Author/ Yuting Huang (Curator)
Translator/ Artist Translation Service 譯術家專業翻譯工作室
(Editor’s note: In order to help readers further understand the original intention of this project, the project proposal has been uploaded. Please read with the article titled “Planning after Exchange”.)
Origin
What would Taiwanese people’s common imagination of the nation as a community be? This issue has been dealt with differently in different generations with the factor “time”. In this age with western ideologies being introduced, rapid social changes, and very fast improvements in physical conditions, we still wanted to ask, do we have a common imagination on this island? In the 21st century, what can the people of the island think and do?
In the fact of an unending stream of traditional/contemporary/future issues regard you/me/others, we wanted to come up with an action plan which is open and covers you/me/others, the old days and modern days, and possibilities for the future. Through the Lazurite Initiative, Taiwan and India were connected in dancing. We proposed the core concept “Traditions in the Contemporary Society: The Encounter of Taiwan and India in Dancing” to join the dance groups from Taiwan and India with deep roots in their own cultures and traditions. In a contemporary situation or life, how did they help a tradition adapt and innovate in dancing? How did they use their own body language to communicate with the outside world? A recording and research team joined this action plan as the third party, responsible for implementing what they had learned in the field of the exchange, making observations, and recording the process with text and images. We expect to see how theories can be applied to this encounter of the traditional and the contemporary, further leading to the questions for the dance groups.
The Lazurite Initiative brought the artists from India to Taiwan to get to know the culture here, even just a part of it. Similarly, knowing the classic dance in India is also a way to get to know the Indian culture. Respecting and learning from different cultures is the action issue of this generation. This project focused on a little bit more understanding of both cultures. When the artists perceived the changes in the modern societies in terms of traditional arts and cultures, they adopted different measures and strategies in response. Through their exchange, they provided different ideas during the process of art creation. And they brought something new to each other’s art cultures. We expect that the co-production of the two dance groups can be presented in Taiwan and India in 2019.
Goals
“Traditions in the Contemporary Society: The Encounter of Taiwan and India in Dancing” was designed based on the Lazurite Initiative Cultural Exchange Collaboration Guidelines, with the 2018 goal of completing tasks including workshops, research, observation, field surveys, and recording. These tasks will be performed in four phases. Phase 1 is to perform field surveys to collect and provide data. Phase 2 is to visit India for observation and exchange seminars. Phase 3 is to invite the Indian dance group to Taiwan for workshops. And phase 4 is to present and organize the initial achievements of the exchange. Each phase is the preparation for the next phase.
In the aspect of dance groups, it is hoped that through the inspiration from the stimulations of different cultures, the dancers of both groups can complete their initiative creative work and present the work during the Arts Festival of the Paiwan people. In the aspect of the recording and research team, the goal is to build a website to provide the text and image records from this rare Taiwan-India dance group exchange obtained through participation, observation, and interviews, as references. In the aspect of culture, it is hoped that through this exchange, Taiwan and India can learn more about each other and discover more possibilities for collaboration in the field of arts.
Exploring the traditions and innovations of dancing
The Indian classic dance and the traditional dance of the Paiwan people have been developed in their respective cultures for a long time. Since the independence of India, in east India, many great pioneers in the field of dancing systematically organized the dances being lost gradually, resulting in a giant leap in historical structures and movement development, moving from the original field of religious ceremonies to learning systems (not general school systems) in India, so that the traditions could be passed down in new ways. The dancers of the Kaishiki dance group now are the second and third generation dancers. However, in the recent decades, the after-independence society in India and the world have been rapidly developing. Gradually, there is a road built to connect other cultures in the world in terms of ideas for choreography, resulting in presentations of limb movements of different quality after some exchange activities. The dance of the Paiwan people has always been related to cultural ceremonies. The physical movements of ceremonies remain in people’s memory. However, it requires a process of transformation from cultural scenes to stages of contemporary art. Through the Lazurite Initiative, two dance groups which had never met before got together to discuss their own concepts in relations to cultures, movements, and choreography and how to work and grow together. We expect to see great results.
Theories and reflections on dancing
A recording and research team joined this exchange. The core members are the graduate students from the National University of the Arts. The team is also expanded to include researchers from different fields. Theories are often used in theses and critics about dances only. Therefore, this recording and research team also aims to observe whether it was possible to apply them through actions in the field of the exchange to cause influences. The currently idea is to list the questions we want to ask regarding some issues we care about. These questions will be asked during exchange seminars and interviews. For example, the team can ask the two groups a question first, like “Ｗhat is a dance? And what are the essential compositions of a dance?” We want to ask this fundamental question because the term “dance” has already been defined in the academic circle with clear explanations. The definition is more based on the western knowledge. However, for India and Taiwan, this term may have different meanings. That’s why we want to start from this topic. This way, each group can learn how the other group sees dancing in their own cultural context and find their differences and similarities from their dialogues for further exploration.
However, what dancing can deliver through performances is much more than through talking. This is one of the unique features of dancing in arts. In other words, movements can deliver more messages than languages. The recording and research team can participate in the exchange, make observations and records, and go back to think about the theories hidden behind. Finally, the team can provide images and text records as outputs.
Allowing Taiwan to be recognized through art exchange
Forms of dances differ in different cultures and environments. Therefore, physically going to the other party’s environment to experience different cultures and customs is especially important. Although art should not serve any purpose other than art, inviting famous artists from India to Taiwan is also a way for Taiwan to be recognized. Based on this intention, the Lazurite Initiative can be meaningful in expanding Taiwan’s relationships. During the pre-production, the recording and research team will go to the Paiwan community in Pingtung to participate in a wedding ceremony and record the ceremony and dances in the wedding. Then, the Taiwan group, including the Tjimur dance group and the recording and research team, will visit India. The purpose of this visit is to actually perform cultural exchange, in the forms of observing the Indian dance group and seminars. The exchange will begin with getting to know each other’s culture and identify the interesting parts as references for the Indian dance group’s visit to Taiwan for collaboration. Lastly, when the Indian group visits Taiwan, they will be arranged to stay in the Timur Community in Sandimen, Pingtung. Exchange activities will be held during daytime. During their leisure time, they can the local culture and lives of the Paiwan people. Especially, the Tjimur Arts Festival will be held during 4/27~29. The Indian group can learn more about the Paiwan culture through participating in the events and trying to do some artifacts. Besides the community, the Indian group will also be arranged to go to the 2018 Taiwan International Festival of Arts in National Taichung Theater during the weekend. This way, during this visit, the Indian group can not only experience the Paiwan culture in Taiwan, but also go to the cities to see the other side of Taiwan.