The final leg of the Bolero in Kaohsiung tour is to begin in the middle of this month, with 15 shows over eight weekends, the organizer said.
Commissioned by the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts to promote performing arts in everyday life, Bolero in Kaohsiung is a three-year project by choreographer Chou Shu-yi (周書毅).
Chou and 14 dancers performed a 30-minute dance show at 14 of the 38 districts in Kaohsiung in 2022 and 10 others last year, the arts center said.
Photo courtesy of the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts via CNA
They are to cover the remaining 14 this year, it added.
The first show this year would take place at Kaohsiung International Airport’s observation deck at 5pm on Saturday next week, the center said.
Chou created the Bolero in Kaohsiung dance show tour — which has featured performances at temple squares, school sports grounds, parks and heritage sites across the city since 2022 — based on his 2006 work titled 1875 Ravel and Bolero, it said.
1875 Ravel and Bolero was created by Chou with Maurice Ravel’s one movement orchestra work Bolero, which is known for its repeated melodies throughout the piece.
Bolero was one of the last works created by the French composer, who was born in 1875 and died in 1937, the arts center said in an introduction to this year’s remake of Chou’s work.
“The repeated melodies, akin to the passage and accumulation of life, capture the essence of ‘living in the moment’ through dance amidst gains, losses, joys and sorrows,” the arts center said.
Chou’s work in 2009 won the inaugural Global Dance Contest organized by Sadler’s Wells, a leading global dance organization that operates venues in London.
Sadler’s Wells Theatre staged two performances of 1875 Ravel and Bolero in early 2010, before the production was featured in the Fall for Dance Festival in New York in October that year.
Chou then took 1875 Ravel and Bolero on the road in his “Dance Travel Project,” presenting the dance work at public spaces, such as train stations and streets, with no stage equipment or lighting.
The public performances aimed to introduce modern dance to a wider audience in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau between 2011 and 2014, the arts center said.
The choreographer was commissioned to recreate such a tour in Kaohsiung in the hope that by bringing performing arts to the public, people who have not visited a venue or arts center might become interested in buying tickets and going to shows, the statement said.
The National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts said that its special theatrical version of 1875 Ravel and Bolero would show how the tour has breathed new life into the ever-evolving dance work with a new musical arrangement and the use of video.
Chou said he hopes people who have seen or heard of Bolero in Kaohsiung could show their support to the three-year project by buying a ticket to see 1875 Ravel and Bolero at the arts center.
Two performances of 1875 Ravel and Bolero would also be staged at the Opera House of the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts on Oct. 12 and 13.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
A former member of the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), formerly known as SEAL Team 6, said in an interview with Business Insider that the elite unit’s role in a Taiwan Strait conflict would be more limited than some might expect. The report follows an earlier one in September by the Financial Times, which said the “clandestine US Navy commando unit” has been training for missions to help Taiwan if it is invaded by China. “You don’t use a scalpel for a job a hammer can do,” the former Navy Seal said to Business Insider on condition of anonymity.
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said
RSS