- Presenter: Weiwuying
- Conducted in Mandarin (No English translation provided).
- Duration is 120 minutes without intermission.
- The organizer will be taking photos and videos during the event for documentation and non-commercial use. By registering, participants agree to authorize the use of the above-mentioned images and videos. Please consider carefully before registering.
- National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), National Performing Arts Center, reserves the right to make final modifications, changes, interpretations, and cancellations of this event.
- Further questions please contact: learning@npac-weiwuying.org
Revisiting Taipei Dance Circle —Retracting the Paths of Creation and Touring Lecture
In 2019, the Taipei Dance Circle ceased operations, as one of the significant dance troupes in Taiwan which had existed for thirty-five years (1984–2019). After its artistic director and the recipient of the National Award for Arts - Shaw-Lu Liu – passed away in 2014, the Taipei Dance Circle inevitably faced its destiny. However, through the Mapping Taiwan Dance Memories Project, the dusty archives have finally come to light. Among them is the videotape of the pioneering work Dance over the Universe, that first brought the “modern dance on baby oil” to the stage in 1993. Through digitalization, these precious records have been rescued from fading into the ashes of history, allowing them to be seen,revisited, and reinterpreted in the present and in the future.
By reflecting on "The Taipei Dance Circle in the World", this troupe undertook extensive international tours between 1993 and 2006,presenting eight works from its baby-oil dance repertoire across Japan,the United States, Germany, Australia, Prague, Guangzhou, Estonia, South Korea, Singapore, France, Israel, Vietnam, Portugal, Poland, and Canada.This remarkable chapter represents a brilliant achievement in the history of dance in Taiwan.
Although dance is often described as an art form that "exists at a perpetual vanishing point", can it continue to exist in alternative forms across time? By revisiting the history of the Taipei Dance Circle, this event explores the future that follows an ending. Drawing on perspectives from choreography, touring, and research, it reflects on how dance may continue to live on beyond the stage.
Speaker
Wanjung YANG
Co-founder of the Taipei Dance Circle (TDC) in 1984 alongside Shaw-Lu Liu, Yang served as the troupe's director and rehearsal director. A former Cloud Gate dancer with extensive ballet and modern dance training in New York, she taught ballet at Tainan University of Technology for 25 years and served as TDC’s core instructor for ballet and body alignment.
Mingder Chung
Serving as TDC's artistic advisor from 1992 to 2018, Chung is an Emeritus Professor and former Dean of the School of Theatre Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA). He is a prolific scholar in theatre and performing arts, with significant publications including extensive research on the choreography and methodology of Shaw-Lu Liu.
Hsienpin WANG
A principal dancer and founding member of TDC (1986–2017), Wang also instructed the troupe in Tai Chi and Tai Chi Dao Yin. He performed extensively in TDC’s major works—most notably the pioneering "modern dance on baby oil" series—and represented the troupe on numerous international tours across the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
Yuchun CHEN
Holding a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Roehampton, Chen's doctoral research focused on TDC through the lens of dance ethnography. She is currently an independent researcher for Weiwuying's "Mapping Taiwan Dance Memories" project, playing a vital role in digitizing TDC's historical archives and expanding its research scope.
Moderator
Xiangjun FAN
A dance scholar, critic, and dramaturg, Xiangjun FAN is an adjunct assistant professor at TNUA and the core researcher for Weiwuying's ""Mapping Taiwan Dance Memories"" project. A former NSTC postdoctoral research fellow, she has actively contributed to Taiwan's dance discourse through her roles as a nominator for the Taishin Arts Award and a resident critic for the Performing Arts Review.
She authored Sharing Differences: Contact Improvisation, the Aesthetics of Touch, and Taiwan Contemporary Dancing Bodies, and co-translated And then it got legs: Notes on dance dramaturgy into Chinese, expanding access to contemporary choreographic discourse.
