Tango is often seen as the dance of longing — and loss — duets that play out love affairs, failed lives, lost dreams or memories of far-off lands. However, it can also be joyful and jazzy, given the spirit of improvisation that has kept tango alive since its “golden years” of the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
Tango may have originated in Buenos Aires, but today its fans and masters can be found the world over as shown by Japanese dancers Kyoko and Hiroshi Yamao’s success at the Seventh World Championship of Tango in 2009.
The passion for tango has been growing in Taiwan for well over a decade. There are milongas, or tango dance parties, held on almost a weekly basis in Taipei, which has become a regular stop on tours by tango masters.
Photo: courtesy of Taiwantangoasi
Contemporary Argentine tango master Gustavo Naveira is on tour with his family and a new show, Tango Generations, and will be in Taipei this week for a series of performances, milongas and classes.
Naveira gained international fame when he appeared in director Sally Potter’s 1997 film, The Tango Lesson. However, he has more than three decades of experience performing and is known for both his dancing and work as a choreographer. He is also known for his new take on the music of Argentine tango composer Astor Piazzolla, who helped transform the genre by incorporating elements of jazz and classical music into the traditional tango form.
Joining Naveira on tour is his wife, Giselle Anne, and daughter and son, Ariadna and Federico. Fernando Sanchez will partner Ariadna, while Federico will dance with Sabrina Masso. Giselle Anne is a graduate of the National Dance School of Buenos Aires and has been a performer for 25 years. She and Naveira met in 1995, and the rest, as they say, was history.
Photo: courtesy of Taiwantangoasi
Like Giselle Anne, Ariadna is a graduate of the National Dance School, while Federico began dancing the tango at age four. Both siblings took ballet and modern dance classes and worked with their mother, Olga Besio, and her “Tango with Children” classes while they were still kids themselves, paving the way for their careers as dance instructors as well as performers.
The three couples will perform their theater show at the Liberty Square Convention Center (自由廣場國際演藝廳) beginning at 7pm on Wednesday night.
The show will be followed by a welcome milonga with masters performances at the American Club in China (ACC, 47 Bei-an Rd, Taipei) at 9pm on Wednesday. On June 9 there will be a Grand Milonga and masters performance at 9pm at Neo Studio, located at 5F, 22, Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路22號5樓), and a farewell milonga back at the ACC on June 10 from 9pm to 1am. All the milongas will feature a traditional tango floorshow.
Photo: courtesy of Taiwantangoasi
Though the two milongas at the ACC have to wrap up by 1am, the organizers say they plan on sticking to Argentine tradition for the Grand Milonga, which will go until 3am.
Tickets for the welcome milonga are NT$600, while the Grand Milonga costs NT$1,650 and the farewell one is NT$450.
In addition, Gustave and Giselle Anne will be teaching a 16-hour seminar over the course of four days, while each of the three couples will be offering one-and-a-half hour workshops. Advance registration is required for the seminar and workshops. Details about the classes and prices for each can be found at the organizers’ Web site: www.taiwantangoasi.com or on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/taiwantangoasi. Specially priced packages are available for a combination of classes and milongas and can also be bought online through artsticket.com.tw, while the tickets for the milongas will also be available at the door.
As a testament to the popularity of tango in Asia, the organizers say the Navieras are attracting enthusiasts from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and China for this week’s events.
April 14 to April 20 In March 1947, Sising Katadrepan urged the government to drop the “high mountain people” (高山族) designation for Indigenous Taiwanese and refer to them as “Taiwan people” (台灣族). He considered the term derogatory, arguing that it made them sound like animals. The Taiwan Provincial Government agreed to stop using the term, stating that Indigenous Taiwanese suffered all sorts of discrimination and oppression under the Japanese and were forced to live in the mountains as outsiders to society. Now, under the new regime, they would be seen as equals, thus they should be henceforth
Last week, the the National Immigration Agency (NIA) told the legislature that more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) risked having their citizenship revoked if they failed to provide proof that they had renounced their Chinese household registration within the next three months. Renunciation is required under the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), as amended in 2004, though it was only a legal requirement after 2000. Prior to that, it had been only an administrative requirement since the Nationality Act (國籍法) was established in
With over 80 works on display, this is Louise Bourgeois’ first solo show in Taiwan. Visitors are invited to traverse her world of love and hate, vengeance and acceptance, trauma and reconciliation. Dominating the entrance, the nine-foot-tall Crouching Spider (2003) greets visitors. The creature looms behind the glass facade, symbolic protector and gatekeeper to the intimate journey ahead. Bourgeois, best known for her giant spider sculptures, is one of the most influential artist of the twentieth century. Blending vulnerability and defiance through themes of sexuality, trauma and identity, her work reshaped the landscape of contemporary art with fearless honesty. “People are influenced by
Three big changes have transformed the landscape of Taiwan’s local patronage factions: Increasing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) involvement, rising new factions and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) significantly weakened control. GREEN FACTIONS It is said that “south of the Zhuoshui River (濁水溪), there is no blue-green divide,” meaning that from Yunlin County south there is no difference between KMT and DPP politicians. This is not always true, but there is more than a grain of truth to it. Traditionally, DPP factions are viewed as national entities, with their primary function to secure plum positions in the party and government. This is not unusual