Eastern Tale @ 2013臺北藝術節

Eastern Tale

9/2 Fri 19:30
9/3 Sat 19:30

Venue|Taipei Zhongshan Hall, The Zhongzheng Auditorium

Ticket Prices|400　500　700　900　1200

65 minutes with no intermission
After-performance discussion in Chinese at the opening performance

Performed by|
Taipei Chinese Orchestra
Dance Forum Taipei

Eastern Tale, Ming-lung YANG’s latest work created in collaboration with composer, Yiu-kwong CHUNG of the Taipei Chinese Orchestra was created using the romance of Xiang Yu, one of China’s greatest military commanders and Yu Ji, his beloved concubine as the starting point for Yang’s choreographic research.

In Eastern Tale, YANG focuses his attention on the plight of Yu Ji who famously committed suicide in a declaration of love and loyalty to Xiang Yu, the King who faces impending defeat. There are few records about the life of Yu Ji other than this depiction of her whole-hearted devotion and the fact of her death. With so little actually known about the life and circumstance of Yu Ji, Yang asks the question What if? What if rather than committing suicide as has been recorded by historians, Yu Ji had instead joined Xiang Yu in battle and the two had died gloriously at Gai Xia. Or, what if together they had fled Liu Bang’s armies and miraculously escaped death?

Eastern Tale trails three possible outcomes, returning each time to a single point of origin at the Battle. It considers qualities of the human spirit that lead us towards the decisions we make and ultimately propel us towards our individual fate. As is typical of his work, Eastern Tale is an abstract response to Yang’s subject matter. It distils themes of heroism and loyalty, resolve and despair and leaves the narrative behind.
　
Live music performed with three Chinese music instruments guqin, pipa and erhu will be another highlight in Eastern Tale. The music makes three variations echoing three possible circumstances of the end in this tragic romance. Modern electronic music effect will also be applied to create the atmosphere in the battle field, as well as to simulate abstract emotions emerging from each characters. Eastern Tale reveals not only new age oriental dance but also modern Chinese music transformation.

Costume Designer| Ching-ru LIN
Stage Designer| Russ, Hao-chieh KAO
Lighting Designer| Choo-yean HUANG
　　

Artistic Director　PING, Heng
PING founded Dance Forum Taipei in 1989. As the dean of the school of dance, Taipei National University of the Arts, PING Heng is also a leader in the preservation of Taiwan’s native dance forms, serving as Notator and Director of the Research Project on Taiwanese Aboriginal Culture with the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica. Since 1994, Ping Heng has produced the annual Crown Art Festival and, in 1997 established Little Asia Theatre Exchange, networking theatres throughout Asia in performance and arts administration. Ping Heng was honored with the Literary and Arts Award from the National Culture and Arts Foundation. She is now the board member of the National Culture and Arts Foundation.

Choreographer　Ming-lung YANG
A native of Taiwan, Ming-lung YANG earned an M.F.A. in Dance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1993.? Mr. YANG was a member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company from 1994-1999.??His choreography has been presented by the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Dance Theatre Workshop, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival, and Theatre in New York, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Foundation, NYU Washington Square Repertory Dance Company, and Mount Holyoke College. Ming-lung YANG currently teaches and choreographs for Dance Forum Taipei and Taipei National University of the Arts and has served on the summer faculty of the American Dance Festival.

Composer　Yiu-kwong CHUNG
Yiu-kwong CHUNG is Taiwan's best-known and most often performed composer. His music, distinguished by its profound Chinese philosophical background and expressive range, has won large and enthusiastic audiences all over the world. CHUNG has written for every conceivable type of music ranging from the grandest orchestral work, Chinese opera, and musicals to the most intimate New Age style pieces. CHUNG has won numerous music awards internationally, and released several albums for his compositions. CHUNG currently teaches at National Taiwan University of Arts and has served as general director of Taipei Chinese Orchestra since 2007.

Dance Forum Taipei
Dance Forum Taipei (DFT) is the representative of contemporary dance in Taiwan. Through engaging different choreographers, the Company acts as an open forum for artists to come together to present ideas at first hand.

Led by PING, Heng as Founder, the Company presents performances of commissioned and re-constructed choreographies from different artist of diverse styles, ranging from inventive abstract vignettes to fantastical full-length dance theatre works. DFT has made more than 600 performances since its inception in 1989, touring throughout the island of Taiwan as well as abroad to south-eastern Asia, and major cities including New York, Amsterdam, Bern, etc.

Influenced by western modern dance through the years, choreographers in Taiwan work hard to find their own expression and movement vocabulary which shows the different facets of contemporary dance in Taiwan. Dance Forum Taipei acts as nurturing ground for this important development and maybe one of the most exciting sights in Asia in the 21 century.

In this new production, Dance Forum Taipei cooperates with Taipei Chinese Orchestra inviting Director Yiu-Kwong CHUNG as the composer. There will be live music playing on stage by three musicians (guqin, pipa, erhu) from Taipei Chinese Orchestra.

Taipei Chinese Orchestra
The Taipei Chinese Orchestra (TCO) has long established a high reputation for its versatility and artistic excellence. TCO also has been very active in international cultural exchange activities.
Since Yiu-kwong CHUNG’s appointment as General Director and renowned conductor Shao En's appointment as Music Director in 2007, the Taipei Chinese Orchestra has experienced an era of unprecedented artistic growth, with a reputation for innovative and adventurous programming.

[Free Lecture]
Venue: Eslite Bookstore Dunnan Branch B2
7/9 Sat 15:30~17:00
The Legend under the Olive Tree-When Music Falls for Dance
Moderator: Mel Chung-heng YANG (Music Critic/Executive Director of Quanta Arts Foundation)、Yiu-kwong CHUNG(Composer/Director of Taipei Chinese Orchestra)、PING, Heng (Choreographer/ Artistic Director of Dance Forum Taipei)

After-performance talk
8/26(Fri) The Dreamy Fallacy
Speakers: Mel Chung-heng YANG