Almost two years after the dance studio of Taiwanese dance legend Tsai Jui-yueh (
However, the job won't begin until March of next year.
The Japanese style wooden building burned down on Oct. 26, 1999, four days after it was de-signated as a municipal historic relic.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
After the fire, Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) pledged that both an investigation into the blaze and the reconstruction of the site would be completed within a month. However, no repairs or arrests have as yet been made.
Inspecting the China Dance Club studio located on Chungshan North Road, Section 2, Lung Ying-tai (
"What's so amazing about the place is not the building itself, but its role in Taiwan's modern dance history," Lung said.
Lung also gave her reasons for why the reconstruction project has taken so long to come about.
"We are required by law to follow certain procedures because it's a historic relic," she said. "It might seem that we haven't been doing anything regarding the repairs, but the truth is that we've been working on it day in and day out."
Six months after the fire, the city commissioned Su Ming-hsiu (
After an eight-month study was completed in December last year, the bureau entrusted the Fu Hang-jen Architect and Associates to design and eventually rebuild the structure.
The bureau has proposed NT$21 million for the reconstruction project over the next financial year and is waiting for the city council to review the proposal.
"Hopefully, the council will approve the budget as proposed. If everything goes well, we hope to start reconstruction in March next year and complete it by the end of the year," Lung said.
Briefing Lung about the project yesterday, Fu said that the first floor will have a cafe, a gift shop, indoor and outdoor performance areas and a static display room.
On the second floor, there will be a library and a research room. The first and second floors of the basement will house practice rooms and a community culture center.
"Our design concept is to blend the old and new, people and nature together and make this place the most beautiful green space in the concrete jungle," Fu said.
Tsai, who is dubbed Taiwan's mother of modern dance, began her dancing and teaching career in Taiwan in 1946 at the age of 25.
The city had originally planned to demolish the dance studio in 1994, but a conservation campaign launched by local artists secured its designation as a municipal historic site in 1999.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS