Taichung university graduating dance students shine

National Taiwan University of Sport at the Metropolitan Hall, Taipei
March 4, 2025

March to early-April is the season for the annual performances by the graduating students at Taiwan’s major university dance departments. Given the range of styles they have to master, it is always amazing just how good the standard of performance is. This year was no different, the season opening with the National Taiwan University of Sport (國立臺灣體育運動大學) from Taichung and an enjoyable evening of eight pieces, five by students and three from faculty and guest choreographers, under the overall title of Luminous (爍光).

As good as the whole evening was, Wings of Winter by Ben Huynh (黃建彪) stood head and shoulders above all. A work about love and loss it evokes perfectly the feelings when one loses a loved one. Beauty, elegance and strength shone through.

The opening picture, a bleak snow-covered floor, already suggests sadness. A figure with a black umbrella, who appears several times, adds to the mood. Sure enough, a fabulous duet hints strongly at parting, before ending with a sense of death as the ensemble gather.

What follows reflects the immediate loneliness that those left behind feel, and how the voices of the departed linger in the mind. While one expects top technique, truly impressive was the way the young dancers communicated the feeling and emotion inherent in the choreography, something very unusual in a graduation piece. Huynh makes great use of the ensemble when he needs to, not afraid to throw in further extended duets and solos, again, all too rarely seen in shows like this. But the snow does melt, companionship is not far away, even if it never can quite ever remove those deep memories.

Wings of Winter really is quite stunning. And all helped along by Lin Li-chun’s (林立羣) perfect lighting and the sensitively chosen musical selections from Handel’s opera Amadigi di Gaula and various Vivaldi scores.

In very different vein, Dish (皿) by Su Chia-Hsien (蘇家賢), a modern dance piece, is certainly full of the brightness of youth. The choreography makes inventive use of tables, but somehow had rather less impact, not helped by the first section feeling a little divorced from the two that followed.

A great end, vibrant, full of life end to the evening came with Great Blessings (安祉) by Pan Li-chun (潘莉君) and Lin Po-hung (林柏宏). Appropriately, it’s a celebration. After opening with a depiction of a temple drumming parade, it’s a riot of Taiwanese colour with plenty of dance fireworks, and was a super way to send everyone home.

The importance placed on student creativity was demonstrated by the five student works. While structure and flow occasionally stalled, each of the young dance-makers showed impressive skill at handling an ensemble, something many starting out find difficult.

I was rather taken by Streaming (流·躰) by Chiu Pin-hsuan (邱品嫙), especially once the huge polythene sheet of the opening had been dispensed with. The choreography included lots of rippling undulations of the upper body, reflecting neatly the sound of waves heard from time to time in the score. A second work by Chiu, Flame (爓), was inspired by Miaoli’s Fire Dragon Festival.

In folk vein, the strong and powerful Paired Swords (儷劒) by Tien Yeh-lien (田葉蓮) and Chen Fa-en (陳法恩) featured some terrific sword handling and tumbling, while Hehe Sawurdeng (呼和‧薩吾爾登) by Cai Pei-xun (蔡珮薰) came with excellent use of the ensemble in a work that reflected the vastness of the prairie. And from the ballet classics, sections from Act One of Coppélia adapted for a lead dancer and of eleven friends by Lin Zhi-xuan (林芷萱) and Zhang Jia-qi (張家綺) was delightful, with the technique a touch above what is often seen in similar shows.