TNUA took part in the Pesta Kesenian Bali 2014 arts festival in July, highlighting a form of traditional Taiwanese dance that finds an equivalent in the culture of the Indonesian island.
" Taiwan Sai M eets Barong Ket, 2014-Joint Collaboration of Sanggar Paripurna and TNUA" focused on Taiwanese and Balinese lion dances and sought to explore the infinite possibilities in traditional art.
On the TNUA side, the arrangements for the performance involved the Center for Traditional Arts, the Department of Music, the Department of Traditional Music and the Department of Animation.
A team of almost 20 students – selected from the Departments of Music, Traditional Music, Animation, and Theatre Design and Technology – worked closely with members of Bali's Sanggar Paripurna in preparation for their joint performance at the festival.
They co-wrote the script and the music for a dance that featured the Taiwanese "lion" and the Balinese "Barong" in a cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural work aimed at showcasing the energy of traditional art in a contemporary scene.
Sanggar Paripurna, both a school and production company, was founded in 1990 by the much revered artist I Made Sija. As "Paripurna" means "perfect," the goal of the institution to let each of its members become a "perfect" artist in a certain eld, be it music, music, dancing, fine arts, sculpture, singing or other forms of arts.
Sanggar Paripurna currently has more than 200 members. Apart from learning the traditional arts, team members often have opportunities of working with other local and foreign artists to produce dances and multimedia shadow puppet shows.