It's been four long years since the Belgian dance troupe Ultima Vez last visited Taipei, and Flemish founder and choreographer Wim Vandekeybus’ thought-provoking multimedia productions have been missed.
But thank Terpsichore or whatever gods watch over Taiwan’s dance world, because the company is not only back for a fifth visit, it is bringing over its latest production, nieuwZwart (“New Black”), which premiered last month in Barcelona.
Another miracle for these cash-strapped times is that the promoter, the Taipei Art International Association, has managed to keep the cheapest seats at NT$500, only NT$100 more than they were four years ago, while keeping the top ticket price the same, at NT$2,000. Though the NT$500 seats for all three shows quickly sold out, there are still tickets in the other price ranges.
As with other productions seen here — Puur in 2005, Blush in 2003, Inasmuch as Life is Borrowed in 2001 and In Spite of Wishing and Wanting in 1999 — theatergoers can expect a seamless blending of very physical dance, film clips and text that will leave you both questioning your eyesight and your moral universe.
In addition to Vandekeybus, there are two familiar names or faces attached to New Black: Flemish author Peter Verhelst, who worked with Ultima Vez on Inner Fields (2001), Blush and Sonic Boom (2003), contributed the text, while dancer/actor Gavin Webber, who performed with the company here in 2001, rejoined the troupe for this piece. But they are the only ones.
Vandekeybus wanted new blood for New Black, so he overhauled his company, cutting the number of performers to just seven: four dancers, and three musicians led by Belgian rocker Mauro Pawlowski, who composed the score.
This will be the first time Ultima Vez has used live music in one of its Taipei shows; traveling costs and scheduling logistics have meant that productions that featured live musicians in Europe had to rely on recorded music here.
Vandekeybus, who turns 46 on Tuesday, has created 18 dance productions and 13 film shorts since launching his company 23 years ago. The films include clips used in the productions, shorts of his productions staged in cities or rural locations, and others. Since he doesn’t come from a dance background (he was interested in psychology at university and then in photography and filmmaking), he calls his choreography simply “movements.”
But there is usually nothing simple about them. “Trust exercises” might be a better term, for Ultima Vez performers run, jump and hurl themselves about with often frightening intensity, or hurl objects at one another. Though Vandekeybus considered his works more “performances” than “dances,” what may look like improvisation is, of course, tightly scripted.
While Vandekeybus usually examines real-life dilemmas and conflicts — the mysteries of life, love, lies, betrayal, genocide — his pieces have also been influenced by real-life events or eerie coincidences. While he was working on Inasmuch as Life is Borrowed, which was about the human body and the mysteries that mark the beginning and end of the human experience, his father died. During creation of New Black, which is about rebirth and existence, his child was born.
In interviews, Vandekeybus describes this latest work as being about the idea of change and evolution through destruction and refusal.
From Taipei, Ultima Vez will return home to prepare for a five-city series of performances that launch the European tour of New Black and will keep the troupe traveling through early next year, aside from the standard European August holiday.
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