About Creation
Age of Audience: 12+
Number of Performers: 2 persons
Number of tour member: 15 persons
Stage Size: 14m(W) x 9m(D) x 7.5m(H)
Special Made for: Theater performances preferred
This performance, featuring performers Chou Shu-Yi and Chih- Chung, is a dialogue on equality and freedom. Cheng, a director and playwright who is disabled, was invited by Chou, a modern dancer and choreographer, to engage in conversation about their lives, families and communities, using the language of movement. The performers, each with their own unique physical condition, ask us to witness their dialogue from the perspective of human rights. As Chou and Cheng pour body, heart and soul into this performance, they hope to compel the audience, as members of society, to ponder these questions: What is equality? Where is freedom to be found?
Chou Shu-Yi Choreographer, dancer and producer Chou Shu-Yi is interested in the relationship between the individual and society, and seeks to develop a “specifically Asian” body vocabulary. Chou has presented work at events all over the world, including Fall for Dance (New York) and Internationale Tanzmesse NRW (Düsseldorf). In 2020, he served as artist-in- residence at the National Kaohsiung Center for Performing Arts and lives in southern Taiwan, where he heads the company Shu-Yi and Dancers.Cheng Chih-ChungPlaywright, actor, and director Cheng Chih-Chung joined Critical Point Theatre Phenomenon in 1988, training under Tian Chi-Yuan. He founded the Oz Theater Company in 1997, where he currently serves as resident playwright and director. His notable works as an actor include “1949 if 6 was 9” with the Theatre du Point Aveugle, and “Blackhole 2” with the New Bodo Troupe of the Visually Impaired. His noted plays include “Beautiful” and “The Notebook.”
Is this piece of work discussing equality?
A-zhong once said, “Even though ‘The Center’ brings with it a certain degree of commonality and sociality, art exists to throw out questions, and sometimes, it isn’t even able to provide an answer.” In an interview, Shu-Yi discussed the origins of the work’s English title “The Center”, saying, “To return to physical performers, we are also searching for the center, for the middle point that balances ourselves. If there is no middle point, one will topple. Between me pushing him and him pushing back, there is an active middle point in all this, we can allow it to collapse, but also for the middle point to stand strong and support either of us. From the two paragraphs the creator shared with us, we can perhaps understand that this creation is about a topic that touches on equality and inequality. To quote artistic consultant Lin Ching-Ru, who said this to us in the early days of rehearsals, “If you do not ponder in your heart about whether there is equality or not, then where is the inequality from?”.
