Wild weather, Pandas, participatory art & puppets

Puppet Carved head - Taiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Musuem

When I started this blog I was bunkering in for my second typhoon..that's when the city closes down, and I mean really closes down. No transport services, all offices shut their doors, pot plants get placed on their sides, trees are tied down, windows are taped with crosses, and I am wondering if my scheduled two-day masterclass is going to be postponed...The first typhoon I experienced wasn't too bad, so part of me wonders what the fuss is all about...Then within twenty four hours it all starts....

This is Summer in Taiwan with the weather ricocheting from pretty hot to very hot, with humidity moving between 40 - 70 % depending on the day. Umbrellas will be used in a single day for sunshade (most women avoid sun like the plague, as it makes you 'brown') and then for torrential rain. I eventually understood why so many shoe stores sell fully plastic shoes, boots, and sandals (which I initially thought kind of odd in Summer), and its because whenever it rains there is a serious amount of water. Most people have a diverse collection of wet-weather gear, and there are also fashion lines in raincoats and the like.
Meanwhile my roof has again sprung a leak (it has its own red bin bucket at this moment) and there is an occasional unexplained drip that periodically lands in the middle of my studio floor...for no reason that I can see. Weather, gotta love it...or be completely blown away by it...more about our Typhoon experience later...

This last week or so has been a balancing act between writing, research and break out day trips to get time out from the city. Had some fun in the sun (yep it was a hot one) with TAV artists Helene & Hyangro visiting Taipei Zoo and us experiencing our first Pandas (joyous). Then up and away onto Maokong via a 4.2 km floating Gondola. Here we shared a lazy lunch at one of the many tea houses gazing over the valley. This was followed by a seriously sweaty trek to Jinjhe Cave temple embedded high up in the mountain side next to a water fall. Hot work in amongst a symphony of butterflies, but eventually we come across this magical setting. We got lost on the way back after taking one of those detours you shouldn't take, but all up it was a great day. Check out side page to read more.

Here's lookin' at you...

Post Breakfast nap

Our Gondola

Yep, its pretty cool.

Over the mountains

Hard work Hyangro - there is a lot of climbing up

Hiking Helene

Temple at Jinjhe Cave

Later in the week a solo reconnaissance via train to the faded port city of Keelung provides a day of contemplation. I wander up and down its narrow alleyways and through the historic Miaokou Night market, one of the most famous in Taiwan. It was good to take a look round prior to its Ghost Month festivities that will kick off in a few weeks time. Keelung is a focus town for various events to appease those ‘hungry ghosts’, or 'good brethren' as they are commonly known. I’m planning to come back and witness some of this unique celebration, so watch out for future Ghost hunting posts!

Temple preparations underway at Zhongsheng Park for Ghost Month celebrations

Keelung laneway

Back in Taipei I visit the Museum of Fine Arts and experience the New York based artist Lee Mingwei’s wonderful and absorbing exhibition Lee Mingwei and His relations: The Art of Participation – seeing, conversing, gift-giving, writing, dining and getting connected to the world. (longest title ever) which is touring Asia at present. Lee is a world-renowned conceptual artist producing different participatory art projects to highlight the ‘public’ and ‘social’ aspects of Art. Moving beyond our role as viewers we find ourselves becoming invited to become participants intervening in the artists projects. Projects in this exhibition included; The Mending Project, the Sleeping Project, The Dining project and involved exactly what the title states, yet there is a gentle, non-confrontational approach and a certain purity to the aesthetic of the various stagings and installations. Another exhibition Formosa in Formation featuring selected works from the MFA collection 1895 – 1947, a time of sweeping change in Taiwan, was a more formal and overall less appealing body of works. See Artworks side page for more exhibition pix

