DANZ QUARTERLY No 2 December 2005

Cultural Connection and a Typhoon – Choreographing  in Taiwan

By Jack Gray

Flying from New Zealand to Taiwan for the Asia Pacific Young Choreography Project in July where I was to join six other selected choreographers (from Australia, Phillipines and Taiwan) and make a new work for Taiwanese dancers for a concert presentation, was the beginning of a cultural experience I will never forget.
 
Landing in Taipei was like walking into a hot, humid, sticky sauna. Quickly having to acclimatise, I took a cab to the Taipei Main Station and saw a brown city with heaps of long colourfully neon-signed alleys and streets.  I took a four hour train ride to Kaoshiung (south of Taiwan) where the project was held, and finally made it to my poky little hotel room which had no windows and was in perpetual darkness unless I turned a light on.

On the first day of the project we had an orientation, introductions to the organisers and other choreographers followed by an audition of eighty dancers where I selected a group of eight youthful individuals. Three weeks of rehearsals kicking in, I soon realised how privileged this experience would be as I rehearsed in a great open studio overlooking a huge park, with views of palm trees and mountains beyond, balmy gusts of a 35 degree wind blowing in through the open doors, making my body feel warm and pliable. Instead of getting tired, I just kept relaxing and moulding to fit the environment.

Initially I was worried my dancers would be too young and immature for my style of work which involved choreographic input and improvisation skills. But when they danced or performed, they were incredibly disciplined and just got down and did the business in a manner we expect of professionals here. I realised their maturity was mostly because of the Eastern way of learning and not questioning the teacher. To be honest, I loved it as it allowed me to see beyond the tasks I was giving and realise the essence of the movement through their interpretation.

They were not used to communicating or being asked to give verbal feedback within a dance rehearsal. This was also highlighted because of the language barrier as one girl had to translate everything said between myself and the dancers. We were all out of our comfort zone, but started to establish a very deep and profound connection as a result of the amount of effort it took to create the work together. Trust building and the power of dance as a unifying medium made this process so richly rewarding.

I also experienced a typhoon while I was there, and watched on television a very big white mass moving across the ocean towards the little wee island of Taiwan. I was a tiny bit afraid (especially after the whole tsunami thing), but armed with my “typhoon supplies” I managed to see it through.

The final performance was a theatre concert in a huge cultural centre. I was proud to premiere my work Stone Carved Gods, a blend of the dancers’ own solo and duo movement (that showed their unique personalities) and a strong group work (with a collective consciousness). It had four sections - the first section was made up of quartets with the dancers making bizarre window frames with their bodies. The next consisted of duos where dancers manipulated and awkwardly controlled each other’s movement while wearing motorcycle masks (symbolic of urban pollution and disconnection to historic and cultural roots). This was followed by a heavy, ugly, dripping, sinewy, muddy partnering love duet (changing from mechanical to meaning and connection). The final section was a group dance where they went back to their cultural past and roots of self. Grouped in a cluster they did a bizarre sensual motorcycle dance, crawling through each other’s legs and rolling each other like raw bits of clay.

The most incredible part of my experience was the poroporoake (final debrief) where the dancers said the most extraordinary things to me. I realised through dance I had opened new possibilities for them, and likewise was so grateful to them for bringing my vision to life with such passion and allowing me to find an inner strength and belief. This momentum has continued on my return to New Zealand, as I feel the lingering warmth of Taiwan as a joyful and empowering life experience that has impacted greatly on me as an artist.

(Jack Gray thanks DANZ for its support and funding by Toi Maori which assisted him greatly in his trip to Taiwan)

Return to Contents page of DANZ QUARTERLY N0 2 December 2005