But in the last few years several new dance companies have also been making a name for themselves. These companies belong to a younger generation, who feel that dance is more a matter of play and emotional expression than meditation and abstract thought.
Take choreographer Chou Shu-yi, the focus of much attention this past year. His “[1875] Ravel and Bolero” was staged in London at the critically acclaimed Sadler’s Wells Sampled showcase in January, after defeating 170 competitors from 34 countries in the Sadler’s Wells Theatre’s inaugural online Global Dance Contest last year.
In the piece, dancers bounce and clap and run and scream on a green, carpeted floor. They amuse themselves heartily. The music is all too familiar—“Bolero” by French composer Maurice Ravel. Echoing the repetitions in the music, Chou expresses through his dance such themes as the fleeting nature of time. The audience was enthralled.
After his performances in London, other honors followed for the 27-year-old dancer-choreographer. His solo work “Start with the Body” won third place at the 3rd Cross Connection Ballet Choreography Competition in Denmark this April. In August, Chou performed the piece at Germany’s biennial Internationale Tanzmesse NRW in Dusseldorf, the world’s largest contemporary dance fair.
Chou is not the only dancer from Taiwan gaining international attention. Performing with him at Dusseldorf was Taipei-based LAFA & Artists Dance Company. Represented by Sheu Fang-yi, a former principal dancer with the Martha Graham Company, LAFA has also had a busy year in 2010, performing at Australia’s World of Music, the Arts and Dance extravaganza in Adelaide and the Vancouver International Dance Festival, all before taking to the stage in Dusseldorf.
During these worldwide performances, Sheu’s “Single Room”—choreographed by LAFA cofounder Bulareyaung Pagarlava—was widely praised. The duet, danced around a table and against a blue-and-white backlit curtain, describes the universal themes of longing and separation.
New troupes with energetic choreographers are emerging throughout Taiwan. Chou, a dancer and choreographer, banded with several friends to form a new dance company in 2004. The group, which adopted the name Horse in 2007, is seen by more and more critics as a force to be taken seriously.
Dubbed Taiwan’s first all-male dance company, Horse attempts to demonstrate the urban masculinity of a new age. New York Times dance critic Jennifer Dunning described their performances in the Big Apple as “charming and imaginative.”
When “Velocity,” a collaborative work by Horse members, debuted in New York in 2008, it was praised as “a feast of evocative, playful small dances showcasing the supple physicality and subtle dramatic gifts of its performers.”
Recognition followed at home, with the troupe winning the Taishin Arts Award, one of Taiwan’s most prestigious arts prizes, for Best Performance in 2008.
Several other promising small companies have also come into existence during the last decade.
Lin Wen-chung, who first danced for seven years with New York-based Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, for example, has caught the attention of critics with his yearly productions since he returned home to start WCDance in 2008.
Another professional dancer, Ho Hsiao-mei, former director of the 16-year-old Taipei Crossover Dance Company, also went on to establish her own company, Meimage Dance. Other new groups that attracted attention over the last year included 8213 Physical Dance Theatre, Flux Waves Dance Theatre and Scarecrow Contemporary Dance Company.
“These new groups are braver and more inclined to try new things,” said Chen Ya-ping, a critic and assistant professor at Taiwan National University of the Arts’ Graduate School of Dance Theory.
Most of these dancers-choreographers owe something to Taiwan’s iconic Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, which achieved international reputation for works combining Eastern philosophy and physicality. Lin Hwai-min, founder of Cloud Gate, has been generous in encouraging new talent through projects connected with his troupe as well as its junior group Cloud Gate 2.
Chou, for example, is a recipient of the Cloud Gate Seed Choreographer Project award. Sheu and Bulareyaung are both former Cloud Gate dancers, and Ho has been invited several times to choreograph for the group.
“Despite the debt to its predecessors, the younger generation is less burdened by the idea that it has to represent an ‘Oriental’ aesthetic or ‘Asian’ performing style on the international stage, the way elite dance groups did about 20 years ago,” Chen said. “For the new generation of choreographers, where they come from is not as important as what they as individuals want to say.”
“Take ‘1875’ as an example. Chou did incorporate distinctive Taiwanese popular cultural elements in that piece, yet an international audience would have no problem understanding it, even if it did not have the slightest idea about Taiwan. That’s just how it works,” Chen said.
And this absence of traditional culture is what distinguishes each of the new groups, leading to the diversity of the dance scene in Taiwan. Lin Wen-chun’s “Small” series, which he called portable works, challenges dancers to perform in confined spaces; and Chou’s recent site-specific creation “Visible City, People Filled with Air” joined efforts by French sound artist Yannick Dauby.
Ho uses dance to critique society, provoking viewers to ponder the role of consumerism in their daily lives. Her “Woo! Barbie” will be her company’s debut show in October.
Freelance choreographers are showing their varied talents, too. Huang Yi and Cheng Tsung-lung, both members of Horse, are among the most mentioned. Huang, though still a dance student at NTUA, has received several scholarships from public and private sponsors, and has produced works that mix mechanism with movement.
Cheng, a special choreographer with Cloud Gate 2, crafted works that Chen has described as “unveiling happening in cool structure.” In 2006, his “Tete Beche” won the bronze medal at the No Ballet International Choreography Competition in Ludwigshafen, Germany. He has since been invited to create pieces for groups and present at dance festivals in Asia and Europe.
Government policy has partly contributed to the booming of new groups and their creativity.
The Cabinet-level Council for Cultural Affairs gives out grants to selected performing groups that produce new works each year. The National Theater also offers competition prizes for performing groups.
But, “the conditions in Taiwan cannot support so many dancers, so would-be professionals have to work to connect with the world and meet its highest standards,” Chou said.
That is one of the reasons Taiwanese dance groups grasp at every chance to show themselves to the world, Chen noted.
On the other hand, seeing what the world is doing and presenting oneself to the outside world help individuals grow, she said.
“Recognition abroad may boost tickets sale at home, but more important is that going abroad to perform stimulates creativity through cross-cultural exchanges,” she stressed.
For Taiwanese choreographers and dancers who are breaking the boundaries of cultural conventions and expectations, “the challenge now is how to build up their individual styles without catering to a taste that has made them lovable,” Chen said.
This October the National Theater will stage an eclectic series of invited performances. Cloud Gate, Horse, Meimage, as well as Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company and Australia’s Chunky Move have all promised to attend.
The lineup seems to indicate a continued vitality and experimental spirit for groups in Taiwan, old and new. And as more world-renowned groups are coming to Taiwan to perform, local audiences are blessed with the opportunity to watch, compare and learn to appreciate the young artists.(HZW)
Write to June Tsai at june@mail.gio.gov.tw