TNUA’s School of Dance, ResCen Research Center of the UK’s Middlesex University, and China’s Beijing Dance Academy jointly arranged “ArtsCross Taipei 2011” gathering 10 choreographers from the three areas to create works in a three-week event starting on August 1.
The event engaged dancers, artists, performers, educators, policymakers and audiences from different cultural backgrounds in a dialogue through various activities, such as forums to investigate the differences between the East and West in content, creativity and development of knowledge and skills.
Prof. Ping Heng, dean of TNUA’s School of Dance, said that this international project was initiated by ResCen and Beijing Dance Academy in 2009. They hope that though this project can systematically introduce the achievements of contemporary Asian dance to Britain.
It is also meant to serve as a platform to promote collaboration between artists from the East and West to enable more extensive and substantial exchange.
Prof. Ping said preparation for the 2011 event started with project founder Prof. Christopher Bannerman, head of ResCen, hosting a series of meetings in Taipei, Singapore, Beijing and London to lay down guidelines for selecting choreographers. Taipei was selected as the host of this year’s event for choreographers from various parts of the world to present their art.
Apart from the stage performances, critics, researchers and choreographers from Britain, China and Taiwan were invited to forums on August 20 and 21 to analyze and discuss the works presented at the event, as well as related subjects such as educational and cultural issues.
Almost 100 candidates from Taiwan, Beijing, Hong Kong and the US competed for a chance to be dancers for the works created at ArtsCross. Only 42 of them passed the audition, with 30 of them being TNUA students and alumni.