2025 NTT Arts NOVA

2025 NTT Arts NOVA (Photo credit: National Taichung Theater)

The annual spring season of the National Taichung Theater (NTT), 2025 NTT Arts NOVA treats audiences ten incredible programmes that embark on a spiritual exploration through the lens of technology. The lineup features five international productions from Canada, Italy, Japan, Australia and the U.K., alongside five locally produced or collaborative works with Taiwanese artists. This season celebrates the marriage of creative partnerships and ventures into sensory experiences through live performance, challenging the norms of reality and fantasy while setting out on a journey to contextualise the intangible through our body, mind and soul. From 7 Mar -8 Jun, let’s open up the endless possibilities for the future of theatre, and turn imagination into reality. 

LAM! (Photo credit: Salle Odyssee)

Kicking off the season with a “BANG,” theatre director Robert Lepage and Ex Machina team up with Québécois troupe Cirque FLIP Fabrique to present SLAM! —an adrenaline-charged spectacle that blends circus artistry with theatrical storytelling, exploring the dynamic world of wrestling culture. In another exciting collaboration, the eccentric and wildly popular band Maywa Denki joins forces with the Asian leading generative AI-image collective, Hello Edo!. Together, they present New Century of Ukiyo-e—a marvelous fusion of visual and auditory art that intertwines Japan’s traditional festival elements with cyberpunk-inspired futuristic fantasy. Adding to this exciting lineup, Deep Lake Man by Storytelling Concert brings together Taiwanese and Japanese artists, using a d&b Soundscape sound system to immerse audiences in a mystical tale based on WANG Liulang from the classic Chinese folktale collection Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. This unique performance focuses on music and sound design to vividly illustrate its enchanting story. 

English National Ballet╳Akram Khan Giselle (Photo credit: Laurent Liotardo)

Awaken the year 2025 with a vivid and electrifying dance! From world-renowned choreographer Akram Khan and the English National Ballet, comes the groundbreaking reimagining of Giselle, set to grace the stage of the NTT Grand Theater. Since its debut in 2016, the masterpiece has earned widespread acclaim, with Akram Khan brilliantly exploring the coldness of hatred born from love, breathing new life into the timeless classic with a bold and contemporary 21st-century romance. Meanwhile, Manifesto by Australian choreographer Stephanie Lake storms into NTT’s spring season, uniting dancers, drummers, and drum sets in a vibrant feast bursting with vigorous energy and exhilarating rhythm. Adding to the lineup, Taiwan’s Bulareyaung Dance Company presents the second part of its trilogy about life and being: tiaen tiamen Episode 2. Following Episode 1 in 2023, which centered on the theme of pulima (an Indigenous word from The Paiwan that connotes the skilled craftsmen), Episode 2 delves into puqulu that refers to the people with inner wisdom and continues the discussion of how the human return to nature exploring the peace and value of the life. 

Sál (Photo credit: Emmanuele)

Part of another extraordinary trilogy, Sál by the Italian multidisciplinary art studio fuse* serves as the final chapter, set for its global debut at the 2025 NTT Arts NOVA. Completing its profound journey of life, death, and the soul, this live-media performance invites audiences to partake in a collective ritual. Through meditation, participants access altered states of consciousness, which are then transformed into data, seamlessly integrating with the live performance on stage. Also delving into the realms of mind and reality, Riverbed Theatre, in collaboration with PHI Studio from Canada and Onassis Culture from Greece, explores how technology reshapes the modern perceptions of life’s creation and loss. Their production, Blur, uses XR technology and meticulously crafted virtual interactions to connect actors with the audience in a shared virtual space, unraveling the peculiar gray area where scientific capabilities intersect with challenged morals. 

In addition to XR, Taiwanese group Very Theatre introduces its Free UR Head series with 8 Degrees of Freedom, offering collective experiences of VR, music, dance and theatre. The production invites audiences to be part of a group dance using only their head movements. Through cleverly designed mini-games, participants can freely enjoy virtual reality and live immersion with dancers and musicians on stage. 

Among the discussions on virtuality and reality, Day-Night reversal Don Quijote, inspired by the classic tale of Don Quijote, steps into the picture with a unique personality. This NTT Emerging Artists Project, led by Taiwanese artists HSIUNG Shih-hsiang and HUNG Yi-po, blends the Unity game engine, interactive design, and AI-generated algorithm, to craft an immersive experience. Actors and audience are free to explore the shifting realities of truth and fantasy, blurring the line between what is real and what matters. 

Ranging from cross-disciplinary collaborations to theatre, dance, and music, the 2025 NTT Arts NOVA series explores the concept of “in between.” Whether it is the boundary between truth and illusion, reality and fabrication, or live and virtual, the blurred spaces where both sides meet offer the most exciting and meaningful opportunities for elaboration. Much like the space between the audience and performers on stage, this shared moment exists only when both are present—a unique irreplaceable connection that ultimately becomes the essence of what truly matters. 

For more info: https://www.npac-ntt.org/en/program/nttseries/nova