Department of Cultural Affairs

By Psyche Cho
Staff Reporter

The 2011 Taipei Arts festival opened July 28 in Taipei with an exhibition of William Forsythe’s choreography works, offering locals a chance to decode and examine the essence of dance.

A number of carefully selected works by the king of dance are on display in the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei, which will run until August 28. Among these, Synchronous Objects, a project in collaboration with Ohio State University, aims to capture, analyze and present the underlying structures and components of Forsythe’s One Flat Thing, reproduced (2000).

Through the application of data visualization tools in the form of information graphics, 2D and 3D animations, viewers will develop new approaches to thinking about the relationship between dance and choreography.

Forsythe has worked with Ballett Frankfurt and the Forsythe Company, and his repertoires are highly sought after by contemporary dance groups.

Planned under the main theme of philosophy, this year’s edition features theatrical art endorsed with philosophic color. The other opening program, Ritter, Dene, Voss, a play penned by renowned Austrian literatus Thomas Bernhard, tells a story about familial warfare among three siblings.  

Meanwhile, two shows have been prepared to pay tribute to local art giants. The Puppet and Its Double Theater will perform Who’s Hung Tung in memory of the illiterate late painter Hung Tung.

Some native folklore artistic formations and traditional customs are transformed and integrated in to enrich the play. “We’re most grateful to Mr. Hung and we hope this play is as colorful as his paintings,” said Director Cheng Chia-yin.

The other piece is Quanta Theater’s The Dreamy Fallacy, a musical of 29 songs by the late composer Lee Tai-hsiang, whose influence on the scene of Taiwanese music is still prominent. Other programs include the locally-produced Eastern Tale, a joint work by Dance Forum Taipei and the Taipei Chinese Orchestra, based on the romance and tragedy of Xiang Yu, one of the best-known military commanders in Chinese history, and his beloved concubine Yu Ji.

This piece will soon be performed in the Netherlands after its premiere in the festival, said Ping Heng, artistic director of the dance.

An Anthology of Optimism, presented jointly by Belgian writer Pieter De Buysser and Jacob Wren, a Canadian writer, will elaborate on the essence of optimism. The Spain-based pyrotechnic troupe Sarxa Teatre will bring two outdoor fireworks shows El Foc del Mar (Fire of the Sea) and Nit Magica (Magical Night), to draw the six-week long festival to a close right in front of Taipei Civic Square on September 4.

More information on 2011 Taipei Arts Festival is available on www.taipeifestival.org.