The Art of Participation

The Writing Project

The Museum of Fine Arts is all white walls and glass, an impressive and spacious edifice set in Expo Park which features an array of quirky designed, shaped and decorated pavilions that were clearly the ‘thing’ in 2010 (when the Expo opened). You can wander through and check out the Taiwan Excellence Pavilion, Pavilion of Aroma and Flowers, Pavilion of Taipei Robot and others..a total contrast to my next stop TheTaiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Museum. Tucked down lane ways in the heart of the historic Dihua quarter this Museum is reached via a single entrance just off the street. It has four tightly squeezed floors of exhibits reached by one of the narrowest and vertical of stairways I have ever climbed. The Museum is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of traditional Asian puppet cultures and has a collection of over 10,000 Asian puppets, one of the most complete collections of Asian puppets in the world. The Museum hosts an educational centre, a small puppet theatre and a full functioning puppetry workshop. Of course incomparable to our own Spare Parts Puppet Theatre in Fremantle it was rather lovely and had a warm, much loved feel to the place, a secret hidden away from most of the tourist crowds. It is a little run down, there were only about 60 or so puppets on display and unfortunately there are no shows currently in performance. Yet, the early Chinese hand puppets, so exquisitely and expressively carved, won my heart. Their age and beauty speak of stories I can only imagine, and these small, delicately crafted and painted wooden hand puppets are still popular entertainment today. There was also various small scale erected wooden play stages and aged chests that would have made their way from town to town all those years ago. I come away with several ‘newer’ versions bought and tucked into my bags. Irresistible. Check out side page for more images of Dihua along with puppet pix.

Three 'wise' men...

Personal favourite

The Taipei Arts Festival has also kicked off. A performance based Festival funded by the City of Taipei it sensibly stages performances Thurs - Sunday each week for just over 5 weeks, and is scheduled so there are not too many clashes. Up and coming shows include works form France, Germany, Japan & Australia, alongside local productions.Taipei Fringe then commences on the 23 August and runs until 13 September, proudly claiming ‘130 teams with 543 sessions’. This is definitely an endurance event with a pretty eclectic program dotted around the city. As part of the opening weekend of TAF I went along to see another free contemporary dance event staged in a public park (Taipei is definitely on to something) and for the most part I enjoyed the presentation. The New Co-Choreographer Program produces by Memiage Dance invites leading Taiwanese dancers working abroad to come and create individual solo works in the style of their current company. The artists also share something of their experiences working overseas and are interviewed by the host. In addition there was some audience participation in form of mock auditions. This involved the dancers taking volunteers through imaginary auditions for their companies & then later improvising with them. For me these moments felt a bit ‘So You Think You Can Dance' in terms of the 'lame' format, but the dancers own created works were diverse, eclectic and powerful. The companies they represented include Akram Khan, & Bill T Jones & Company. From the framing of the event and recent experiences it is clear there is a real local pride and engagement with contemporary dance as an art form. It has a strong post-war history with many current senior local choreographers studying in the US, and then bringing that training home. There are now several tertiary-based courses here with numerous graduates working nationally and internationally. Currently there are 30 dance companies in Taiwan and this does not include the many internationally successful independent solo artists such as Su Wen Chi (who I am a particular fan of). 

Daan Park TAF Performance

The TAV also got into some active artist participation of its own with a group Dumpling making (and eating) session. Staff and interns were joined by Taipei Artist Village and Treasure Hill based residents. Much fun and mess making was had devising our own 'variations' with a healthy and 'creative' post-meal discussion over a preference for steamed versus fried!   

Team dumpling

Hyangro in action

Significantly for me this week saw the realisation of one of my first creative collaborations undertaken here in Taipei. After several meetings, discussions and emails, local artist and calligrapher Tseng Ting Yu along with translator Li Hui Huang spent an incredible and productive evening with me at TAV studio 302. I had written a text for my project that Li Hui then translated into Mandarin. Ting re-interpreted this translation into his own adapted form of the ancient art of calligraphy. I filmed him at work and several hours later we had a stamped and signed version we were both satisfied with.Ting even made me have a go at painting an adaptation of his text..hilarious..Check out side page for images from our session including this fab piece of work!
 

Filming

Mesmerising

Final result.

