The National Taichung Theater and the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts is presenting four dance-themed short films this month free of charge. The four films were produced under a joint project called “Dance en Scene” between the two Taiwanese venues and their counterparts in Singapore (Esplanade — Theatres on the Bay) and Hong Kong (Tai Kwun — Centre for Heritage and Arts), the Taichung theater said on Monday.
The work commissioned by the Taichung theater is a collaboration involving two Taiwanese choreographers — Chen Wu-kang (陳武康) and Yu Yen-fang (余彥芳) — and Hong Kong film director Maurice Lai (黎宇文), according to the statement.
In Transmission: Beginning Step into Walk/Dance Project (山林轉換：走跳計畫初步), Lai documents how Chen and Yu tapped into their journeys exploring Taiwan’s mountains and came up with an improvisational performance as their finished work, the Taichung theater said.
Photo courtesy of National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts
Meanwhile, the Kaohsiung arts center, also known as Weiwuying, presents After Sea Level Rise, I ...(暖化之後，我住在…) featuring its artist-in-residence, choreographer Chou Shu-yi (周書毅). Co-directed by Chou and William Lu (呂威聯), the film shows Chou dancing on the rooftop of Weiwuying to music composed by Wang Yu-jun (王榆鈞), to share his “perspectives on the future of climate change and flood,” said Weiwuying.
In the film presented by Esplanade, Rooms, Singaporean choreographer and dancer Albert Tiong (張永祥) retraces his three-decade career and asks, “Who am I really?”
The offering from Hong Kong is titled Terry-Fying (Work in Progress) (毛‧恐不入 毛鬙鬙), which originates from choreographer and performer Terry Tsang’s (曾景輝) previous work about his fear of hair. In the film, which is part of his research for a future work, Tsang explores life and death through chanting and movements from a Taoist ritual for the dead called “Breaking Hell.”
Photo courtesy of National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts
Weiwuying is currently screening the four films daily at 11am until March 28, except on Tuesdays, while the Taichung theater will screen them from 12pm to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Photo courtesy of National Taichung Theater
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