei has obviously been doing a lot of bye-byes to Terpsichore (the Greek muse of dance) because 2006 has definitely turned into the "Year of Dance."
In the past three months alone there has been an astonishing variety of performances from dance companies big and small, local and international, first-timers and favorite friends, providing a feast both for the eyes and mind, although a bit hard on the wallet.
Next up on the calendar is the return of the Bejart Ballet Lausanne to the National Theater next week, for what will be its third visit in six years.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BEJART BALLET LAUSANNE
The company's program for its three-night, one matinee run will show audiences why 79-year old French choreographer Maurice Bejart has been such a vital part of the European Dance Theater movement for decades,
influencing an entire generation of choreographers such as Pina Bausch, Boris Eifman and Matthew Bourne.
The three pieces -- L'Amour, la Danse (also known as "The Best of Bejart"), L'Oiseau de feu and Elton-Berg -- demonstrate the three main reasons for Bejart's enduring popularity with audiences (although not always with critics).
Reason number one is Bejart's sexed-up takes on classical ballet with dances that celebrate male beauty and eroticism (such as Bolero), not to mention his flair for theatrical spectacles.
L'Amour, la Danse would certainly qualify as a spectacle in anyone's book. It was created last year as a way of celebrating Bejart's more than half a century as a choreographer by providing extracts from some of his more famous pieces. This anthology for 20 dancers includes solos, pas de deux and ensemble pieces from Romeo et Juliet, Le Presbytere, Brel and Barbara and The Seven Greek Dances -- and lots of good-looking men.
The second reason for his popularity has been his interest in exploring the political and social forces confronting society as well as injecting old themes into modern contexts.
In his 1970 production L'Oiseau de feu, Bejart gives a revolutionary twist to the Igor Stravinsky score for the Ballet Russe's 1910 The Firebird. Bejart completely revitalizes the Stravinsky music by portraying the firebird as the leader of a group of revolutionaries.
The third reason Bejart is so popular is his ability to make ballet or modern dance approachable to almost anyone. This has been helped by his enthusiastic embrace of non-traditional music, including rock (Queen), pop (U2) or "contemporary" (Jacques Brel).
In Elton-Berg Bejart uses one piece of choreography, set to two very different pieces of music, a song by Elton John and a composition by Alban Berg.
Bejart's muses are still going strong, and audiences in Taipei and elsewhere are the richer for it.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION:
WHAT: Bejart Ballet Lausanne
WHERE: National Theater of the CKS Memorial Hall
WHEN: July 6-8 at 7:30pm and July 9 at 2:30pm
TICKETS: NT$800, NT$1,000,NT$1,500, NT$2,000, NT$2,500, NT$3,000,NT$3,500 and NT$4,000
While global attention is finally being focused on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) gray zone aggression against Philippine territory in the South China Sea, at the other end of the PRC’s infamous 9 dash line map, PRC vessels are conducting an identical campaign against Indonesia, most importantly in the Natuna Islands. The Natunas fall into a gray area: do the dashes at the end of the PRC “cow’s tongue” map include the islands? It’s not clear. Less well known is that they also fall into another gray area. Indonesia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) claim and continental shelf claim are not
Since their leader Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and others were jailed as part of several ongoing bribery investigations, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has risen in the polls. Additionally, despite all the many and varied allegations against Ko and most of the top people in the party, it has held together with only a tiny number of minor figures exiting. The TPP has taken some damage, but vastly less than the New Power Party (NPP) did after it was caught up in a bribery scandal in 2020. The TPP has for years registered favorability in the thirties, and a Formosa poll
Nov. 4 to Nov. 10 Apollo magazine (文星) vowed that it wouldn’t play by the rules in its first issue — a bold statement to make in 1957, when anyone could be jailed for saying the wrong thing. However, the introduction to the inaugural Nov. 5 issue also defined the magazine as a “lifestyle, literature and art” publication, and the contents were relatively tame for the first four years, writes Tao Heng-sheng (陶恒生) in “The Apollo magazine that wouldn’t play by the rules” (不按牌理出牌的文星雜誌). In 1961, the magazine changed its mission to “thought, lifestyle and art” and adopted a more critical tone with
Chiayi County is blessed with several worthwhile upland trails, not all of which I’ve hiked. A few weeks ago, I finally got around to tackling Tanghu Historic Trail (塘湖古道), a short but unusually steep route in Jhuci Township (竹崎). According to the Web site of the Alishan National Scenic Area (阿里山國家風景區), the path climbs from 308m above sea level to an elevation of 770m in just 1.58km, an average gradient of 29 percent. And unless you arrange for someone to bring you to the starting point and collect you at the other end, there’s no way to avoid a significant amount