The performance opened with a dawn setting, the beginning of an 80-minute production that gradually unfolded with the drifting sounds of the mountain in the morning, at dusk and in different seasons. The seven acts of the show--"Dawn Breaking," "Wind in the Bamboo Forest," "Sudden Rain," "Solitary Walk at Dusk," "Clouds and Mists at Night," "Coolness" and "Endless Cloud Sea"--were interpreted through the playing of drums, gongs, dulcimers, flutes, cellos and the erhu, a two-stringed fiddle. At the same time, the performance featured a visual vocabulary drawn from the martial arts, tai chi and sacred dance. The aural and visual feast, presented at the National Theater at the National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center in Taipei this past March, was The Mountain Dawn, the latest creation of Taiwan's celebrated theater troupe U-Theatre.
"I like its combination of music, drama and dance," says Ted Andrews, a visitor from the United States, after watching the performance at the National Theater. "Though I don't understand the Chinese chanting of poetic text, I can feel it tells a story and there's more behind it. It's different from the excitement and fun at the performance of a Japanese Taiko drumming troupe that I saw years ago at the Edinburgh Festival--the work by Taiwan's U-Theatre appears very enlightening, like a Shakespearean play with a strong message."
Another audience member, Bai Hui-fang, a teacher from Hsinchu in northern Taiwan, says she learned about U-Theatre a few years ago when the troupe offered a performing arts workshop at her school. Impressed by U-Theatre's ideals regarding artistic creation, Bai says she has since sought out the group's performances and has enjoyed them every time, adding that she always finds something innovative in their presentation.
"Initially, U-Theatre's productions mainly centered on Taiwanese folk arts, dramas and rituals," Bai observes. "Then they added tai chi and unique dance styles like sacred dance. And in the last few years, they've incorporated drums and martial arts. Drums, in particular, seem to be given a significantly larger emphasis now. From what I've seen, the shows staged by some drumming groups often have a violent streak, but strangely enough, while U-Theatre's creations have a lot of athletic drumming, they also transmit a sense of serenity that can calm the audience down and touch them in a subtle way."
Evolving Style
U-Theatre's unique performing style has been evolving since the troupe's inception in 1988. To cultivate their physical and mental abilities, U-Theatre members follow a strict daily training regimen that includes a full menu of tai chi, martial arts, meditation, practicing different types of percussion and rehearsing. The comparative rigors of U-Theatre training enable troupe members to hone their artistic and spiritual abilities, develop stamina and refine their skills to a level that other performing groups are hard-pressed to match. Currently, U-Theatre has 16 professional, full-time performers.
U-Theatre founder and artistic director Liu Ruo-yu says that the group has experienced major developmental shifts roughly every five years. "Our first five years could be summarized as a quest for enlightenment," she says. "We traveled all over Taiwan to draw inspiration from grassroots culture, making it the base ingredient of our performances. Those early years were also a personal journey that helped me gain renewed understanding of my own roots and myself."
Liu graduated with a master's degree in theater arts from New York University in 1983 and was subsequently selected to participate in a yearlong workshop led by renowned Polish theater director Jerzy Grotowski. Her training with Grotowski changed her entire approach to life and with it her outlook on performing arts, helping to clarify her understanding that a play, in its essence, is the expression of an individual's attitude toward life.
After returning to Taiwan, Liu resolved to form a troupe dedicated to opening up the body and mind, one that would combine modern theatrical techniques with Taiwanese culture. Her vision eventually led to the birth of U-Theatre. The name was selected because the sound of the letter "U" is similar to that of the Mandarin Chinese word for "excellence," and the same word was also used for "performers" in ancient China.
U-Theatre's latest creation, The Mountain Dawn (Courtesy of U-Theatre)
"According to Zen principles, a true artist should pursue the Tao [spiritual cultivation] together with art," Liu says. "Such a combination is the goal of artistic creation and also of life itself. With this theory in mind, U-Theatre has created performances that seek to explore the meaning of the self as well as the value of life while leading the viewers into a state of centeredness and self-awareness."
Liu describes U-Theatre's second five-year phase as "settlement" with an "inward" focus. During this period, the troupe's performers worked to achieve inner peace and then project that peace into their work. This critical transformation was spurred by the arrival of Malaysia-born Huang Chih-chun, who joined the troupe in 1993 as drumming director at Liu's invitation. Huang began learning to play the drums at the age of 6 and began martial arts training at 10. He was formerly a member of Taiwan's prestigious Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and had also studied meditation in India and Tibet in the early 1990s.
