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Janury 2022 Newsletter of Taipei Cultural Center in New York_圖片_0
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HORSE and Incandescence Dance to perform at Japan Society’s Contemporary Dance Festival: Japan + East Asia on January 14 & 15
The Taipei Cultural Center in New York (TCC) and Japan Society proudly co-present two Taiwanese Dance companies’ dance works at Japan Society’s Contemporary Dance Festival: Japan + East Asia. In January 2022, the Contemporary Dance Festival brings groundbreaking artists from the other side of the globe to New York audiences, in two performances only: Friday, January 14 and Saturday, January 15 at 7:30pm. Presented as part of Japan Society’s 2021-2022 Performing Arts Season, the Contemporary Dance Festival, features three North American premieres from Japan, Taiwan and Korea, in a highly selective program assembled by the Society's Artistic Director, Yoko Shioya.

The 2022 Contemporary Dance Festival: Japan + East Asia features 2 Taiwanese Dance companies:

• In Touchdown 《觸底的形色》, mathematician-turned-choreographer Hao Cheng (鄭皓)uses the stage as his
chalkboard in a solo that explores quantum physics through repetitive circular motion [Taiwan].

• FreeSteps – NiNi 《自由步-一盞燈的景身》, created by the founder and choreographer of HORSE, Wei-Chia Su (蘇威嘉), performed by Yu-Ting Fang(方妤婷). In this solo dance project, audiences encounter dancers under street lights in the city, where all of the elements, including the temperature, lighting and landscape at that time as well as passersby, become materials for the dancers’ creation. [Taiwan]

Touchdown will be presented in two performances: Friday, January 14 and Saturday, January 15 at 7:30pm. On both nights, audiences are invited to arrive by 6:45pm to watch a special solo performance in the Society’s lobby titled FreeSteps – NiNi, choreographed by Wei-Chia Su — the founder of one of Taiwan’s most-celebrated dance companies HORSE. Attendance is limited to a maximum of 120 observers at this time; no admission is required.

Tickets & Information:
Performances are Friday, January 14 at 7:30pm* and Saturday, January 15 at 7:30pm†.
Tickets are $30 / $25 Japan Society members.
* followed by a MetLife Meet-the-Artists Reception
† followed by an Artist Q&A
Tickets online at www.japansociety.org

♠FreeSteps - NiNi / Choreographed by Wei-Chia Su / Performed by Yu-Ting Fang (HORSE 驫舞劇場)

FreeSteps – NiNi is a piece that Wei-Chia Su created in the sixth year of his ten-year-long choreography project to create dance outside of the confines of a theater. In this project, audiences encounter dancers under street lights in the city, where all of the elements, including the temperature, lighting and landscape at that time as well as passersby, become materials for the dancers’ creation.

The dancers’ physical bodies stretch and curl in merriment or pain depending on the surrounding stimuli.Like a living sculpture garden, the dancers’ differing physiques and movements are highlighted by the stark shadows cast on their bodies. For Japan Society’s presentation, ticket holders and the general public are invited to arrive at 6:45 pm to watch a solo performance of FreeSteps – NiNi, performed in the Society’s lobby. Attendance is limited to a maximum of 120 observers at this time.

Choreographer: Wei-Chia Su
Performer: Yu-Ting Fang
Lighting & Stage Designer: Chia-Ming Liu
Sound Designer: Yannick Dauby
Producer: Wen Huang

Wei-Chia Su, born in Kaohsiung, in 2004 co-founded HORSE. His numerous choreographies and collaborations include the group-created work Velocity, a winner of the 6th Taishin Arts Awards; and the autobiographical piece 2 Men, a collaboration with Wu-kang Chen, and the First Prize winner and Audiences' Choice winner of the 2013 Kurt-Jooss-Preis. His ongoing FreeSteps project, launched in 2013, explores the relationship between contours, movements, characters, rhythm, music, and light; a performance at Les Hivernales - CDCN d’Avignon was described as “a succession of shocks that drive the imagination into obscure and delicious depths.”

