We Dance Who We Are: Practice as Research in Dance

Presenters : Ruping Wang (chair), Dominique Feng-Hsi Yen, Peiling Kao

Abstract

Dance and its development require a great deal of endeavor physically, psychologically, and spiritually. The actual participation, either in dancing a dance or in attending a live performance, enables the study of dance. This panel aims to gather artist, researcher, and dance educator of Taiwan natives to share their experience, observations, or creations to explore how personal experience come into considerations in understanding molding or re-molding the field of dance in Taiwan. 

This panel will focus on a core research question of the productions presented within school settings in Taiwan since 1980 and onwards. In order to carry out this research question from different perspectives, the panelists are invited under 3 major considerations. Firstly, they have completed similar training system since the 1980s in Taiwan. Secondly, they have been contributing themselves in the field of dance in Taiwan in different frameworks, namely in education, in running a professional dance company, or in researching. Thirdly, these panelists rarely gather together at a conference setting to presenting and to exchange their practices. 

Dance training programs were established in the school system in Taiwan in 1980s. The goals were set to train talented professionals in their young age (Chang, 2004). Since then, we now have 7 dance departments, 3 graduate programs, and 1 post-graduate program in the higher education, and more than 20 programs in the high schools and under in Taiwan. Annually, each one of these school programs will present works that are created on student dancers for purposes of showcasing the students' dance training, promoting dance to the open public, and or presenting creativities. These school shows have promoted in thriving the performing art activities on top of performances produced by professional dance companies, by national or some privately funded theaters, and by independent artists. The chair of this panel, Ruping Wang, has observed that few of these school shows are reviewed as the shows presented by the professional companies. This observation could be explored in a variety of research topic, such as who these shows' targeted audiences are, what criteria are if review takes play, or how these performances engage with the field of dance, the field of education, or the society in general. However, before these questions could be delved into in greater detail, this panel will present the dance practitioners' point of view first-hand from the experience within. We could track the development of these school productions and identify the challenges, limitations, or considerations thereafter for further research inquiries.

All panelists received the training in the 80s at the dawn of the training system, and each of them chose their own pathways and now is devoting themselves fiercely in dance in Taiwan. Each panelist will investigate how their current practices reflect their training background, and what issues they might have wondered when participating, or not, in these school productions. This panel hopes to delineate a track of how the school productions shape the field of dance in Taiwan or vice versa.

Key words: Practice as Research, Dance Education in Taiwan, Choreography

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Chair: 

Wang, Ru-ping

The research area concerning choreographers and their environment have been intriguing to me, and I have attempted to investigate this research in the educational domain by teaching, creating dances, and conceptualizing my findings in words. As the chair of this panel, I have observed that we have a very unique environment in cultivating choreographers and dancers in Taiwan. Additionally, implementing dance training within the school system plays an important role in molding the environment. Therefore, I have invited 2 other panelists who have completed most of their dance training/ education in Taiwan to share their insights and thus form this panel.

Panellists:

Yen, Dominique Feng-Hsi

Abstract

Dominique Yen started her first choreography since she was in senior high school. She learned how to make a choreography when she studied dance in Taiwan. Then she went to CalArts which inspired her to think of choreography as a "creation".

After she graduated from school, she got opportunities to create choreography for different dance companies in Taiwan. She found the audience, dancer and artist of dance company were very different from school. But she learned and grown from different artist in each different production. Now, she manages her dance company and teach in dance college. She concerns the creation of significance to society and dance education.

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Peiling Kao

Abstract

I have been in the dance field for over 30 years, learning different styles of dance to help intellectually and physically adapt myself to changes in the contemporary dance world. My multi-cultural training is rooted in my Taiwanese body that now lives on the middle of the Pacific. In my work as an artist and educator, I investigate how a dance artist and student reconciles different cultures and how cultural identity and racial issues matter in dance. I constantly ask myself, what is relevant in teaching dance nowadays? What is technique? This presentation examines my training history to reflect my journey in dance making, performing and teaching.