Dancing connects the island to the world
Borders have reopened, and people have returned to the theater to watch and make live art. For Taiwan’s contemporary dance artists, given the creative energy they accumulated during these recent years, it has been a time of renewal and release.
This is why we are especially excited to welcome everyone to TAIWAN MOVE!.
A platform to promote the country’s contemporary dance works at international tanzmesse nrw 2024.
Featuring works from 20 dance artists and companies.
TAIWAN MOVE! represents vitality, dialogue, and connection.
These elements are a chain that fundamentally begins with the body. The body initiates an action, and a direction takes shape. The body of the dancer moves, thus creating movement. In doing so, the dancer establishes a dialogue that ultimately connects us all.
This exhibition comes from an initiative by the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), commissioned by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture to arrange and curate the performances featured within. Our goal here is to showcase works from Taiwan’s contemporary dance scene and engage with like-minded friends from around the world.
One piece I would like to draw attention to is acclaimed choreographer YU Yen-fang’s Propositions on Disappearance III, which will be featured in this year’s Open Studio session. This profoundly touching work transcends all borders and languages, offering a wonderful example of how Taiwanese artists seek to connect by celebrating universal truths and values.
To move, and to create movement. TAIWAN MOVE! offers a document of the latest developments in the language of Taiwanese contemporary dance. The artists featured here are all on a journey to chart a new body vocabulary and aesthetic unique to our homeland. We look forward to sharing this energy of discovery and exchange with everyone.
Chou Shu-Yi
Curator, 2024 Taiwan Dance Platform / Weiwuying Artist-In-Residence
ABOUT WEIWUYING
CENTER FOR THE ARTS, ARTS FOR THE PEOPLE
Located next to the Weiwuying Metropolitan Park in Fengshan District, the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) sits on a 9.9 hectare lot and occupies a floor area of 3.3 hectares.Inspired by the beauty of the local banyan trees and their iconic canopies of leaves, architect Francine Houben’s design is an undulating structure composed of a unique skin that can withstand the humidity and salinity in Kaohsiung – a port city – thanks to a collaborative effort with the city’s shipbuilders, and a roof under which generous free spaces can flow. In consideration of southern Taiwan’s tropical climate and people’s love for outdoor night activities, the Center has a fence-free plaza on the grounds that is accessible 24 hours a day for strolling, relaxing and much more, creating a breezy and welcoming space in which theater and music become part of everyday life. The Center opened on October 13th 2018 and is now operating all-year round , developing and bringing local as well as international talents to southern Taiwan.
Dance in Taiwan expresses the freedom in bodily creativity and celebrate the dynamic and vitality of a still-growing cultural entity.
Initiated in 2016, the TAIWAN DANCE PLATFORM is a biannual event hosted by the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts –Weiwuying, located in a port city of southern Taiwan. Acclaimed as the worlds’ Largest Single-Roof Performing Arts Center, Weiwuying consists of an outdoor theater and four in-door venues for opera, theater, dance, circus, and different genres performing arts, to showcase the diversity and freedom of Taiwan as the Heart of Asia. The platform connects domestic and international artists through forums and workshops. It also introduces emerging artists, cultivates dance writers, and presents creations from Taiwan and abroad.
The curatorial direction of the Platform focuses on “the South”, geographically, socio-politically, and culturally.
From indigenous and Chinese ideas of traditional body culture to classical genres, modern style, contemporary practice, interdisciplinary creation, inclusive engagement, and choreography with digital arts. In an era where we try to find a way to dance whilst feeling hard to “move”, virtual approaches have become the strategies for breaking through boundaries and isolation. Gathering reflections from the past, this platform aspires to continue demonstrating unrestrained kinetic energy and imbuing life into the body of tomorrow.