♠Touchdown / Choreographed & Performed by Hao Cheng (Incandescence Dance 告白熾造)
North American Premiere

Touchdown is a solo performance combining monologues and dance, performed by mathematicianturned-choreographer Hao Cheng. The work, first performed in 2019, uses quantum physics as an analogy for life in its portrayal of the choreographer’s personal struggles and breakthroughs. In Touchdown, Cheng’s unique background in mathematics gives him perspective on both the abstract concepts and flesh-and-blood performative elements of this dynamic solo — a quietly thrilling meeting of popular science and the poetry of motion. Featuring a blackboard-like surface and chalk, Cheng ceaselessly charts his nimble, emotive movements; his dance gradually transforming the space into a visual art installation. A highly personal and intentionally low-tech examination of the seemingly unresolvable contradictions of being alive, this elegantly-conceived show gives quantum physics and the uncertainty principle fresh meaning and a human face.

Choreographer/Performer: Hao Cheng
Dramaturge: Yu-Chun Chen
Lighting Designer: Ke-Chu Lai
Sound Designer: Chao-En Cheng
Stage Manager: Chih-Wei Tseng

Hao Cheng established Incandescence Dance in Taiwan in 2019. His company creates contemporary dance works that explore the poetry of motion with scientific and mathematical thinking. Science and art are often seen as two separate cultures, yet the founder Hao Cheng’s pursuit of science and art both stem from his curiosity towards the world. That curiosity is the drive behind all human activities. Beyond the complicated language of physics and mathematics, the poetry of science can be as accessible and enjoyable as the art, and the company Incandescence Dance wishes to reveal that through dance.


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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Dragon Inn are coming to Metrograph in New York on January 4
Classic wuxia (武俠) films are coming to New York City! Beginning January 4, Metrograph will be presenting a variety of classic wuxia films in theater, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) by Ang Lee (李安), Executioners from Shaolin(洪熙官) by Lau Kar Leung(劉家良), as well as Dragon Inn (龍門客棧), Raining in the Mountain (空山靈雨), and A Touch of Zen (俠女), all of which were directed by King Hu (胡金銓).
Dragon Inn was a blockbuster, setting box-office records in Taiwan, South Korea, and the Philippines in 1967, and the film proved to have a broad and lasting impact. A Touch of Zen took the Technical Grand Prize award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975, propelling Hu onto the world stage, and its bamboo forest duel became a classic scene and an indelible contribution to cinema.
All four of King Hu’s digitally restored films have also received additional global recognition in recent years. Dragon Inn and A Touch of Zen were selected for Cannes Classics. Moreover, Raining in the Mountain was selected for the first edition of Classici fuori Mostra, organized by the Venice Biennale in 2018.
Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was the first Chinese-language film to win the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, receiving four awards in total at the 2001 Oscars. “Twenty years later, the exhilarating grace of Ang Lee’s martial-arts masterwork is just as breathtaking,” as Jake Coyle, a film writer and critic for the Associated Press, wrote last year for the 20th anniversary of the film’s original release.
Hu’s style influenced decades of subsequent Asian cinema, including Tsui Hark’s New Dragon Gate Inn, Tsai Ming-liang’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn, and Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
In its press release, Metrograph described these films by stating that “Heroes and quite a few heroines are found routinely defying the laws of gravity and all physical probability in the heat of righteous, bloodstained combat,” referring to them as “A hot shot of pure adrenaline and fluttering cinematic euphoria, and the only real superhero movies that have ever been made.”
All four films are available on the big screen at Metrograph beginning January 4. For more information, please visit https://nyc.metrograph.com/

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Throw Back to 30 years Art Mission
The TCC’s 30th Anniversary: To Good Old Friends (Short Film Series)

Let’s take a ride with our interviewees to discover what TCC has done in the past 30 years!
“Before 1991, Taiwanese arts were rather quiet and unknown in New York. Or, should I say, it was still budding. For it to boom, some actions were required on a more collective scale. TCC played such a role.” -- WU Jing-Jyi (吳靜吉), co-founder and artistic director of Lan Ling Theater(蘭陵劇場).

讓我們乘著時光機,跟著吳靜吉、朱宗慶、布拉瑞揚、吳明益等台灣藝術家,一起回首30年來紐文中心曾做過的大小事吧!

