VIEW THIS PAGE Jade Hua (華碧玉) founded her modern dance company, Jade & Artists Dance Troupe (肢體音符舞團), 12 years ago with the goal of combining modern dance and Asian traditions to help preserve the best of traditional arts.
For the first six years, she used Eastern legends as inspiration. But in the last few years she has focused on modern stories and dancers’ gestures. She says she expects her 10 dancers to dance “from the inside,” not just show off their technique.
Her dancers will certainly be dancing from the inside out in her latest work, Vipashayana (觀。自在).
Vipashyana is a Sanskrit word meaning insight. In Buddhism, it means insight into the true nature of life beyond reality. However, Hua said she wasn’t trying to explore “within,” but modern society.
For the score of the hour-long show, which is divided into One/Being, State of Confusion and Self Realization, she turned to Taiwanese composer Joe Lee (李哲藝).
“He joined in rehearsals, composed music and gave dancers rhythm instructions for one part of State of Confusion. So in a way, he also choreographed,” she said.
The stage design is rather unusual, given that it centers around a large collection of glass tubes. Hua said she wanted something clear and crystal to illustrate “the pure state of one person.”
“Rise of Wind and Clouds was designed and handcrafted by Chen Chien-hong (陳政宏), our glass arts director for this production,” Hua said. “He agreed to provide this giant work for display in Novel Hall and the same moveable glass tubes for the set on stage.”
Jade & Artists Dance Troupe perform Vipashayana tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm at Novel Hall (新舞臺), 3-1 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路3號). Tickets are NT$400 to NT$1,000, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw. VIEW THIS PAGE
Nov. 11 to Nov. 17 People may call Taipei a “living hell for pedestrians,” but back in the 1960s and 1970s, citizens were even discouraged from crossing major roads on foot. And there weren’t crosswalks or pedestrian signals at busy intersections. A 1978 editorial in the China Times (中國時報) reflected the government’s car-centric attitude: “Pedestrians too often risk their lives to compete with vehicles over road use instead of using an overpass. If they get hit by a car, who can they blame?” Taipei’s car traffic was growing exponentially during the 1960s, and along with it the frequency of accidents. The policy
Hourglass-shaped sex toys casually glide along a conveyor belt through an airy new store in Tokyo, the latest attempt by Japanese manufacturer Tenga to sell adult products without the shame that is often attached. At first glance it’s not even obvious that the sleek, colorful products on display are Japan’s favorite sex toys for men, but the store has drawn a stream of couples and tourists since opening this year. “Its openness surprised me,” said customer Masafumi Kawasaki, 45, “and made me a bit embarrassed that I’d had a ‘naughty’ image” of the company. I might have thought this was some kind
What first caught my eye when I entered the 921 Earthquake Museum was a yellow band running at an angle across the floor toward a pile of exposed soil. This marks the line where, in the early morning hours of Sept. 21, 1999, a massive magnitude 7.3 earthquake raised the earth over two meters along one side of the Chelungpu Fault (車籠埔斷層). The museum’s first gallery, named after this fault, takes visitors on a journey along its length, from the spot right in front of them, where the uplift is visible in the exposed soil, all the way to the farthest
The room glows vibrant pink, the floor flooded with hundreds of tiny pink marbles. As I approach the two chairs and a plush baroque sofa of matching fuchsia, what at first appears to be a scene of domestic bliss reveals itself to be anything but as gnarled metal nails and sharp spikes protrude from the cushions. An eerie cutout of a woman recoils into the armrest. This mixed-media installation captures generations of female anguish in Yun Suknam’s native South Korea, reflecting her observations and lived experience of the subjugated and serviceable housewife. The marbles are the mother’s sweat and tears,
RSS