Chou Shu-yi (周書毅), like a lot of choreographers, is interested in exploring the development of movement and how to integrate movement with his environment, society and life, as well as the affect all these have on a creation.
He also really enjoys collaborations, with other dancers and choreographers, theater directors, musicians, videographers and many, many other artists, something that has been evident from the beginning of his career, when he was one of the founding members of the male dance collective that is now known as Horse (驫舞劇場).
After his 1875 Ravel & Bolero won the Sadler’s Wells Theatre “International Dance Competition Award” in 2009, and his Start With the Body won a Danish choreography competition the following year, he founded his own company, Chou Shu-yi and Dancers (周先生與舞者們) in 2011, which he envisioned as a team platform not only for his own works, but those of other young Taiwanese. The company sponsored the Next Choreography Project (下一個編舞計畫) for several years before Chou turned to other forms of collaboration.
Photo courtesy of Max Lee
Chou’s works have run the gamut from solo pieces, such as 2011’s Faceless (我／不要／臉), to the terrific Visible and Invisible (看得見的城市，看不見的人) in 2014 — a huge multi-dancer piece created for the National Theater — to dances for other companies and small collaborative installation projects for museums and other facilities, to video-centric pieces such as last year’s Drift In The Book and The Last Day of Your Book (有河書店的最後一天 ).
This weekend he is at the Polymer Art Space (空場藝術聚落) in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) with Break & Break! (無用之地), which combines an exhibition of Chou’s video works from his travels and a live performance.
Chou said the videos are ones that he has made over the past two to three years around Taiwan, including Taitung and other east coast towns, where he explored old factories and buildings slated for demolition because the government wants to repurpose the land, as well as trips to China and Mongolia.
Photo courtesy of Chou Shu-ii
He said he is interested in the link between habitat and humanity and his relationship with cities themselves. The pieces are meditations on the meaning of “break”: it could be just a pause or a rest, or it could mean complete destruction and awaiting rebirth, he said.
The videos will be projected onto the walls at Polymer.
He has been working on the project since December last year, with videographer Max Lee (李國漢), sound designer Wang Yu-jun (王榆鈞) and lighting designer Chuang Chih-heng (莊知恆).
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