There have been so many dance festivals this year that the cannibal-ization and cross-pollination of performers has made it difficult to differentiate one from another.
That’s why Ping Heng (平珩), founder of Dance Forum Taipei (舞蹈空間) and the Crown Arts Festival (皇冠藝術節), knew she needed to do something different to make her program stand out. She has built a reputation for showcasing young artists on the verge of making a name for themselves. However, young wasn’t going to cut it this month, when the 15th Crown festival would be competing with the NTCH’s Young Stars, New Vision series, the Huashan Living Arts Festival and the New Festival of Art and Technology. So she went for older.
“Usually we invite new artists to create new work, but this year we thought there was a lot of competition for young choreographers. However, those in the middle of their careers may not have as many invitations,” said Daphne Wang (王嘉蔚), Dance Forum’s international manager. “For example, Chang Feng-hsiang (張鳳翔) [who opened the festival last weekend], is 62, but she just got her flamenco diploma in Spain when she was 60, so you could say she was mid-career.”
Photo Courtesy of Sun Son Theatre
The Taiwan-born, US-based Chang, who performs flamenco to Taiwanese music, epitomizes the kind of cross-cultural performances the Crown festival has become known for, and the rest of the program — spread out over three weekends — is just as diverse.
Starting tonight, the 12-year-old Sun Son Theatre (身聲劇場) will bring The Dragon Chaser (尋龍記) to the Crown Theater, after shows in its hometown of Tamsui in May and the Kaohsiung Arts Festival in August.
“Sun Son is a typical middle-aged group. It is a Taishin Arts Award nominee this year for The Dragon Chaser, but this will be the first time it has performed in Taipei for a paying audience,” Wang said.
Photo Courtesy of Shaleigh Comerford
The Dragon Chaser tells the tale of three young warriors who follow a dragon into a world of myth and magic. The production blends dance, modern theater and world music.
W Theatre Productions (劇織造) commissioned Schibboleth (詩剝裂), a multi-phase project by Taiwanese dancer-choreographer Chou Shu-yi (周書毅) and musician Hsieh Chieh-ting (謝杰廷) that is inspired by the life and poems of Paul Celan.
While both Hsieh and Chou seem a little too young to fit into the festival’s “mid-career” theme, their producer, W Theater founder Jerry Chen (陳午明), does fit the bill. Chen has become known for producing small, quirky shows.
Schibboleth began with a performance by Hsieh and Chou in August at Tamtamart in what used to be East Berlin. The second phase was sound-installations and what the duo called “performative” activities at bookstores and the Nanhai Gallery (南海藝廊) in Taipei last month. The final segment is next weekend’s six shows.
The Romania-born Celan grew up in a German-speaking Jewish home and became a major post-World War II European poet, writing in German. His parents and many other relatives were killed in concentration camps, and Celan ended up living in Paris until his suicide in 1970.
Schibboleth is the title of one of his poems about the Holocaust.
In their performance notes, Hsieh and Chou said they wanted to “feel the body and the sound in these words and to find the meaning which is flowing and changing in theater. We don’t intend to present his life but to remind ourselves in what way we remember or forget the past.”
And finally, from Dec. 3 to Dec. 5, four dancers from Jenni Hong Dance (等等將你) will join four from Dance Forum Taipei in Stay (癮). Taiwan-born, New York City-based Jenni Hong (洪于倫) founded her company in 2004, creating physical-theater work influenced by contact improvisation, her studies in social psychology and her training as a yoga instructor.
“Her show will be three short pieces, including a new one created for the festival. She arrives next week and will start creating the new piece then,” Wang said.
Additional Performances (all at Crown Theater)
WHAT: W Theatre Productions (劇織造/台灣), Schibboleth (詩剝裂)
WHEN: Nov. 25 to Nov. 28 at 7:30pm, Nov. 27 and Nov. 28 at 2:30pm
ADMISSION: NT$650
WHAT: Jenni Hong Dance (等等將你) and Dance Forum Taipei (舞蹈空間), Stay (癮)
WHEN: Dec. 3 and Dec. 4 at 7:30pm and Dec. 4 and Dec. 5 at 2:30 pm
ADMISSION: NT$450
DETAILS: Tickets for all three performances are available through NTCH box offices and ERA ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw and www.ticket.com.tw or at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks
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