Last year's theme for the Taipei arts festival – Oriental Avant-Garde – was so popular with the public that the organizers decided to hold it over for its eighth incarnation. Continuing with last year's tradition, organizers have arranged a multitude of performances, seminars, workshops and off-festival events that merge disparate elements of tradition and modern into what they hope to be a satisfying whole.
The Taipei Arts Festival kicked off its month-long event at Taiwan University Sports Hall (臺大體育館) last week with a stunning performance by New York-based favorites LaMaMa Great Jones Reparatory company, led by award-winning director Ellen Stewart, who performed a revised version of the Greek tragedy Dionysus.
Distilling the energy of the original play and combining it with innovative elements allowed the audience to experience the clash between the traditional text and avant-garde creation in modern theater. With cast members hailing from all over the globe, Dionysus serves as a symbol of the multiplicity of traditions that the festival is attempting to draw upon.
Today will see South Korea's Theater Company Nottle's opening of The Return, a performance based on the German playwright Bertolt Brecht's epic Legend of the Dead Soldier. This lyrical interpretation of Brecht's poem raises fundamental questions about life and war and focuses on how to live happily in an age of endless conflict. Building upon the avant-garde, Nottle infuses its performance with many different theatrical languages including voice, contemporary dance, mime and percussion.
Hailing from Japan, Cicala Mvta -- the name derives from the inscription on the epitaph of a legendary street singer in Japan -- will be performing from their 2004 album Ghost Circus, a unique retro-futuristic combination of big band, world music and Japanese grass roots music. Cicala Mvta's music is a kind of street music that was popular in Japan before the advent of radio and television. Originally played at funerals or the opening of local shops, it features chindon -- a kind of Japanese drum -- saxophones, clarinets and tubas.
For those interested in more traditional fare, there's Wang Shin-shin (王心心) version of nanguan music. Having performed at nearly one hundred international arts and music events, this veteran musicologist will team up with the celebrated master of the guqin, You Li-yu (游麗玉), to perform Burial of Flowers which depicts the frailty and sensitivity of the heroine from the classic Chinese novel The Dream of the Red Cahmber. While many nanguan troupes have integrated elements of theater and dance into their performances and thereby making it mainstream, Wang has consciously retained the essence of the traditional art form. Some may find a return to tradition after years of innovation a little strange, but for Wang, the perpetual innovation of tradition has led full circle to the traditional itself being innovative.
For something a little less esoteric, the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts Acrobatics Company will be tumbling around Zhongshan Hall with flags and dancing with balls and rings performing En vol dans les etoiles. Trained for at least eight years before they are allowed in front of the audience, these acrobats will perform unbelievable feats that combine traditional and modern techniques.
A comprehensive, though predominately Chinese-language list of performance times and schedules can be found on the official festival Web site at www.tpeart.org.tw or call (02) 5556-4815.
For your information:
The Return (歸途) by Nottle Theater Group (Seoul) at Guling St Theater (牯嶺街小劇場), 2, Alley 5, Guling St, Taipei (台北市牯嶺街五巷二號). Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm. * Tickets are NT$150
Ghost Circus (幽靈馬戲團) by Cicala Mvta (Japan) at Taipei Zhongshan Hall (台北市中山堂), 98 Yenping S Rd, Taipei (台北市延平南路98號) on Oct. 12 and 13 at 7:30pm. * Tickets are NT$200.
CH3CCL3 releaser (三氯乙烷釋放體) by 8213 Physical Dance Theater (Taiwan) at Guling St Theater (牯嶺街小劇場) on Oct. 13 and Oct. 14 at 7:30pm and Oct. 14 and Oct. 15 at 2:30pm. * Tickets are NT$150.
Meeting with Vajrasattva (金剛心) by U Theater (Taiwan) at Daan Park on Oct. 14 and Oct. 15 at 7:30pm.
* Admission is free.
Paris-Baghdad Acoustics (巴格達之聲) by Fawzy al-Aiedy (France/Iraq) at Da-an Park on Oct. 20 and Oct. 21 at 7:30pm. * Admission is free.
Not for Exhibition Purposes (非關展覽) by Choy Ka Fai (Singapore) at Guling St Theater (牯嶺街小劇場) on Oct. 20 and Oct. 21 at 7:30pm and Oct. 21 and Oct. 22 at 2:30pm.
* Tickets are NT$150.
Song of Pipa Player and The Song of Burying Flowers (琵琶行、葬花吟) with Wang Sing Sing (Taiwan) at Taipei Zhongshan Hall (台北市中山堂) on Oct. 21 at 7:30pm and Oct. 22 at 2:30pm. * Tickets are NT$800.
HANG-G by Makoto Matsushima with Friends (Japan) at Guling St Theater (牯嶺街小劇場) on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 at 7:30pm and Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 at 2:30pm. * Tickets are NT$150.
Pak-kuan Encounter (北管驚奇) (Taiwan) at Zhongshan Hall Plaza at Zhongshan Hall (台北市中山堂) on Oct. 28 at 7:30pm. * Admission is free.
En vol dans les etoiles (星夢曲) by National Taiwan College of Performing Arts Troupe of Acrobatics (Taiwan) at Zhongshan Hall (台北市中山堂) on Oct.28 at 7:30pm and Oct. 29 at 2:30pm. * Tickets cost from NT$300 to NT$1,200.
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