Mr. Tao Ye, one of the most promising choreographers from China, conducted a workshop at TNUA along with members of his TAO Dance Theatre on March 26, giving more than 40 dance students a glimpse into a different avant-garde aesthetics of the body.
Mr. Tao, 28, a native of the Chinese western province of Sichuan, had danced with Jin Xing Dance Theatre and Beijing Modern Dance Company before founding TAO Dance Theatre in 2008.
TAO's minimalist works and unique body language have taken the world by storm. It has been active in various dance and arts festivals, including Spain's Madrid International Dance Festival and Mexico's Cervantes International Art Festival.
The troupe has performed all over the world, from New York's Lincoln Center, London's Sadler's Wells, to Sydney's Opera House. It made its debut in China at Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts last year.
At the workshop, Mr. Tao and his fellow dancers explained their art through two sets of movements.
Lin Chia-liang, a graduate student who attended the workshop, said he noticed in Mr. Tao a sense of devotion and determination that is often lacking in the younger generations.
The charm of TAO is its emphasis on starting with a return to the most fundamental body movements.
Lin said Mr. Tao even led the workshop participants to rediscover the feeling of one of the most ordinary body movements, namely how walking is a shift from one foot to the other.