Street dance usually calls to mind American hip hop artists clad in loose baggy clothes, sneakers and flashy accessories, showing attitude in part through what they wear. But dance troupe Maniac Family stood out from the crowd at the Taipei Metro Street Dance Competition (捷運盃捷客街舞大賽) for their kung fu-inspired dress: black and gold detailed handmade costumes with an embroidery of a dragon and a qipao collar.
In its 14th year, the hip-hop dance competition is a platform for street dancers of any ability to showcase their talent. This year’s competition attracted 1,471 participants from 239 dance groups, including international participants from the Philippines, Japan and Singapore.
The first round took place on July 14 and July 15, when Maniac Family showed off their stuff, while the finals will be begin tomorrow at 1pm at Daan Park MRT Station (大安森林公園捷運站).
Photo courtesy of Taipei Metro Street Competition
Winners will receive up to NT$160,000 in prize money.
Maniac Family member Yu Hsin-yu (俞心蕙) says she was initially attracted to hip-hop through US-based television station MTV, and maintained a passion for it because it “made me feel beautiful and I could express myself through the rhythmic beat.”
Yu adds that hip-hop became a platform for Maniac Family to express pride in their culture.
“We [Maniac Family] chose this Chinese music and kung fu-inspired costumes for our competition because we are proud to showcase our Taiwanese identity and represent Chinese culture on a global stage,” Yu says.
Zhang Ai-yuan (張愛媛), another troupe member, says they will next month represent Taiwan and compete in Hiphop International in the US, a big opportunity that comes with enormous financial pressures.
“Not only do we spend a lot of time practicing — around three or four hours every day late at night — we spend [a lot of money] making costumes and attending bigger competitions. So we have to fundraise,” Zhang says.
For Lin Ya-lun (林雅倫), K-pop has shaped her dance journey.
Lin, who hails from Squall dance group, taught herself hip-hop when she was in elementary school, watching Korean pop music videos. But even with her extensive experience Lin echoes a sentiment common to most dancers, regardless of what influenced them.
“All the other competitors were so good,” Lin says. “It pushes me to work even harder.”
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday delivered an address marking the first anniversary of his presidency. In the speech, Lai affirmed Taiwan’s global role in technology, trade and security. He announced economic and national security initiatives, and emphasized democratic values and cross-party cooperation. The following is the full text of his speech: Yesterday, outside of Beida Elementary School in New Taipei City’s Sanxia District (三峽), there was a major traffic accident that, sadly, claimed several lives and resulted in multiple injuries. The Executive Yuan immediately formed a task force, and last night I personally visited the victims in hospital. Central government agencies and the
Australia’s ABC last week published a piece on the recall campaign. The article emphasized the divisions in Taiwanese society and blamed the recall for worsening them. It quotes a supporter of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) as saying “I’m 43 years old, born and raised here, and I’ve never seen the country this divided in my entire life.” Apparently, as an adult, she slept through the post-election violence in 2000 and 2004 by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the veiled coup threats by the military when Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) became president, the 2006 Red Shirt protests against him ginned up by
As with most of northern Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) settlements, the village of Arunothai was only given a Thai name once the Thai government began in the 1970s to assert control over the border region and initiate a decades-long process of political integration. The village’s original name, bestowed by its Yunnanese founders when they first settled the valley in the late 1960s, was a Chinese name, Dagudi (大谷地), which literally translates as “a place for threshing rice.” At that time, these village founders did not know how permanent their settlement would be. Most of Arunothai’s first generation were soldiers
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan.
RSS