Footage from this session, the written translation, and the resulting calligraphy will form the basis of the next stage of The Ghost Project. I plan to work with local performers on creating a movement vocabulary from this material...It is always quietly thrilling to see your words 'come alive', its why I choose to write for performance. Yet this was a totally new experience, a performance of a different kind. As I watched this artist at work I felt awe at his focus and his control as he 'danced' the text onto the page...
Here is the translated text:

我的心是片虛無

My heart is a void

它是鏡

It is a mirror

看見自己的臉

See in my face

厭惡和恐懼

Loathing and horror

在鬼域中

In the world of ghosts

被夢囚禁

Prisoned by dreams

未知仍未知

Unknown remains unknown (but)

只要你記得

As long as you remember (me)

我就從未消逝

I will never disappear

Now, back to the Typhoon..
The temperature drops, the wind lifts, windows rattle and the trees begin to sway...and then? It's dark, the windows are now shuddering and it's too noisy to sleep as the Typhoon rolls on in.There is torrential rain, and more wind, and trees are bent over and breaking, roof pieces lift off and scud down the street, scooters over-turn, umbrellas are ripped and wrenched from your hands, rain water is streaming and flooding into everywhere...Alarms go off, sirens are screaming, and loud speaker instructions in Chinese are calling out to us to evacuate. It's in the middle of the night and as we close our electronically operated doors we have no idea it will be hours before we will return to our studios. Every room seems to be dripping, and sand bags are not stopping the steady flow of water into studios and offices. We huddle in the VIP room and wish we had brought more clothes, phones etc..and me, sensible footwear. Although barefoot and now soaked I do have my Handbag! The storm and winds rage on as we quietly chat and watch via laptop Typhoon Soudelor weave a devastating path across the country. Mid-morning we brave the chaotic streets to a 7-11 for coffee & food. We eventually get keys that will return us to our rooms, all a little shell-shocked at the degree of impact...Four people have died...and I learn that a Typhoon is not something to be ignored or ever to be taken lightly... 

View from my balcony

A flooded studio

Out Front

Mountains, MTR and a motorcar

 
It takes courage to push yourself to places that you never have been before, to test your limits, 
to break through barriers…(Anais Nin) 

I’m coming up to my fourth week mark in Taiwan, and already I have a sensation of time speeding up with only 8 or so weeks to go. Apparently this is the arts residency dance where you begin with the notion that you have heaps of time, and with a ‘longish’ list of potentially achievable goals. Then as time rolls along those goal posts begin to shift, you adapt and change, seek out and follow new and different directions, all the while adjusting your expectations and reconsidering your project outcomes. Certainly for me each week is bumper full and is its own unique adventure.  

This week it is the week of the M’s!!  
Meetings and greetings with more artists and potential collaborators along with some serious solo hiking and a road trip exploring some of the mountain regions of Taiwan. The latter also involved a motorcar, and as the only artist with an International Driver's permit, purchased before I left Oz, I self-nominated for the role. A day or so later, as I sat in the driver’s seat indicating and about to turn onto a main artery of Taipei, I am definitely having second thoughts…..but more about that later...

By now there are aspects of Taipei you have begun to admire and love, including these M’s:

• A model public transport system that is one of the best I have experienced anywhere. The Taipei MTR is cheap, efficient, super clean, and seems to always take you close to where you want to go. I have not waited longer than about three minutes for ANY train and the line connections are equally as smooth with all entry and exit directions in both English and Mandarin. Win!

