Performers from two prestigious French schools – Conservatorire national supérieur de musique et danse Lyon, and Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris – joined TNUA dancers in performances in November to mark the 40th anniversary of TNUA.

The three-day 2022 TNUA School of Dance – 40 as 400 “Taiwan X France: Mixed Bill,” running from November 25 to 27, presented respective works from French and Taiwanese choreographers in a fantastic exchange.

Prof. Ho Hsiao-mei, dean of the School of Dance, said she and Wu Yi-san, chairperson of the Department of Dance, attended an activity organized by the Centre National de la Danse (CND) in France in 2018, and they were impressed by those two schools – which paved the way for last month’s collaboration after a four-year wait due to the pandemic.

For the performances, the TNUA Department of Dance presented two dances – respectively created by Hui-Chen Tsai and James Yeh. The school from Lyon presented “My Way” created by Rubén Julliard, while the school from Paris performed Trisha Brown’s “Set and Reset/Reset.”

A ritualistic indigenous dance was staged as a warm welcome to the guests from France as they arrived at the School of Dance.