The Century Contemporary Dance Company will this weekend perform Chen Wei-ning’s (陳維寧) The Present (禮物之靈), a collaboration with two-time Chi Mei Art Ward winner Huang Chi-jiun (黃啟峻) and 2018 Taipei TOP Fashion Design Award winner Adam (林廷菡).
It is not the first time that company founder Yao Shu-fen (姚淑芬) has invited Chen to create a work for the troupe. In 2016, the company performed Lost in the Lust (慾土), two interpretations of the Ming dynasty erotic novel The Golden Lotus (金瓶梅), one by Chen and the other by Singaporean director/playwright Chong Tze Chien (張子健).
Chen earned a degree in psychology from Kaohsiung Medical University before entering the National Taipei University of the Arts’ graduate program in dance in 2009. After winning the Lo Man-fei (羅曼菲) dance scholarship, he traveled to Argentina to study tango. As a choreographer , he has developed a reputation for meticulousness and works that delve into the human psyche.
Photo courtesy of Century Contemporary Dance Company
Set on six dancers, The Present explores life, lust, death, ruin and fantasy — and tango — in what the company calls “a journey of desire.” However, this is one journey where desire often proves poisonous.
Huang took advantage of the unusual space of the small auditorium on the second floor of Fruit Wine Building at the Huashan 1914 Creative Park to design a black-and-white board game-like set, while Chen and Lin collaborated on the deconstructed costumes, working with the Kaulin Foundation (高林文創基金會), which promotes sewing and resource sharing.
■ Tonight and tomorrow at 6:30pm, tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
■ Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914), 2F Fruit Wine Building (果酒禮堂), 1, Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市八德路一段1號)
■ Tickets are NT$800 and NT$1,500, available at NTCH box offices, online at www.artsticket.com.tw, Eslite ticket counters, convenience store ticketing kiosks and at the door. Tonight’s show is sold out.
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