Brief Introduction of the Program
Da-Guan Dance Theater’s annual production Mix⁵, led by Visiting Associate Professor We-Chia Su, features Taiwanese choreographers Kuei-Chuan Yang, Shu-Fen Yao and Wen-Chung Lin as well as the Netherlands-based Dimo Milev, known for his creation for Nederlands Dans Theater, to create new pieces for its young dancers with their respectively unique choreographic vocabulary, while it also includes an open call to bring young talents to the stage. Here in Mix⁵, you get to see the contemporary dance beyond the borders defined by nationality, region, culture, or age.
Brief Introduction of the Troupe
The history of the Department of Dance at National Taiwan University of Arts can be traced back to 1970, when it was originally a division at the National School of Arts. Since then, it has established a diversified educational system and solid skill-training on the basis of humanities to nourish dance professionals with international vision and creativity. In 2006, the department founded Da-Guan Dance Theater to expand its audience reach, to benefit the professional practices of both its faculty and students, and to accumulate experiences, with the ultimate goal to position itself at the international level. Its annual productions, 17 and still counting, recruit department faculty, outstanding alumni, and established guest choreographers to collaborate, winning it domestic and international acclaim.
Artistic Director and Choreographer / Kuei-Chuan Yang
Associate Artistic Director and Choreographer / Shu-Fen Yao
Administrative Director and Choreographer / Wen-Chung Lin
Guest Choreographer / Dimo Milev
New-Generation Choreographer / Yan-Yeong Liao
Chief Planner / Wei-Chia Su
Kuei-Chuan Yang
Professor, the Department of Dance, National Taiwan University of Arts; artistic director, Assembly Dance Theatre. Her 31 dance pieces created during 1989-2023 revolve around two themes: “dance as an exploration of life and existence” and “dance as an exploration of calligraphy.” With performances spanning Taiwan, the U.S., and Canada, her unique poetic dance language fuses chanting in Taiwanese and delicate, restrained physical movement. “Like the gentle drifting of a clear breeze, like the spirited leaps of a rushing stream” is how the writer Chang, Show-Foong describes her works.
Shu-Fen Yao
Founder, artistic director, and major choreographer, Century Contemporary Dance Company; a recipient of Taiwan’s 20th National Award for Arts. Friends in artistic and cultural circles praise her as a “choreographer who breathes through pores.” She is now an assistant professor at National Taiwan University of Arts. One of Taiwan’s few paradigms for using the human body to interpret dramatic structure, she is best known for creating a dream-like while perceptibly realistic aura in her works out of a three-dimensional collage of magic realism and postmodernism.
Wen-Chung Lin
A former dancer of multiple leading domestic and foreign dance companies, the world-renowned Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company included. The Village Voice in New York hailed him as a “super dancer” while Dance Magazine of the U.S. praised him as having “remarkable strength and control.” In 2008, he started WCdance that subsequently introduced such works as the Small, Nanguan, and Cocoon series. Long River won the Annual Shortlist Award at the 13th Taishin Arts Award and Lin himself was selected by the magazine Performing Arts Redefined (PAR) as one of its People of the Year 2015.Dimo Milev
A freelancer dancer and choreographer, Milev has worked with Europe’s eminent dance companies and fellow choreographers, including Compañia Nacional de Danza, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Hans van Manen, Mats Ek, Wim Vandekeybus, and Jiří Kylián. Milev made a new creation for NDT 2 for the first time in Up & Coming Choreographers in 2019, and in 2020 his first work premiered in the regular programming of NDT 2: Fusions and some confusions.Yan-Yeong LIAO
A native of Yunlin, Yan-Yeong Liao graduated from the Department of Dance, National Taiwan University of Arts. His father took him along roving about when he was little, and he did not return to Taiwan until the age of 12. His physical training started in martial arts, which saw him later emerge as champion of multiple Shaolin-style fist fighting competitions. During his university years, Liao began learning to dance. On top of dancing in the works of such choreographers as Igal Perry, Huai-Te Huang, Ming-Hwa Yeh, De-Wei Yang, and Shu-Fen Yao, he has featured prominently at the Tainan Arts Festival, TSO Dance Theater, and Summer Universiade as well as on Taiwan Dance Platform. Passionate about dancing as well as choreography, he has persisted with seeking new possibilities in both spheres and collaborated with a number of internationally acclaimed art groups. His works have found their way into Sun-Shier Salon Dance Exhibition and Taiwan Creative Dance Competition among other events. Since his launch into digital video production in 2020, he has partnered with pianist Yi-Chih Lu and Dashing Theater and made music videos and performance recordings for many bands and dance companies. In 2021, he was charged with music design for Germany’s MiR Dance Company at Musiktheater im Revier.
Wei-Chia Su
A native of Kaohsiung, Wei-Chia Su is a distinguished alumnus of National Taiwan University of Arts. In 2004, he teamed up with Wu-Kang Chen and others to establish the dance theater HORSE, for which he has been choreographing and performing ever since. In 2007, Velocity—a collaborative work of the theater—won the 6th Taishin Arts Award, or to be specific, the Award of the Year in the performing arts category. In 2012, 2 Men—an autobiographical piece created and performed together with Wu-Kang Chen—won 1st prize and the Audience Choice Award of Germany’s Kurt Jooss Prize. At the invitation of U.S. ballet master Eliot Feld, Su became a guest dancer of Ballet Tech from 2009 to 2013. In 2013, he started FreeSteps, a Feld-inspired, 10-year choreography project. By exploring the relations between such elements as trajectories, shapes, and textures, he aims to have the dancer’s body achieve an ultimate delicacy, thereby stimulating viewers to project their emotions and imaginations. Critics have lauded FreeSteps as a work that epitomizes the cultivation of beauty to its utmost. Separately, Su has ventured into realms beyond dance: choreographing for major sporting events and collaborating with a good number of leading local theater troupes. In 2016, he became an artist-in-residence at Taiwan’s National Theater and Concert Hall. In addition to persisting with choreographic endeavors, Su has also drawn on his decade-long FreeSteps series to develop practice sessions based on the aesthetics and reasoning associated with use of the body and performance methodology. Technically at the core are trajectories, shapes, and textures. With his comprehensive teaching system, Su can not only share the joy of dance with people but also fulfill his social responsibility as a dancer. Furthermore, Su has applied his talent for observation, discovery, construction, and reconstruction to dance promotion and education among the elderly, thereby helping them explore their own potential. To be sure, he now stands out as one of the key figures in Taiwan’s senior dance promotion and education.