• The range and variety of food available at all hours is extraordinary. Fresh and inexpensive meal options abound; superb seafood (Shilin Night Market is especially fab), Noodles, Tofu every which way, and just about anything on a stick. Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean, and all some of the best food I have eaten for the least amount of $$$. Night markets, basement food halls, vegetarian buffets, lane way street stalls along with a raft of restaurants make selection a real challenge. In addition there is dessert; sweets, cake stalls and various pastry delicacies, all to be tried and tested (I love the way there are small samples so that there is always a smorgasboard of tasty treats) A pineapple sort of biscuit cake is a particular local specialty, and there is a fruit icecream pancake combination with shaved peanut brittle and coriander that has a unusually delicious texture and flavour. This along with a myriad of iced teas on offer in every form and fruity combination. Just don't forget the Taiwanese love their sugar, it’s added into everything including bread, so be sure to ask for your drinks without. The coffee is also amazing, best I have had in Asia, and again options are plentiful. Food here is pretty important, it is central to family and social life, and is a keen topic of conversation with locals and the artists!  I have also never in my life seen more 7-11’s, Family Marts, etc. they are on every street and sell practically everything at all hours. Also, food is the essential thing, while the alcohol is not. At meals everyone definitely drinks substantially less than in Australia, and appears less interested generally in drinking. Selecting where one is going out for a coffee? Well, that’s another thing altogether..!

Shilin Night Market

Hyangro & Helene from TAV, Shilin Night Market

Choose your combo

Dumpling heaven

• And Mountains…for a woman from the wild west of Oz I am instantly dreamy at the sight of cotton-balled invisible summits leading to hidden heavens. On the weekend I head out solo to Yangmingshan National Park (about 30 mins or so out of Taipei ) for my first major trek. An MTR ride, then a bus trip takes you up into the park where there is a free shuttle that will drop you at various key points for some serious trail blazing. I end up near hot bubbling smoking sulphur pits, and begin what turns out to be a two-hour trek up to the main summit of the park. I am glad I started early as it is a grade 13-14 climb and it feels like I am sweating pints in minutes. The humidity thickens the air and the climb is vertical, so its one foot after the other following the pathway ever upwards. I am also glad for the water bottle, and the change of T/shirt I brought, which proves a necessity for the return bus trip. The Taiwanese take their hiking pretty seriously and everyone is decked out in full body skins, flapped hats with trekking poles to go. I feel somewhat skimpy in my shorts however my cap is a life-saver. This is because I unfortunately don’t have the obligatory face cloth, (that those better prepared have on hand) so as I drip, my cap collects. The experience and the views are amazing, and the elated feeling lingers as I dip my weary feet in a warm sulphur pool down in the valley on the other side.

I was up there!

Oh, and did I mention Massage? Again a kaleidoscope of options. From inexpensive shopfront foot massages & reflexology at around $10-15AUD, through to the full spa hot spring experience in the mountains and then everything in between. You can get a two-hour Thai massage from around $40AUD, but for the best value and experience? In the basement of Taipei City bus station the society for the blind give massages from about $8AUD, and they are superb.

 

The creative week begins on Sunday with a bus and taxi ride to Banqiao to attend the open studio of the 435 Art Studio residency space. (see side page) I'm with another TAV artist Helene Juillet and it’s great to meet some local artists, see their work, and we happily chat away an afternoon.

My project is now getting underway and I am beginning to explore physical ideas and music in the studio. I research and read about Chinese birth, death and marriage rituals, ghost stories and Taiwanese poetry along with various articles I uncover around my subject and themes. I meet artist/performer Li Hui Huang, recently returned from post-graduate studies in Chicago, who will join the project as my translator.  I also coffee with experienced dancer/ creators Hsiao-Tzu Tien and Yiching Liao along with my colleague Hsu Yen-Ting. I am hopeful the dancers can join me in a few weeks time as things begin to take shape.

In my various meetings I am having some fascinating discussions with these women about their professional practice and what life is like for them here as practicing contemporary Taiwanese artists. They are curious too to hear my initial perceptions of Taiwan. I reflect on my curiosity about the obvious street presence of the ‘dream-factory’ Taiwanese bridal industry, and we talk about the pressures for Taiwanese women to marry and traditional familial expectations. I am intrigued by the sheer number and variety of wedding boutiques, their array of rainbow fantasy gowns often worn by faceless, head-less and arm-less mannequins, complete with chandelier or grand piano or both!  I learn that the structure, formalities and ritual of the ‘modern’ Taiwanese wedding are very elaborate performances and a significant rite of passage for many young couples…This fuels my thoughts as my research turns up myths and stories of ‘ghost’ brides, and of unmarried women who are ‘hungry’ ghosts (make that malevolent and angry in some way)..its very intriguing…there will be more on this in future posts.

LOVE...

Back to the motorcar and those mountains…
There are many challenges we face as we push ourselves in new directions, reach out to total strangers and attempt to interpret and understand signs and signals we cannot read. It’s all part of the experience of being an Asialink arts resident, and yet there is an added deliciousness when you do make that new discovery...be it practical, personal, cultural or creative. You are pushing at your own edges as well as learning about the environment you are in and the people that you meet. 

TAV resident Yoni Lefevre (from the Netherlands) is completing her residency at the end of the week, so we make rough plans for a road trip to the not to be missed iconic Taroko National Park. With the assistance of her Taiwanese friend Hui-Chun Chen we book a car (note: at a much cheaper rate than the advertised English price) while another resident Helene books us a B & B....and it is this that sees me a day or so later negotiating a brand new Lexus out into that evening traffic. The face of the woman who rents it to us is hilarious, as she instructs me for the tenth time in Chinese how to use the brake. She is far more anxious than me, but I do feel slightly unnerved, what have I taken on? As I sit on the wrong side of the car, and head out onto the wrong side of the road, the GPS has become my new best friend?  Moments later 'she' is my worst enemy as 'she' instructs me to make a left turn straight into a packed night market…it is a VERY close shave although we make it through to the other side with no broken bones..(just)

On the road

We depart at 6.30am the next day, aiming to avoid the morning rush of 1000’s of scooters and cars, and slowly over the next 48 hours my driving skills and confidence will improve. I am ably coached by my awesome 'artistic' team who are all providing instructions as we tunnel it, hair-pin bend it and rally drive around the mountains…Its often a heart-stopping close encounter, and yes, perhaps just a little bit of what I came here for.

Taroko Gorge

The Baiyang Trail

View from Chandong temple

We spend the next two days visiting the seriously beautiful East Coast region of Taiwan (see side page for more info)There is the marble cliffs, deep gullies, rushing rivers and sheer mountainsides of the eye-popping Taroko Gorge. Getting lost down tight one-way lanes and then finding our B& B internet surprise. Deeply bedded down in the countryside in amongst the rice paddies it proves a total winner with superb local hosts, startlingly good amenities, and postcard views of those lush mountains from the bed through an enormous window. After a night street eating in down town Hualien we begin the day trekking through bamboo to a hidden rock pool near Xincheng (lead by our B& B owner, who is one unforgettably generous host) Here we swim, dive and snorkle at the foot of the mountains, later moving onto a wide picturesque beach with turquoise water and a dark pebbled shore. 

Mountains meet the ocean

A secret spot!

We drive on to Suao and a seafood lunch in a port village at one of the largest restaurants I have ever been to (it’s three floors and a zillion tables). We taste, we try, we eat, we wander the streets, witnessing the weekly ‘blessing of the fleet’ at the local temple, before we drive again, drop off the car and then sleep….and trust me, I won’t quickly forget the relief I felt handing back that brand new ‘unscratched’ white Lexus, it was a high five moment all round!! 

Pretty happy!

The most important aspect of being a resident artist has been to be removed from what is familiar. In that sense, it is less about what is gained, but more so what you are relieved of - comforts, familiarity, the social structure of your little world, and so on. When away from these things, it is easier to be self- reflective, to start again with nothing. Old truths fall away, and you are allowed to discover new pathways in life and art. (Antony Hamilton, Choreographer)

New spaces, places and performances

My local lunch spot

The owner & TV

I'm sitting in a small open air-street cafe in a laneway about three doors up from Taipei Artist's Village. It's lunchtime, there's Taiwan soap on the small raised TV to watch as we sit at small tables eating a delicious local staple, pork rice, with a plate of fresh steamed veges for just under $2 AUD. I'm feeling like a regular (after all of two weeks) and enjoying the warm air and the friendly nod of the guy who runs the place (with Mum it looks like). This last week has seen me start to sketch out my project, looking at spaces and meeting new people who are so keen to assist, it's just lovely. I've been seeing some awesome venues and performances, and experiencing the vibrancy and energy that is in the contemporary arts community in Taipei, in particular the contemporary dance scene.

Up the stairs

The newly minted resident artists had the opportunity to visit the recently opened (April this year) Cloud Gate Theater in Tamsui. On a day trip organised by the TAV, the artists and visiting studio interns take the MRT to the end of the (Red!) line, then taxi's to the idyllic lush green surrounds that is the Cloud Gate Theater and the home to international contemporary dance company Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. With our guide we toured the buildings, caught glimpses of dancers in the studio and viewed a photographic exhibition of past works. We then had the pleasure of sitting in on a rehearsal of Rice, a much loved work by the company being currently remounted for international touring and an up coming large-scale outdoor performance in Taipei's cultural center, near the National Theater. Apparently over 10,000 people will attend, and (of course) I am planning to go along and check it out. The Cloud Gate Theater has a wonderful sense of intimacy and warmth compared to the mausoleum effect of so many Chinese theaters. It's beauty in the full-length glass rear windows that let in the natural light and the rich green of the surrounding forest of trees. Magic!  It felt a real privilege to be able to see this space as the interiors are currently not open to general public viewing. Here are some images from places where I was allowed to take them.

Theatre and sculptures!

Deck view

Lunch is provided for the dancers

All those feet

Donors wall - Over 4500+ people helped to build this Theater after a fire wiped our the Company's space & storage in 2008

Nestled in amongst the trees & flowers

Some things are the same...wherever you are

Afterwards we have a traditional Chinese banquet lunch in downtown Tamsui. Off the street, up a small stairway, we are seated around big round tables, old-style fans whirring overhead. The courses keep on coming, loads of seafood, so fresh it comes straight from the tank. I try an assorted range of foods and flavours....some things I know what I am eating, others I don't...

All of us

Snails - and I ate one!

Chinese Feast

Lunch!

We hit the streets and its pelting rain as we trek down narrow alleys and then out along a grey beachfront making our way back up the hill. Tamsui is an historic port town and we experience a guided visit to one of the local tourist spots, Fort Hobe, before we move on to a presentation and Open Studio showing held by the New Taipei International Residency program.  The sun has come out and we are 'steaming', thrilled to take tea (in air conditioning) and chat to the diverse group of mainly visual resident artists who share their work with us. Once again we all end up on the rooftop for a collective group pic!

Tamsui waterfront walk

Fort Hobe

Open Studio - New Taipei International Residential artist

The TAV also organise a visit for us out to the other residential space they operate at Treasure Hill. I appreciate that as part of their mission they state they 'provide a home for Artistic Nomads and Cultural Interchange' and it feels a pretty accurate description of us right now. While only 30 minutes drive away Treasure Hill is another world. Partially set in the heart of a traditional village community, at the edge of a river settlement, it is the antithesis of the urbane centralised space we are living in. A Buddhist temple nestles at the edge of the community, with its warren of studio residential spaces, micro-studio work spaces, galleries and small arty shops & cafes. Here the sense of village life and past history is more prevailing, though within this sense of other worldliness nearby freeways also provide a reminder of the constant pulse of the city. We explore spaces, possible exhibition & presentation venues, and meet the locals (including the rampant mosquitos). * See Treasure Hill page for more pics

Past/present

Local cafe/store

 I am also here to be introduced to Taiwanese resident artist Tseng Ting Yu who may be able to assist me with my own project. Part of my research and exploration involves working with Chinese text in translation. Not only as 'words' but I am also seeking to capture the movement quality of how it might be written or painted. As Ting is also a gifted calligrapher, the TAV team thought we could possibly collaborate. We take tea with Ting and his partner in his beautiful studio (that he has renovated himself, including building much of the furniture) and have a wonderful session. I am hoping to video him translating text I have written, and then work with this material in a number of different ways in the studio. I am lucky to be with my TAV host Wanying as I am fast learning that some forms of translation definitely require Mandarin.  