Huang's philosophy of practicing meditation prior to drumming radically changed the character of U-Theatre and became the foundation upon which the group's training and performances are built. Drumming and meditation, together with martial arts and theatrical staging, have since become essential elements of U-Theatre's productions and performance style.
Looking Into the Self
"Oftentimes, our mind dwells in the past or in the future," Huang says. "And we don't hear the birds singing, feel the breeze or see the blue sky. The introspection achieved through meditation helps one look into the self, become alive to one's surroundings and find peace of mind despite the chaos and confusion of the outside world. Our goal is to convey such inner peace to the audience and present the power and the beauty of nature through the medium of our art."
In 1997, U-Theatre celebrated its 10th anniversary with the premiere of Sound of the Ocean. The 90-minute production centered on the cyclical journey of water from small raindrops to a stream and from a river to the ocean. It was propelled by rhythms pounded out on temple bells, gongs and drums of different sizes, evoking the sounds and sensations of water--its elemental, cool surge and gentle ebb.
During this second five-year phase of development, U-Theatre performers began gaining a reputation for powerful expression, extraordinary technical prowess and daring feats of speed and precision. In France, Ocean won the Best of Show award at the Festival d'Avignon in 1998 and the Audience Choice Award at the Biennale de la Danse de Lyon in 2000. In the United States, the New York Times called the show "mesmerizing and handsomely choreographed."
Liu says Sound of the Ocean was a milestone in U-Theatre's efforts to create an intense physical and emotional experience, as well as in its efforts to win international recognition. As its reputation grew, the troupe began receiving invitations to perform at major international art events including the Next Wave Festival in New York, the Barbican International Theatre Events in London and the Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Moscow. The international success also marked the beginning of U-Theatre's third five-year stage of development, one that Liu defines as "challenges."
"U-Theatre set off to tour the world at that time to share Taiwan's performing arts with audiences of different nationalities," she says. "And the troupe's lifestyle changed from disciplined quietude to one of hustle and bustle, impelling it to rise to the challenge. At the same time, our performers were inspired by different cultures. Those experiences helped them to cultivate solid performance skills."
The Sound of Ocean, launched in 1997, marked the start of U-Theatre's efforts to create an intense physical and emotional experience as well as win an international reputation. (Courtesy of U-Theatre)
The representative work during the troupe's third period of development, Liu says, was Meeting with Bodhisattva, which utilized Buddhist concepts and symbols to depict an individual's journey toward becoming a Bodhisattva, or enlightened being who overcomes difficult inner challenges and learns how to let go of his or her preconceived notions. In Meeting, U-Theatre performers alternately exploded in movement or reposed in controlled serenity, evoking the fierceness of martial arts and the elegance of tai chi.
Liu adds that Meeting with Bodhisattva was a perfect reflection of U performers' attitude toward performing arts. The 2002 piece won the first prize in the performing arts category at the 2003 Taishin Arts Awards, established by the Taipei-based Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture, with the jury citing the work's "beautifully expressed tranquility within movement and movement within tranquility."
Orienting to the World
Liu characterizes U-Theatre's fourth five-year phase of development as "orienting to the world." To give something back to society and cultivate new performing arts talent, Liu and Huang took the initiative to visit schools across Taiwan to demonstrate their performing techniques and propagate their artistic ideals. "Passing the torch is an essential task," Liu says. "We feel it's time for us to do so with the knowledge and techniques that we've accumulated over the past 20 years or so. Plus, the international trend of performing arts is heading toward the integration of different disciplines. We want to promote this kind of synthesis locally to help keep Taiwan's performing arts in line with international developments."
In 2006, entrusted by the Department of Cultural Affairs under the Taipei City Government, U-Theatre took over the management of an arts and cultural center in the city's Wenshan District and renamed it "Performing Arts School 36." The school emulates the practices of the Shaolin Temple in mainland China, which provides training in physical exercise to members of the general public in order to promote health. The troupe has designed courses in the areas of meditation, drumming, martial arts and sacred dance, while workshops, lectures, competitions and festivals promote performing arts in different disciplines. Young people are encouraged to showcase their skills and winners are invited to perform with troupe members.
Furthermore, in 2007 U-Theatre began collaborating with Taipei Jingwen High School in the city's Wenshan District to set up courses in performing arts. Chen Li-juan, director of U-Theatre's Jing-wen project training center, says that as part of the center's efforts to develop the full potential of young students, the troupe primarily provides them with training in the fields of music, body movement and mental cultivation.
