Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Tag: Dance

  • Cloudgate – Annual Outdoor Performance

    Cloudgate – Annual Outdoor Performance

    Cloudgate – and our sunshine account in the red

    Cloudgate (雲門舞集) are an institution in Taiwan; and one of its most treasured cultural exports. Combining traditional Asian and Chinese motifs, they combine them in extraordinary ways, mixing digital media, human-scale calligraphy, old folk tales and contemporary dance. It’s always a challenge to get seats for their performances in Taiwan, since they are so often on the road abroad, but they have an annual open-air performance; this year at least in the grounds of Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, and in the shadow of the National Theatre.

    Seats were first-come-first-serve, so Yuyin and I wandered over a couple of hours early, camping mat in hand and laid out a pretty good plot for our friends that were planning on joining later. Taipei for once served up a rather splendid sunset, and we enjoyed hanging out in an unusual environment with kids running around and old people bisecting the audience loaded with shopping bags on their way home – hilarious.

    With the clock counting down, Abe, Lin and Steve arrived packing fizzy wines, cheeses, hams and a plethora of treats; if we were going to do this, we were going to do this in style! We were certainly the only ones I saw drinking out of about 10,000 people, quaffing out of champagne glasses and getting increasingly giddy as the evening progressed.

    The dance? I give the troupe full respect for not holding back, and not pandering to the lowest common denominator; the accompanying audio and performance were challenging, and at moments poignant and beautiful. The strength, stamina and control on display were extraordinary – and that for us just sitting still on a camping mat for two hours.

    Sitting in the shadow of Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
    Yuyin at work!
    The girl with the sun in her hair
    Sugar wouldn't melt in her mouth
    Enjoying an afternoon in the sun

    Abe arrives with a basket of style
    Team CULTURE!
    The warmup was hilarious – 10,000 people doing stretches; try this in the UK and you would get beer cans full of piss thrown at the stage – only half joking.
    Captivated
    Looking down at the amphitheatre down below
    Steve inspects the door … need one of these in my next place

    Video

    Check out this video here which introduces the performance we saw:

    [custom_field field=”Cloudgate_Video” this_post=”1″ limit=”1″ between=”, ” /]

  • Computex 2005

    Visiting Computex – Taiwan’s biggest electronics show, no.2 in the world – was a pretty interesting experience for me, mainly because it was one of the most memorable company events from a year ago when I first arrived. I have a feeling it was a slightly more sombre affair this year, but it may be in part to being more used to the environment here!

    You can check last year’s event here

    One of the most arresting things are the hordes of babes touting electro tat for their companies. There seems to have been an alarming trend over the last year to make it slightly less sexist and rubber clad, but fortunately there were enough companies seeing the light this year to continue with the fine tradition.

    Plenty of booty shaking – these girls clearly believe in their product

    Michael approaches an AMD clown…

    … and gets the desired effect.

    NVidia splashed out on bored students with enormous bags.

    And I am almost positive these ladies had nothing to do with the stand at all, and were simply craving the attention of the legions of happy snapping geek guys (me not included)


    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Murder on the Dancefloor

    My happy set of stereotypes for Chinese people has been challenged severely this year – but mainly because I have not seen any people ballroom dancing in the street or doing tai-chi (though admitedly I am rarely up early enough to appreciate that).

    However, I was delighted to see (though not hear – it was horrible) a pair of dancers in the Jhongshao Fuxing area kicking up their heels. Though perhaps that is rather an overstatement – the male lead looked more like he was delivering the post, such was the energy and passion.


    He ain’t Patrick

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Yoofs

    I had a pleasant walk through Taipei today. I am finally realising that there are in fact old buildings in Taipei and that they are not all concrete monstrocities. In fact, many of the 1-storey concrete buildings, upon closer inspection, are indeed original Japanese-era constructions clad with concrete and roofed with steel. You can see the original building poking through occasionally, or where the concrete has fallen away, revealing the old brick-work.


    Another brick in the wall

    I ended up in Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall area (see my previous visit here), where I joined most of the young people of Taipei for their weekly music and dance sessions. It’s funny, and very different from home. The square is dominated on two sides by large halls that house the national theatre. In front of these halls are large windows, and in front of them are areas covered by the awnings of the roof.

    In the reflections of these windows you will find team upon team of dancers, using the area to practice. Next to where I was there was a large acrobatic squad chucking girls high into the air, break dancers and RnB kids busting their grooves. It was an amazing sight. The sounds, however, were what made it memorable. In the square at the same time was a large brass band competition and the tiny Getto Blasters could certainly not compete. As a result, the scene I remember is of hip hop kids spinning out to the beats of … brass.


    In the red corner … brass band


    Gravitational Effects


    In the blue corner – hip hoppers


    Kids enjoying the scene

    One of the most interesting things is the way that the kids are doing the youth culture thing. It seems to be subtley different. Here you get one ‘alpha’ kid doing the dance moves and teaching it to the others, right down to the small shoulder flicks and attitude. In Europe I think it would be more like freestyle and people competing. I have heard many time the ‘confucian’ attitude to doing things (master and student) is what explains some of the cultural differences. I have maybe even seen it in their attitude to copying electronics goods – you learn from the master, copy him, and when you master it you can express your own ideas. Perhaps.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…