Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

The work of LIN I-Chin, director of Mauvais Chausson Dance Theatre, has been inspired and nurtured by traditional culture. She adopts the methodology of field research to study the soul-guiding ritual with the ritual's performer, and transforms it into the performance of The End of Rainbow. Whether the subject matter or the approach for the performance, the work has presented great challenges. Through the guiding of the music, the dancers perform the process of releasing the souls of the deceased from purgatory. From life, to death, to spirit, the work employs the images and symbols of gods, humans, and dolls and brings the dark, shunned ritual of funeral into the theatrical space, where the audience must watch and hear. Because the idea of "transition" and ""transformation" lies at the heart of the soul-guiding ritual, the performance also allows the audience to experience the atmosphere of entering and exiting different dimensions through the use of materials and design of space. This work not only combines theatrical performance and folk ritual, it also offers an aesthetic sense of distance that provides a window for us to understand the "temporary folk theatre" and how it attends to life and the physical existence in a profound way. (Commentator: WU Mali)

Artwork Introduction

The End of Rainbow began with "Fxxx - Body Returns Home Five-Year Creative Project" (2014 to 2019) and gradually was developed into its current form through exploration and experimentation. The work discusses what life and death mean to us. What is life exactly? The work evolves around "the soul-guiding song" performed in traditional Taiwanese funerals, which is a ritual to accompany the living and release the souls of the deceased from purgatory. Bringing the ritual into theatre, LIN converts it with care by sidestepping the pitfall of turning it into a mere symbol. All the design in the work, including choreography, music, costume, stage, and lighting, corresponds to the theme, and with the spirit of the ritual, the work searches possible answers to questions regarding "what motivates bodily movement" and "the Taiwanese body," attempting to present a comprehensive picture of what traditional culture means to contemporary theatre.

About the Artist

Born in Yunlin in 1983, LIN I-Chin graduated from the Graduate Institute of Dance, Taipei National University of the Arts. She has won the First Prize in Dance of Yunlin Cultural Award, the First Prize in Performing Arts of S-An Art Award, and an artist residency at the Cité International des Arts, Paris. With acute and keen observation as the foundation of her work, LIN has demonstrated an exquisite and fluent style that conveys poetic beauty and tension. Recently, she becomes interested in how an individual is nurtured by the surrounding environment as well as how dancing is created through the bodily movements. She has initiated and continued "Fxxx - Body Returns Home Five-Year Creative Project" since 2014. The project originated from the primal physical energy LIN discovered through the dirty word in Taiwanese. Through the project, LIN has realized the connection between localness, consciousness, and body. To conduct the project, LIN looks for contemporary body language of "fxxx" through field research. She is the current Artist Director of Mauvais Chausson Dance Theatre and a lecturer at Center for Arts Resources and Educational Outreach, Taipei National University of the Arts.