NTCH Season Highlight

2019 Dancing In Autumn

This year, internationally acclaimed artists including Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, TAO Dance Theater, Su Wen-chi, Jan Martens, Akram Khan, Mette Ingvartsen, Damien Jalet and Grouped’ArtGravelArtGroup will present nine provocative works in the biennial Dancing in Autumn organised by National Theater & Concert Hall (NTCH) from 10 Oct to 24 Nov.

Art is more than a mirror reflecting the real world. Art has the power to stimulate dialogues and creative thinking, to even change the society. Dancing in Autumn 2019 celebrates choreographies that not only reflect the spirit of our time but also challenge social norms and existing perspectives, however awkward and even unpleasant the process may be.

Some Hope for the Bastards by Frédérick Gravel

10 – 12 Oct

Relentless work, excessive pressure, fragmented time, and being neglected…. Has your life been flushed into the black hole of human relationship? Do you constantly feel being disliked? Are you sick of life even facing with your own dreams? Do keyboards and mouse remind you of nothing but haters and trolls on the Internet? If so, come and join the melancholic party and dark celebration designed by Canadian choreographer Frédérick Gravel and nine dancers specifically for those netizens living in desperation!

Mixed program

11 – 13 Oct

This year’s Mixed Programme features three dancers made in Taiwan: Su Pin-wen, Tien Hsiao-tzu and Cheng Hao. They each perform a solo dance within the timeframe of a TED video, but three works put together vividly illustrate a unique flavor of what you may call “zeitgeist.” We are calling to all those who are trapped in the collective anxiety and fear to join us in the theatre to feel their free fights against the era with their dances in the echo chamber.

Mixed Program (Photo credit: Chen Chang-chih)

EXCHANGE between Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and TAO Dance Theater

17 – 20 Oct

Before his retirement, Lin Hwai-min curates the last programme for the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Autumn River, which exceeds all expectations with a whole new horizon. Cloud Gate and TAO Dance Theater exchange choreographers and perform each other’s work. Cheng Tsung-lung creates Multiplication for the TAO dancers, while TAO Ye’s 12 challenges the bodies of the Cloud Gate dancers. Don’t miss the collaboration of three internationally-renowned choreographers and two super dance companies!

Anthropic Shadow by SU Wen-chi

18 – 20 Oct

“Exploring those beyond human knowledge; reconstructing our relationship with the unknown.”

Artist Su Wen-chi is an expert at adopting technological installations and theatre performance for reflections upon civilisation and humanity. Following her widely acclaimed Infinity Minus One, Su joins hands again with the star production team and initiates a series of artistic explorations into nature. In the face of climate change, global warming and other contemporary crises, are man’s many countermeasures the acts of true wisdom, or have we overestimated our intelligence?

Rule of Three and Ode to the Attempt by Jan Martens

24 – 27 Oct

If a choreographer composed a dance from the state and perception of your mind when using your smartphone, what would that dance look like? Acclaimed internationally for his innovative style, Belgium choreographer Jan Martens visits Taiwan to present two dance works. The Rule of Three perfectly reflects Martens’ sharp intelligence and almost maniacal creativity. The choreographer will personally star in Ode to the Attempt, a confession of the creator and a clever minuet formed by unadorned words, music, images, and bodily movements.

XENOS by Akram Khan

1 – 3 Nov

British contemporary dance star Akram Khan is visiting Taiwan again with his latest work XENOS, which also marks his final performances as a solo dancer in a full-length piece. With his movement language resembling roaring flame and gale, Akram Khan summons a history of war that has been forgotten. With his last solo dance, Akram Khan tells us that we are all strangers to war, yet nobody is a stranger in war. Be it to live or to die, war has made us strangers to ourselves.

Vessel by Damien Jalet

15 – 17 Nov

 “If a body is no longer a body, it will be the strongest vessel for creativity.” Vessel, jointly created by Japanese sculptor Kohei Nawa and Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet, neither serves any agenda nor pretends to be profound. Human beings as materials seem to be alienated, but from the cosmological viewpoint, it returns to the original mythic essence. This is a work facing the future and its core question is: Has any sensory capability in your body gone beyond your knowledge?

to come(extended) by Mette Ingvartsen

15 – 17 Nov

Is sex a private matter? If so, why do people post all sorts of sex-related materials on the social media? Let’s admit it: Sex has no longer been a private matter that can only be discussed behind closed doors. It has even gone beyond the field of sexuality and sensuality, but has never gotten rid of the restraint of power struggles and control. What is this all about? Let me just tell you: we all deserve a clean, bright, and pure orgasm!

Renaissance of its ashes (Photo credit: Ma Hsuan)

Renaissance of its ashes by HO Hsiao-mei

23 – 24 Nov

The latest work by Ho Hsiao-mei, the recipient of the National Award for Arts, is an exploration of metaphysical choreology into the most original status and the sublime pains of all living creatures!

Renaissance of its ashes originated from the 2018 Kuandu Arts Festival. The Chinese title derives from an ecological term, “climax community,” meaning a biological community which, through the process of ecological succession in the development of vegetation in an area over time, has reached a steady state.

2019 NTCH Dancing in Autumn will start from 10 Oct to 24 Nov. For more information please click here. 

Trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKeG7I_eQYw