Just back from almost three weeks in Scotland performing at the Edinburgh Fringe, the 11-year-old Body Expression Dance Theater (體相舞蹈劇場) returns to Taipei’s Experimental Theater tonight with its latest production, The Bubbles (泡氣球).
Last year company founder and choreographer Lee Ming-cheng (李名正) focused on interpersonal relationships across several decades in The Blooming Age (花漾流年). This year he is examining the stress caused by living in a high-pressure society — a serious look at human foibles, but with a twist.
After all, it’s hard not to giggle a bit at dancers wearing a variety of brightly hued, “Afro” bubble wigs, weaving their way around a collection of colorful balloons and a dozen or so installation pieces.
Photo Courtesy of Body Expression Dance Theater
The Bubbles holds the promise of being a visual feast as Lee continues his exploration of what he calls “contemporary urban consciousness” by combining choreography with multimedia, multi-technology programming.
Joining Lee’s six dancers for the 60-minute show are two guest performers: Yu Ya-hui (游雅慧), a Taipei Symphony Orchestra flautist who worked with Lee on The Blooming Age and The Lost Part (天堂的缺口) two years ago and has collaborated with him again on the music, and musician Huang Yuqian (黃玉倩).
After this weekend’s performances, the company will take the show to Quanta Hall in Taoyuan County for shows on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8.
The government released figures for October showing that, year on year, exports increased 49 percent to a record US$61.8 billion for the month. The dramatic increases were partly due to fall being the high season, but largely due to the AI boom driving demand for exports, which many investors fear is rapidly turning into a massive bubble. An editorial in this newspaper last month warned that the government should be ready in case the boom turns to bust. In previous boom-bust cycles, from shoes and textiles, through computer parts and accessories, to tools, bicycles and sporting goods, Taiwan has survived in
Nov. 30 to Dec. 6 It is said that those who refused to vacate Kipatauw’s upper settlement were knocked unconscious by Japanese agents and dragged to fingerprint the deeds. The Japanese coveted the site’s valuable white clay for Beitou District’s (北投) growing ceramics industry, and they were determined to acquire it by any means. The Indigenous Ketagalan settlement of Kipatauw had withstood centuries of external pressures and cultural erosion. Despite gradually losing much of their territory to Han settlers, they remained distinct into the early 20th century. By 1895, three communities persisted: the upper settlement near
The second floor of an unassuming office building in central Bangkok is a strange place to encounter the world’s largest rodent. Yet here, inside a small enclosure with a shallow pool, three capybaras are at the disposal of dozens of paying customers, all clamoring for a selfie. As people eagerly thrust leafy snacks toward the nonchalant-looking animals, few seem to consider the underlying peculiarity: how did this South American rodent end up over 10,000 miles from home, in a bustling Asian metropolis? Capybara cafes have been cropping up across the continent in recent years, driven by the animal’s growing internet fame.
How the politics surrounding President William Lai’s (賴清德) proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) supplementary special defense budget plays out is going to be very revealing. It will also be nerve-wracking, with political, geopolitical and even existential stakes in play that could change the course of history. Lai broke the news of the eight-year, multilevel national security plan in the Washington Post, describing the centerpiece of it this way: “I am also accelerating the development of ‘T-Dome,’ a multilayered, integrated defense system designed to protect Taiwan from [People’s Republic of China (PRC)] missiles, rockets, drones and combat aircraft.” For more details and