Taipei-The 1992 work “Carmina Burana” by choreographer Liu Feng-shueh (劉鳳學), a modern dance pioneer in Taiwan, will “return” to the National Theater in Taipei to mark the beginning of a 30th anniversary tour, organizers said Thursday.
“We are grateful and full of admiration as we welcome the master choreographer’s work back to the National Theater,” said Liu Yi-ruu (劉怡汝), general and artistic director of the National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH), at a press conference that day.
The 97-year-old choreographer, credited as the first person from Taiwan to develop and promote Chinese modern dance, has enriched the programs of the arts center for decades, the NTCH director said.
Liu Feng-shueh headed the National Theater and Concert Hall from 1988-1990, shortly after its opening in 1987.
Before taking the post, the choreographer studied for a doctorate degree she received in 1987 from the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London, making her the first person in Taiwan with such a degree in dance, the NTCH said in a press statement.
Born in China in 1925, Liu Feng-shueh has researched traditional dance from the Tang dynasty found in cave paintings and Confucian dance, as well as collecting and documenting the dances of Taiwanese Indigenous peoples, according to the NTCH.
Lu Yi-chuan (盧怡全), head of the Neo-Classic Dance Company which has given nearly 100 performances of “Carmina Burana” since 1992, said the 30th anniversary edition is grander in scale than the original production.
According to the dance company, founded by Liu Feng-shueh in 1976, nearly 200 dancers, orchestral musicians and members of three choirs will perform the piece she created with German composer Carl Orff’s music of the same title, which is her work No. 103.
Lu said it is simpler for dancers to perform with recorded music, but only live music gives an audience the full experience of Liu Feng-shueh’s work.
The works of Liu Feng-shueh, one of the five winners of the first edition of the National Arts Awards presented by the National Culture and Arts Foundation in 1997, are unique because dancers are often asked to stretch and utilize their upper body, a style she believes better suit dancers in the East, Lu said.
Lu thanked senior dancers and former members of the group for helping to recreate the 30-year-old piece and said the dance troupe has been watching old video tapes of performances recorded decades ago.
Liu Feng-shueh was surprised and excited to hear that tickets to the three performances in Taipei to be staged from Friday through Sunday have sold out, he said.
The choreographer, Lu said, has been working on a 10-volume book documenting her complete works, with the second volume set to be published in October. Lu took over the company from Liu Feng-shueh in 2019.
“Carmina Burana” is to be performed by members of the dance troupe, including Lu, and students of Taichung-based National Taiwan University of Sport’s Department of Dance, organizers said.
They will be joined by the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra conducted by Chien Wen-pin (簡文彬), three choirs, and three opera singers, including tenor Fernando Wang (王典), who took part in the 1992 production when he was still a student.
Following the three performances in Taipei, the dance will be presented at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts headed by Chien on Oct. 1-2, and National Taichung Theater on Nov. 19-20.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel