The dance department at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA, 國立臺北藝術大學) should be feeling very pleased today, as its Focus Dance Company (焦點舞團) opens a sold out four-show run at the school’s dance theater tonight — something professional companies ofttimes only dream about.
While the Taipei run may be sold out, it is just the second stop in a seven-city nationwide tour that began in Yilan last week and will take the student dancers to Taichung, Jhongli, Kaohsiung, Tainan and Taitung over the course of several weekends next month and in May, so there are several chances to catch the nation’s up-and-coming stars if you are willing to travel.
The troupe’s artistic director, associate professor Zhang Xiao-xiong (張曉雄), has said there was a special reason for starting the tour in Yilan — it was the hometown of dancer/choreographer/TNUA professor Lo Man-fei (羅曼菲) who died nine years ago at 51.
Photo courtesy of Zhang Xiao-xiong
In addition to being a terrific performer in her own right, Lo encouraged and mentored scores of young Taiwanese dancers and choreographers, both at the school and through her work with Cloud Gate 2 (雲門２). She created the school’s unique seven-year dance program that brings students through three years of senior-high school and straight into the university for a bachelor’s degree.
One of Lo’s works, Shuttling (梭巡), was both the inspiration for the company’s tour and the final work on the two programs that the troupe is performing on this tour.
Another inspirational and mentoring dancer/choreographer/teacher is Helen Lai (黎海寧), the former artistic director of the Hong Kong City Contemporary Dance Company (城市當代舞蹈團). Her classic Plaza X is the other mainstay on the two programs, Plaza X (PLAZA X與異變街道).
There are seven works on each program, with the others choreographed by students.
Program A will include Reflection by Hsiao Yi-han (蕭翊涵) and Po Kai-huang’s (黃柏凱) Dependence (依附).
Program B includes Above the Dark River by Chi Hsuan-lin (林季萱), Hung Hsu’s (許辰) After the Cold (冷冽之後) and Nervous Difference (神經之差) by Amy Chang (張勤).
Program A will be performed in Jhongli, Tainan and Taitung, and Program B on the April 25 show in Kaohsiung.
Taiwanese chip-making giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) plans to invest a whopping US$100 billion in the US, after US President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on overseas-made chips. TSMC is the world’s biggest maker of the critical technology that has become the lifeblood of the global economy. This week’s announcement takes the total amount TSMC has pledged to invest in the US to US$165 billion, which the company says is the “largest single foreign direct investment in US history.” It follows Trump’s accusations that Taiwan stole the US chip industry and his threats to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent
On a hillside overlooking Taichung are the remains of a village that never was. Half-formed houses abandoned by investors are slowly succumbing to the elements. Empty, save for the occasional explorer. Taiwan is full of these places. Factories, malls, hospitals, amusement parks, breweries, housing — all facing an unplanned but inevitable obsolescence. Urbex, short for urban exploration, is the practice of exploring and often photographing abandoned and derelict buildings. Many urban explorers choose not to disclose the locations of the sites, as a way of preserving the structures and preventing vandalism or looting. For artist and professor at NTNU and Taipei
March 10 to March 16 Although it failed to become popular, March of the Black Cats (烏貓進行曲) was the first Taiwanese record to have “pop song” printed on the label. Released in March 1929 under Eagle Records, a subsidiary of the Japanese-owned Columbia Records, the Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) lyrics followed the traditional seven characters per verse of Taiwanese opera, but the instrumentation was Western, performed by Eagle’s in-house orchestra. The singer was entertainer Chiu-chan (秋蟾). In fact, a cover of a Xiamen folk song by Chiu-chan released around the same time, Plum Widow Missing Her Husband (雪梅思君), enjoyed more
From insomniacs to party-goers, doting couples, tired paramedics and Johannesburg’s golden youth, The Pantry, a petrol station doubling as a gourmet deli, has become unmissable on the nightlife scene of South Africa’s biggest city. Open 24 hours a day, the establishment which opened three years ago is a haven for revelers looking for a midnight snack to sober up after the bars and nightclubs close at 2am or 5am. “Believe me, we see it all here,” sighs a cashier. Before the curtains open on Johannesburg’s infamous party scene, the evening gets off to a gentle start. On a Friday at around 6pm,
RSS