Episode 1: Throw Back to 30 years Art Mission

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Cheers to Taiwanese Artists
The TCC’s 30th Anniversary: To Good Old Friends (Short Film Series)

Over the past 30 years, TCC has been privileged to work with so many great arts & cultural organizations across the U.S. and Canada, including The MET, Lincoln Center, Museum of Modern Arts, Performa, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Asia Society, Queens Museum, Museum of Moving Image, International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York Public Library, Detroit Institute of Arts, American Dance Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, Toronto International Festival of Authors, and many more, in order to present amazing works by Taiwanese artists.

In this video, these presenters are COMING CLEAN with us about their impressions of Taiwanese artists.

30年來,台灣藝術家積極向國際發聲,並在紐文中心的助攻下,登上北美各頂級舞台。在這些美加藝文機構的策展人眼中,台灣藝術家有甚麼樣的特質呢?

Episode 2: Cheers to Taiwanese Artists

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Crossing Over: The Taiwanese Art We've Shared
The TCC’s 30th Anniversary: To Good Old Friends (Short Film Series)

Taiwanese performers, dancers, musicians, filmmakers, authors, fashion designers, and other artists from a variety of disciplines strive to transcend boundaries and borders for one purpose -- to share the uniqueness and beauty of Taiwanese arts and culture with a broader audience. When they hear laughter, applause, and compliments from foreign audiences, they know that all their hard work has paid off. Moreover, many exceptional works have been created because of these invaluable cultural exchanges.

表演藝術、視覺藝術、電影、音樂、文學…,來自台灣不同領域的藝術家,跨越邊界,將作品帶來紐約及北美,得到掌聲及肯定,也把在海外受到的啟發帶回了台灣。這些色彩鮮明且動人的故事篇章,一個個皆是台美文化交流史上最美麗的註腳。

Episode 3 : Crossing Over: The Taiwanese Art We've Shared

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Greetings from Good Old Friends
The TCC’s 30th Anniversary: To Good Old Friends (Short Film Series)

Happy Birthday to the Taipei Cultural Center in New York!

TCC in New York was founded as Taiwan’s first official overseas organization focusing on international cultural exchanges. It was established in 1991, so this year marks its 30th anniversary!

In collaboration with VM Studio & Very Theatre, we have interviewed 20+ GOOF OLD FRIENDS from Taiwan, Canada, and the United States to commemorate this special occasion, allowing them to share their stories and memories of working with TCC in New York over the past three decades.

紐文中心生日快樂!!!

位於紐約的台北文化中心是台灣第一個正式的官方海外文化據點,從1991年成立至今,已經30歲了。

為了慶祝與各台灣藝術家及美加藝文機構共同攜手走過的這30個年頭,我們與狠主流合作回訪20位以上在台灣及北美的紐文好朋友、老朋友,用影片憶當年。

Episode 4: Greetings from Good Old Friends

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Happy TCC 30th Birthday by Vincent Hsu & Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band
The TCC’s 30th Anniversary: To Good Old Friends (Short Film Series)

Happy Birthday to the Taipei Cultural Center in New York!

Founded in 2010, Vincent Hsu & Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band aims to infuse their Taiwanese roots to the practices of jazz and Afro-Cuban music style, leading audiences to experience the unpredictability of jazz improvisation through Afro-Cuban rhythms.

The Award-winning bassist /bandleader Vincent (Tsung-Yu) Hsu and his band members bring a warm-hearted “Happy Birthday Song” to celebrate TCC’s 30th Anniversary.

紐文中心生日快樂!!!

來自臺灣的徐崇育 & Soy La Ley古巴爵士樂團秉持融合臺灣爵士與古巴音樂的初衷,在拉丁節奏中,讓觀眾感受到爵士樂即興的不可預期性。

美國「全球音樂獎 Global Music Awards」得主徐崇育 & Soy La Ley古巴爵士樂團,帶來一曲暖心的生日快樂歌,祝福紐文中心30歲生日快樂!

Episode 5: Happy TCC 30th Birthday by Vincent Hsu & Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz Band

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駐紐約台北經濟文化辦事處台北文化中心

1 East 42nd Street, Floor 7th, New York, NY 10017, USA
Ph: +1-212-697-6188  |  Fax: +1-212-697-630
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Email: tpecc@tpecc.org

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