Music, Chen says, is an important part of U-Theatre performances, and music training helps performers express their emotions. Accordingly, the troupe organizes many courses for Jingwen students including piano, choir, Western percussion instruments and music theory, together with its signature drumming. As for body movement, U-Theatre offers training in the martial arts, gymnastics, Western dance and Gurdjieff sacred dances. The Gurdjieff movements, Chen explains, are physical techniques designed to expand consciousness. Because the Gurdjieff system of teachings simultaneously targets the body, emotional center and the mind, the regimen helps with mental cultivation. The Gurdjieff dances are famous for their precise movements, which help to develop concentration and break the cycle of automatism by introducing non-habitual movements and sequences.
The other practice that U-Theatre uses to bring about mental cultivation, especially after physical exercise, is for the students to sit still and remain silent for a certain amount of time. Chen says that such training helps to stabilize the students' moods and enables them to learn more about themselves.
"Some youngsters have amazing potential, but our formal art education system has long been centered on a single discipline that limits their development in terms of artistic accomplishment," Chen says. "By providing a mix of learning schemes, we endeavor to cultivate multiple abilities in our students, help them reach their potential and broaden their options, especially in their pursuit of artistic careers."
Students from Taipei Jingwen High School practice drumming under a training scheme organized by U-Theatre. (Courtesy of U-Theatre)
Currently, a total of 30 students at Jingwen High School have passed tests conducted by U-Theatre in the areas of proficiency with musical instruments, sense of rhythm and body movement. Those that pass are eligible to receive further training, studying at Jingwen in the morning and then taking courses arranged by U-Theatre at Performing Arts School 36 in the afternoon.
On another front, in March 2008, U-Theatre embarked on a 50-day, 1,200-kilometer walking tour of Taiwan, passing through 100 townships, to commemorate the troupe's 20th anniversary. Members marched silently during the day and put on 30 performances at night at temples, parks, schools and cultural centers to share their creative work with people in the area.
Journey of Cultivation
This was not U-Theatre's first walking tour, however, as back in 1996, the troupe conducted a 28-day, 600-kilometer walk along the western part of Taiwan. In 1997, members set out on a 35-day, 900-kilometer trek, with the intention of experiencing the beautiful landscape of eastern Taiwan and the rich cultures of its indigenous people. They have also organized two walking tours overseas, including one in Tibet in 2002 and another in France in 2005.
"These journeys are fundamental to U-Theatre's artistic philosophy and practices because they enable members to cultivate their physical and mental strength while allowing them to learn more about local cultures, instead of being a group of self-indulgent recluses," Liu says. "Meanwhile, we hope our walking pilgrimages inspire locals to improve their lives and natural environment, as well as give them a sense of art appreciation."
Anurag Huang has been a member of U-Theatre since 1996. He visited the Osho International Meditation Resort in India in 1995, an experience that triggered his curiosity about exploring the inner powerhouse of consciousness. "I heard that U-Theatre offered training related to mental cultivation. That, together with my interest in drama, motivated me to join them," Huang says. "All these years, I've received solid training for my body, mind and soul. In addition to learning how to perform professionally, my major goals are to constantly explore my own existence and potential. I've found that now I can face constant changes and challenges with peace of mind."
Likewise, Huang Xiao-lin, who joined U-Theatre in 1996, says that she has benefited a great amount from the troupe's different training programs and activities. "Practicing meditation, drumming and martial arts has developed my abilities of concentration and perseverance, while the walking tours in Taiwan and elsewhere have enabled me to learn more about the land and local customs," she says. "Plus, these experiences have helped me to love and have confidence in myself as well as appreciate others. I'm thankful for all these adventures."
U-Theatre's training base is located in a remote hillside community in the Taipei City suburb of Muzha. That natural environment, with its sublime mountain scenery and serene atmosphere, is a potent source of energy and inspiration that helps group members develop spiritually and aids in their concentration while working to master complex percussion skills. The site is also equipped with an open-air theater with a seating capacity of 500. The troupe usually premieres its new productions in this outdoor theater.
"In the last 20 years, we've been living on the mountain and training and creating our art there. Not only are we deeply attached to the area, we've also obtained plenty of 'nutrition' from nature that is conducive to developing our artistic creations," Liu concludes. "The launch of our new piece, The Mountain Dawn, finally gives the mountain where we reside its due place in our work. And just as is implied by the work's last song, Endless Cloud Sea, the mountain helps us explore unknown depths, and a story with no ending is just beginning."
Write to Kelly Her at kelly@mail.gio.gov.tw