January is traditionally a slow time for dance, and not just because of the frigid temperatures. However, tonight sees the start of a two-part program that should be able to lure dance fans away from their space heaters.
The 2018 Dance Round Table (圓桌舞蹈計畫) at the National Experimental Theater is the third such production organized by Chang Ting-ting (張婷婷) under the auspices of her T.T.C. Dance (張婷婷獨立製作) company, and it features two separate shows that mix new and award-winning works from Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, the US, Russia and Spain.
This year’s production has grown in size and scope since Chang’s first in 2013. That show, the Dance Round Table/New Asian Inspiration (圓桌舞蹈計畫／亞裔新思維) was, as its title indicated, focused on young choreographers from Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia.
Photo Courtesy of Chang You-hsuan
For the second in 2016, she included European and US artists such as Laura Aris from Spain and two members of the New York City-based Shen Wei Dance Arts company.
For this year’s production, Chang drew on personal and professional connections, many made during her years taking part in American Dance Festival (ADF) events.
She said that she started to collaborate with Daniel Yeung (楊春江), director of the Hong Kong Dance Exchange program, about a-year-and-a-half ago, with the idea of sharing some of the works between his program and hers.
Photo Courtesy of Grant Halverson
“The idea is not to perform dances in just one place, but to perform them in different places, including specially commissioned works,” Chang said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
In addition to Chang, Yeung was working with curators in South Korea and Japan, so there were eight works by Hong Kong artists and five from the three nations in his show last weekend in Hong Kong.
One of the Taiwanese choreographers was Chen Yi-en (陳逸恩), who Chang commissioned to create a new work, No Turning Back (不回家), for her company to perform in Hong Kong and in Taipei.
Photo Courtesy of LASALA
Chen took part in the 2013 show when he was just a senior at National Taiwan University of Arts (國立台灣藝術大學). After graduating, he went on to dance with Cloud Gate 2 (雲門2). He finished his contract with the troupe last month and is getting ready to head off to France for a six-month residency.
Chang also decided to bring over A Major Clown in G-flat, a solo by Hong Kong-born Jennifer Mok (莫嫣).
“I picked Mok because she is more mature and danced with the City Contemporary Dance Company (城市當代舞蹈團) for about seven years,” Chang said. “I also wanted another female to balance the show.”
Both dances are part of “Program I Asian Wave,” which opens the round table tonight and then will be performed at Saturday’s matinee and Sunday evening.
Dehli-based Meghna Bhardwaj will open tonight’s show with Edges (beginnings), while Birdy by Lai Hung-chung (賴翃中) will close the program.
Chang said she met Bhardwaj at an ADF event in China a few years back, and again in South Korea where she was doing a residency.
“A very interesting and talented person. Unfortunately her musician could not come on this trip, so she will perform her solo to a recording,” Chang said.
Birdy, which will be performed by Cheng I-han (鄭伊涵) and Chien Lin-yi (簡麟懿), won Lai the first prize at the 16th Burgos & New York International Choreography Competition in Burgos, Spain, last year.
“Program II Western Poise,” which will be performed tomorrow and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon, features Brooklyn-based artist Jesse Zaritt; Pamela Pietro, an associate professor at New York University Tisch School for the Arts; dancers Jaoitz Osa and Garazi Etxaburu from Judith Argomani’s company LASALA in Spain; and Russians Anna Shchekleina and Aleksandr Frolov.
“The Russian couple are good friends of mine. We met five years ago at the American Dance Festival. Their piece, Essense, won a major award from a Russian contemporary dance festival. We talked a long time ago about them bringing it here,” Chang said.
Chang said she hoped Argomani would be able to visit Taipei, “but she could not make the trip this time, so her dancers are representing her,” and will perform IU, which premiered last year.
“I know Zaritt from ADF and from Shen Wei Arts Dance Company, where he used to dance. His background is very different from mainstream US choreographers, so I thought he would be interesting,” she said.
He will perform Send off, while Pietro will perform a new piece, all the things I thought I Knew but….
“Pamela I have known for 15 years, also from ADF, she’s a great teacher. We are also doing some workshops and she is a strong performer and teacher, with a lot to offer,” Chang said.
Dec. 9 to Dec. 15 When architect Lee Chung-yao (李重耀) heard that the Xinbeitou Train Station was to be demolished in 1988 for the MRT’s Tamsui line, he immediately reached out to the owner of Taiwan Folk Village (台灣民俗村). Lee had been advising Shih Chin-shan (施金山) on his pet project, a 52-hectare theme park in Changhua County that aimed to showcase traditional Taiwanese architecture, crafts and culture. Shih had wanted to build all the structures from scratch, but Lee convinced him to acquire historic properties and move them to the park grounds. Although the Cultural
Supplements are no cottage industry. Hawked by the likes of the Kardashian-Jenner clan, vitamin gummies have in recent years found popularity among millennials and zoomers, who are more receptive to supplements in the form of “powders, liquids and gummies” than older generations. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop — no stranger to dubious health trends — sells its own line of such supplements. On TikTok, influencers who shill multivitamin gummies — and more recently, vitamin patches resembling cutesy, colorful stickers or fine line tattoos — promise glowing skin, lush locks, energy boosts and better sleep. But if it’s real health benefits you’re after, you’re
The Taipei Times reported last week that housing transactions fell 15.3 percent last month, to under 20,000 units. However, the market boomed for the first eight months of the year, and observers expect it to show growth for the year as a whole. The fall was due to Central Bank intervention. “The negative impact of credit controls grew evident for the third straight month,” said Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) research manager Tseng Ching-ter (曾敬德), according to the report. Central Bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) in October said that the Central Bank implemented selective credit controls in September to cool the housing
Bitcoin topped US$100,000 for the first time this week as a massive rally in the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, largely accelerated by the election of Donald Trump, rolls on. The cryptocurrency officially rose six figures Wednesday night, just hours after the president-elect said he intends to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to be the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bitcoin has soared since Trump won the US presidential election on Nov. 5. The asset climbed from US$69,374 on Election Day, hitting as high as US$103,713 Wednesday, according to CoinDesk. And the latest all-time high arrives just two years after
RSS