Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

There seemed to be an ever-lasting driving force hidden in LEE Chen-Wei's slender physique. She and Vakulya Zoltán, who came from a background of fencing and possessed swiftness and agility, created a unique form of body language, which allowed them to candidly demonstrate the energy of inner wildness. Struggling, fighting, intertwining, relying, exploring, echoing, opposing, uniting, the two dancers gradually became trusting and used to each other through their undefined body language. They both faced their individual loneliness and restlessness while searching for the missing pieces of their souls. Finally, after the intense rolling and intertwining, the two tense bodies suddenly broke apart. The power of the separation threw them into opposing corners. The music and lighting were shut down abruptly, echoing the theme of "darkness in solitude."

To establish limits for oneself is an important means in artistic creation. It is a tremendous challenge for artists to grasp the core of a theme within the extreme limits and to shatter personal habitual thinking and language. Together Alone does not just display its creators' incredible courage and faith, it also revisits the essence of dancing in an utterly pure way. Through the refined and beautiful physical performance, we are able to see the towering waves deep inside the soul and its crystal-like pureness, making the impulse of applauding the performers irresistible. (Commentator: ZHANG Xiao-Xiong)

Artwork Introduction

Together Alone focuses on the relations among human beings, space, and time. With an individual human being as a unit, it aims to search for their links by means of touching physically as well as digging imperceptibly into the souls within the limitation of physical bodies. Why and how are we going to consign the most intimate selves to the world? It is not only a fragile confession but also an expression of bravery.

Deprived of all external concealments and decorations, the two dancers returned to the primitive in dance, and faced each other with the most naked selves. In this intimate space and time, they communicated with each other and learned to move forward through compromise and cooperation. Through constant giving and receiving, they explored the invisible border between the seemingly close bodies. By consistently linking up and then separating, they found harmony in conflicts and triggered conflicts in harmony once more. Through unceasingly merging, transferring, destruction, and reconstruction, they eventually directly faced their respective loneliness, together.

About the Artist

LEE Chen-Wei

Graduated from the Dance Department of Taipei National University of the Arts, LEE Chen-Wei has worked with Israeli Batsheva Dance Company (2009-2014) and has been acclaimed by its artistic director, Ohad Naharin, as "one of the most attractive dancers I've seen.” She has collaborated with many renowned choreographers, including Ohad Naharin, Jérome Bel, Adolphe Binder, Yasmeen Godder, Shron Eyal, Marina Mascarell, and Marcos Morau. Her energetic outburst in physical movements has won the praise, "a sexpot soloist," by The New York Times.

LEE started her own choreography during her time with the Batsheva Dance Company. Her Elephant(s) in 2010 was selected by The Jerusalem Post as "the standout performance of the year." In 2011 and 2014, she took part in the MeimageDance’s New Choreographer Project and presented her works, The Bright Side and The Black Box, which Taipei Times called the most creative and exhilarating works. 

LEE was twice acknowledged by the LO Man-fei Dance Fund respectively in 2009 and 2015 (shortlisted). In 2016, she was selected as artist-in-residence for The Banff Centre in Canada.

LEE currently resides in Belgium, where she continues her creation and performance as an independent artist. In 2015, she participated in Gemetzel, directed by Thomas Schadt, and was invited by Göteborgs Operans Danskompani as a guest dancer (2015-2016), performing Noetic+ and Northern (de)Lights 2016. Her outstanding performance in Marcos Morau’s Zelenstova won the acclamation from Göteborgs-Posten, which praised her "body ability and expression" with "Amazing!" twice!

In 2017, LEE participates in Marina Mascarell’s work Three Times Rebel and its European tour. This summer, LEE and Vakulya Zoltán will represent Taiwan and give eighteen consecutive performances of Together Alone in Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Vakulya Zoltán

Vakulya Zoltán studied acting and directing (2005-2006) and choreography (2006-2008) at the Budapest Contemporary Dance University. He graduated in SEAD with the support of Leonardo Da Vinci Scholarship and was a DanceWeb scholarship holder in Impulstanz at 2011. Zoltán has acted in several productions in different theaters between 2002 and 2006, and worked as a creator in Merlin International Theater Budapest. At the same time, he is a professional foil fencing sportsman as well.

Since 2011, he has worked with other choreographers, composers and visual artists such as David Zambrano, Francesco Scavetta, Karl Van Welden, Benjamin Vandewalle, Albert Quesada, Kendell Geers, Joris Blanckaert, Gabor Kasza, Vera Tussing, Georgia Vardarou. He created Keep on using me in 2011 and a solo research titled PAUSE in 2012. In 2015, he created One Two Three One Two in collaboration with Albert Quesada. In 2016, Zoltán collaborated with Vera Tussing, the choreographer-in-residence of Kaai Theater, and participated in the creation and performance of her work, Mazing. In 2017, Zoltán will collaborate with ACME for the work It’s time, and will also participate in Radouan Mriziga’s work 7, which will premiere in Kunstenfestivaldesarts.