2011 ArtsCross Choreographers’ Interviews
by LIN Yatin
Aug. 4–5, 2011
TNUA College of Dance
Series of Transcripts of Choreographers Interviewed in Chinese*
Part. 1 of 7
Ms. Yao
Q: What do you expect from ArtsCross?
A: Having been to both London and Beijing, I already have some impression of these two cities, and I look forward to see the Taiwanese dancers perform in the works of the London and Beijing choreographers. As for myself, I most likely will be using techniques I’m familiar with, but in terms of the project itself, I want to see what kind of sparks will be set off by our dancers, who for the most part come from Taiwan and Mainland China [note: as well as Hong Kong and Malaysia], and the choreographers from all these different nationalities, and also how they can connect and interact. But it’s such a short time, and just getting familiar with everyone takes quite a bit of time…
Q: I think we can treat this as a
A: Yes. I think this is a wonderful project for connecting and interacting, especially since we can see for ourselves what the results have been in the final performance and the forum.
Q: You’ll be continuing your previous experimentation with mattresses. How has it been so far?
A: Often you can’t attempt to dive in with any sort of set notions; even after the very first day I knew I had to rethink everything I had in mind, not least because I now have a mostly male group instead of females. I will need to rethink everything using their perspective, asking them what they think and what ideas they have. On the first day I went directly into discovering what their physical limits are: they must have no fear of leaping around in the air, and luckily they’re young and don’t have that fear. The second day was spent talking and sharing what they’ve experienced in life, and I like the composition of my group, since some of the dancers have come from backgrounds other than dance. I look forward to what they can achieve this time, even though I’ve already done previous work using mattresses. Since I’ve had to rethink everything this time, this is not a work where I dictate everything that should happen, and because of the limited time, I think this is a good opportunity to push and challenge them to explore.
Q: You mentioned the diversity and internationality of our current student body…
A: Yes, and I think they are very open to experimentation. After I talked with them yesterday, I found that they don’t have any fear of changing or experimenting; they have a “go for it” attitude, which really helped reduce my own anxiety coming into the project. Also, they are very mature dancers, and I like their thoughts about life and emotions.
Q: Do you have any concrete expectations right now? What do you anticipate to bring forward on the third weekend?
A: I’m a bit perplexed right now, since we’re only on the third day of the project! Currently I don’t have any idea of how the piece will evolve, since I’ve only just come into contact with these dancers, but I know without a doubt that they will be doing a wonderful job, simply from their
(English transcript by Kevin Wang)
*Note: These interviews were arranged by TNUA’s Center for Teaching and Learning, and made available here upon request.
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