2023 NTT Arts Nova

2023 NTT Arts NOVA ©National Taichung Theater

ASK NOW 

National Taichung Theater (NTT) in central Taiwan rebrands its spring season with a whole new programme – NTT Arts NOVA. Succeeding the legacy from the previous annual spring programme NTT-TIFA that started in 2017, the new brand takes inspiration from the liveliness of the seasonal spring spirit and finds for the start of 2023 a new anchor by introducing a new atmosphere, new ideas, new visions, new insights, new perspectives, and new media. From March till early June, 11 shows selected from within the island and across the world will take place at the three main stages plus one special event space inside the NTT, ranging from the biggest Grand Theatre to the curved walls of the Tutu Gallery. With the theme Ask Now, 2023’s Arts NOVA arranges the spring season with a goal of recovering the audience’s curiosity and passion for the theatre. This includes list of shows varied from dance, drama, multimedia artwork with cross-disciplinary music, new media, puppetry, to green energy for sustainable theatre. 

La Cerisaie ©Christophe Raynaud de Lage / Festival d’Avignon

For Asia debuts, La Cerisaie by Festival d’Avignon and director Tiago Rodrigues will feature prestigious French actress Isabelle Huppert, who will be leading and reprising her role for the audience in Taiwan. BOOM X and BOOM YZ by Canadian artist Rick Miller with Kidoons and WYRD Productions will complete the award-winning trilogy BOOM with the second and final part of the trilogy. Renowned French director Joël Pommerat and his team Compagnie Louis Brouillard will present their brand-new production Contes et legends. This will be their fourth time performing at the NTT. 

Skid ©Mats Bäcker, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani

For reviving classics, nationally famous dance group, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan in celebrating its 50th anniversary, will present one of their timeless masterpieces Legacy by choreographer LIN Hwai-min with new generation of dancers and Ju Percussion Group. Canadian theatre director Robert Lepage and his team Ex Machina will perform their acclaimed production Courville through the theatrical magic of Lepage. GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, one of Europe’s foremost contemporary dance companies, is going to present two phenomenal dances: SAABA choreographed by Sharon Eyal, and Skid by Damien Jalet which challenges dancers to defy gravity with a dance floor tilting at 34 degrees. Hong Kong Media Artist GayBird rearranges the concept of music with his production Keep Breathing at Zero, transforming the NTT Playhouse into a big percussion instrument played by musicians and three robotic arms. 

tiaen tiamen Episode 1 ©National Taichung Theater

For the premieres of Taiwanese productions, Bulareyaung Dance Company partners with Paiwan artists, singer-songwriter aljenljeng tjaluvie (also known as ABAO) and visual artist reretan pavavaljung, into a visually thrilling dance and Paiwan fantasy, tiaen tiamen Episode 1. Renowned Taiwanese choreographer and dancer HUANG Yi will present his latest work, Ink, inspired by the calligraphy Silent Music from master TONG Yang-tze. NTT’s Emerging Artists Project prepares Before Fading Away, which utilises a green energy installation that transform the energy generated from the movements of dancers into powering the show. Choreographer HSIEH Chieh-hua and Anarchy Dance Theatre presents CyborgEros that combines virtual and live performance through AI recognition and algorithm, blurring the limitations of the human body. 

With 2023 NTT Arts NOVA, Joyce CHIOU, the Artistic Director of the theatre shares that, NTT is a venue for the public: it should neither restrict itself to popular programmes nor simply present well-loved classical compositions already familiar to music fans. Certain intimate productions may appeal only to a niche audience, but their sense of theatricality can pique the curiosity of others, thus welcoming more people into the theatre. 

For more info: https://www.npac-ntt.org/ArtsNova/