TAIWAN RESIDENCY

In 2018, we were invited by our resident Taiwanese artist, Wen-Jen Huang, and her company Seed Dance Company, to expand our residency platform to include a second annual meeting in Yanpu, Taiwan.

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In Taiwan, our residency includes a broader pre-professional educational component with two master classes each day open to Taiwanese dance students and the creation of a performance for the local community. The Taiwanese students have the opportunity to rehearse and perform with us, giving them the opportunity to work with professional choreographers from Europe, Japan, and the USA.

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In January 2023 we expanded our Taiwan Residency program to include site-specific performances throughout the town of Yanpu and a Day of Dance community festival. We chose 4 locations in the town that serve as important centers of local life and history: Temple, Historical House, Convenience Store, and Playground. In collaboration with the local tenants and employees at each location, we created site-specific performances. We then invited residents from all the towns in the region to join us for a free Day of Dance. The festival day began with a walking parade through the village of Yanpu which stopped at each of the 4 site-specific performances and ended at an outdoor community fair full of local vendors. In the evening, EDC and Seed Dance Company (our host in Taiwan) performed on an outdoor stage together with local groups of children and adults. The addition of this community interaction-focused event adds many layers of richness to our Taiwan Residency project, bringing us into closer contact with the village locals, their history and identity, as well as creating a space for exchange with more artists from the wider Southern Taiwan area. This first edition was such a success in 2023 that the festival day happened again this January 2024 with over 2.000 people attending throughout the day. The festival day is now scheduled to happen every year and is part of the town major yearly events.