Taiwanese choreographer Huang Yi (黃翊) and his industrial robot “Kuka” debuted in Japan on Sunday with a human-machine dance performance, as part of the “We Taiwan” exhibition at the Kansai Expo in Osaka.
The performance, which was part of a government-sponsored program to showcase Taiwanese cultural output, featured Huang dancing in sync with Kuka. They have toured 47 cities since 2012.
This was the first time the show had been staged in Japan, and a Japanese-language version of the audio description was recorded by a local voice actor.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Culture
The team previously produced an English-language version for the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the US.
Speaking at a post-show talk, Huang said that incorporating an audio description was a way to “expand the possibilities for artistic participation.”
“If art can help more people get closer to it, and allow visually impaired people to participate through audio description, then that is one way art, which is often seen as useless, can actually help people,” he said.
Performing in Japan felt like “a dream come true,” Huang said, adding that the idea of dancing with a robot came from the Japanese manga Doraemon.
He also showed the audience a childhood drawing of Doraemon that had been kept by his father.
“Although my life was difficult when I was young, Doraemon made me believe that technology could change one’s destiny,” Huang said, adding that the character’s use of gadgets to help others influenced the way he created performances involving interaction with machines.
After working with Kuka for more than a decade, it feels “a little like I have transferred part of my soul” into the robot, Huang said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
RSS