Wanying & Tseung Ting Yu

Calligraphy & me

I see another new contemporary dance work The Second Body showcased by local company Anarchy Dance Theatre. This is an exciting collaboration between highly regarded emerging choreographer Chieh-hau Hsieh and digital designers Software Architecture with sound designers Ultra Combos & Yannick Dauby. There are 6 projectors covering every area of a square white tarket, with audience on all four sides. A solo female dancer performs the work, and almost painfully it feels like she is re-building her body from scratch. This is an intimate and powerful performance...then the digital, motion capture technology takes over. In a section of the work a 360 degree full-body length projection is achieved, that pulses and vibrates. It is totally mesmerising as this 'second' created body appears, though I find myself missing the human quality as the performer's body becomes canvas to this digital visual feast. (Check out their website for a video excerpt) Afterwards there is an intensive discussion, and I enjoy the rigor of the questioning, where there is dialogue not merely critique. Thanks to my colleague Hsu Yenting who provides the translation of the exchange.
It's interesting to note that the exploration of digital technology, the use of video and multi-media elements is a key component of many new contemporary dance works in Taiwan. If you are interested in reading more on the work of Hsieh Chieh-Hua and others experimenting with new technologies there is a great article by Chen Chang-Chih The New Aesthetics of Dance & Technology in Taiwan in Culturebot.

Anarchy's new work

Audience with projectors

At other times I am watching and experiencing new work on my own with limited translation to the post-show discussions (which seem a natural part of most presentations and are involved and often lengthy). This makes for a different and unique experience which is no less rewarding as I 'feel' my way and open up to another level of allowing impression and imprint to happen organically. I view a new work in progress showing at NTU Theater by Dance Forum Taipei which reflects upon the Chinese age-old tradition of footbinding. It is a poetic and lyrical piece, that is poignant and gently moving and will grow into an interesting work. It is to be accompanied by two grand pianos played live and much of the discussion centres around the spatial design challenges. The following day I visit the Company in their own studios and I am warmly welcomed by Artistic Director Ping Heng & resident choreographer Ming-Lung Yang. We watch Company auditions and I am introduced to recent graduates and auditionees who may participate in my project. After getting lost in the labyrinth of laneways on my way there it ultimately proves to be a productive morning!

Dance Forum Taipei Studio

Work in Progress showing at NTU

Later in the week, TAV Director Wu Dar-Kuen invites me to the opening of an installation/multi-disciplinary work as part of the Songyan Culture Lab, an initiative of the Songshan Cultural Park.  Much more Mandarin text features in this exploration by a group of emerging artists under the direction of I-Fen Tung (M.O.V E Theatre) in this site-specific installation. Incorporating video, visual design, choreographed movement and text with some audience interaction (we can sit anywhere, and move about the work) the elements don't quite jell, and we are left with a feeling that the collaboration between these artists hasn't quite achieved what it might have. It is certainly the opinion of one viewer. In a post show discussion that lasts almost as long as the work, even though he is speaking in Mandarin, one recognises the familiar and universal tone of the disgruntled expert!

Songshan Culture & Art park - another converted factory space

Lab

Show ends

The Installation

It's been a stimulating introduction to feeling the 'groove and move' of the local dance/performance community. What began with a visit to Cloud Gate just over a week ago culminates in watching their open-air free public performance of Rice. To sit amongst thousands of local people in this grand historic venue is a magical and unforgettable experience. The energy is quietly anticipatory and also joyful. They are here to watch, appreciate and celebrate the work of one of the great contemporary choreographers, Lin Hwai Min (who receives a rock star welcome on stage) and experience this incredible dance company. They and I are not disappointed, it is an wonderful finale to an amazing week.

 ....we got in touch with the wind and the sun, the drizzle of rain and the mud and the soil. You can create work in a studio but the elements of nature stimulate you physically. You press down into the ground and draw energy from gravity. You feel a sense of power from pushing into the soil with your feet. It was a wonderful experience and gave us a new perspective: it's not just dancing...
(Lin Hwai Min)

Pre-show

Cloud Gate in action