Funding Agency
 |
This project is supported by the Ministry of Culture (MOC) Reconstruction of Taiwan's Art History 2.0 project
Host
National Performing Art Center-National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)
More
►Mapping Taiwan Dance Memories
Revisiting Taipei Dance Circle —Retracting the Paths of Creation and Touring Lecture
In 2019, the Taipei Dance Circle ceased operations, as one of the significant dance troupes in Taiwan which had existed for thirty-five years (1984–2019). After its artistic director and the recipient of the National Award for Arts - Shaw-Lu Liu – passed away in 2014, the Taipei Dance Circle inevitably faced its destiny. However, through the Mapping Taiwan Dance Memories Project, the dusty archives have finally come to light. Among them is the videotape of the pioneering work Dance over the Universe, that first brought the “modern dance on baby oil” to the stage in 1993. Through digitalization, these precious records have been rescued from fading into the ashes of history, allowing them to be seen,revisited, and reinterpreted in the present and in the future.
By reflecting on "The Taipei Dance Circle in the World", this troupe undertook extensive international tours between 1993 and 2006,presenting eight works from its baby-oil dance repertoire across Japan,the United States, Germany, Australia, Prague, Guangzhou, Estonia, South Korea, Singapore, France, Israel, Vietnam, Portugal, Poland, and Canada.This remarkable chapter represents a brilliant achievement in the history of dance in Taiwan.
Although dance is often described as an art form that "exists at a perpetual vanishing point", can it continue to exist in alternative forms across time? By revisiting the history of the Taipei Dance Circle, this event explores the future that follows an ending. Drawing on perspectives from choreography, touring, and research, it reflects on how dance may continue to live on beyond the stage.
Speaker
Wanjung YANG
Co-founder of the Taipei Dance Circle (TDC) in 1984 alongside Shaw-Lu Liu, Yang served as the troupe's director and rehearsal director. A former Cloud Gate dancer with extensive ballet and modern dance training in New York, she taught ballet at Tainan University of Technology for 25 years and served as TDC’s core instructor for ballet and body alignment.
Mingder Chung
Serving as TDC's artistic advisor from 1992 to 2018, Chung is an Emeritus Professor and former Dean of the School of Theatre Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA). He is a prolific scholar in theatre and performing arts, with significant publications including extensive research on the choreography and methodology of Shaw-Lu Liu.
Hsienpin WANG
A principal dancer and founding member of TDC (1986–2017), Wang also instructed the troupe in Tai Chi and Tai Chi Dao Yin. He performed extensively in TDC’s major works—most notably the pioneering "modern dance on baby oil" series—and represented the troupe on numerous international tours across the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
Yuchun CHEN
Holding a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Roehampton, Chen's doctoral research focused on TDC through the lens of dance ethnography. She is currently an independent researcher for Weiwuying's "Mapping Taiwan Dance Memories" project, playing a vital role in digitizing TDC's historical archives and expanding its research scope.
Moderator
Xiangjun FAN
A dance scholar, critic, and dramaturg, Xiangjun FAN is an adjunct assistant professor at TNUA and the core researcher for Weiwuying's ""Mapping Taiwan Dance Memories"" project. A former NSTC postdoctoral research fellow, she has actively contributed to Taiwan's dance discourse through her roles as a nominator for the Taishin Arts Award and a resident critic for the Performing Arts Review.
She authored Sharing Differences: Contact Improvisation, the Aesthetics of Touch, and Taiwan Contemporary Dancing Bodies, and co-translated And then it got legs: Notes on dance dramaturgy into Chinese, expanding access to contemporary choreographic discourse.
Funding Agency
|
This project is supported by the Ministry of Culture (MOC) Reconstruction of Taiwan's Art History 2.0 project
Host
National Performing Art Center-National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)
More
►Mapping Taiwan Dance Memories
- Presenter: Weiwuying
- Conducted in Mandarin (No English translation provided).
- Duration is 120 minutes without intermission.
- The organizer will be taking photos and videos during the event for documentation and non-commercial use. By registering, participants agree to authorize the use of the above-mentioned images and videos. Please consider carefully before registering.
- National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), National Performing Arts Center, reserves the right to make final modifications, changes, interpretations, and cancellations of this event.
- Further questions please contact: learning@npac-weiwuying.org
