- Date 2022.08.06
- Venue Pingtung Performing Arts Hall
bulabulay mun?
Tjimur Dance Theatre
Comments on the Finalists
The dance body in Tjimur Dance Theatre’s bulabulay mun? not just touches upon the memory of historical incidents recorded in the ancient songs of the southern Paiwan people, but also uses the dance body to tug on the relationship between community awareness and the body. The work contrasts choreographic vocabularies and singing of songs with the less common practice in contemporary dance of connecting singing and bodily dynamics to further demonstrate the natural bond and flow of everyday life between the singing-dancing tradition and indigenous tribal culture. Tjimur Dance Theatre has endeavored in employing choreographic translation and community culture to polish their vision rooted in the experience of growing up in indigenous villages. Experimenting with choreographic themes and bodily states, they continue to explore more potential possibilities beneath the communal fate, historical memories, life differences, and contemporary dance, creating a work that is uncommonly reserved yet highly meditative. (Commentator / HUANG Ya-Li)
Artwork Introduction
Meaning “how are you?” in the South Paiwan language, bulabulay mun? also serves as the creator’s gentle greeting to all those involved in the Mudan Incident. In 1874, the Japanese army used the Bayao Bay Incident as a pretense to launch an attack on the indigenous villages in southern Taiwan. It was Japan’s first-ever military assault on a foreign country since the Meiji Restoration, and the first time that Taiwan was involved in warfare in early modern history—this incident is later known as the Mudan Incident. Tjimur Dance Theatre uses the “Mudan bodies” and the “Bayao Bay wind” to represent this history of war that has been buried in time, and attempts to attend to everyone’s heart, unveiling a pathway through the dancers’ bodies that encourages the audience to reflect on the question: “how long has it been since we genuinely greet one another?”
About the Artist
Tjimur Dance Theatre is the first professional dance troupe in Taiwan that focuses on the contemporary Paiwan people. Established in 2006, by Ljuzem Madiljin, the leader and artistic director of the troupe, and with Baru Madiljin as the dance director and choreographer, the troupe is based in Timur TJIMUR (Sandimen, Pingtung) and endeavors in interpreting contemporary experiences through ancient Paiwan music. Integrating songs with dance and using songs to guide their dance, their works are bodily expressions of the Paiwan culture, and allow them to establish a set of “Tjimur bodily techniques” that breaks through dancers’ physical habits to create a contemporary Paiwan bodily language.
Production Team
Artistic Direction—Ljuzem MADILJIN
Choreography／Costume Designer—Baru MADILJIN
Art Consultant—Derjk Wu
Rehearsal Direction and Performers—YANG Ching-hao、Ljaucu TAPURAKAC
Performers—CHIANG Sheng-hsiang、AL bernard GARCIA、KANG Shu-hsuan、WANG Chiu-ju
Technical Coordinator and Lighting Designer—LEE I-shun
Visual Image Designer—WANG Hung-chun
Photographer —WANG Hung-chun、QIU Jia-hua
Main Visual Designer —JIN Dao、Winder CHAN
Style Photographer—LIN Jun-yong、LIU Zhen-xiang、Ba Sa-xi
Traditional Song Instruction—WANG Xiao-hui、YE De-sheng、the people from Mudan Township
Film Production Supervisor —Maurice LAI Yu-man @HoShunKing Artistic Workshop
Concept／Film Direction—Maurice LAI Yu-man
Cinematography—Maurice LAI Yu-man、CHIU Chih-hua、HUANG Po-yu
Audio Recording—HUANG Po-yu
Post Production—Maurice LAI Yu-man
Promotional Video Shoot ing—CHEN Yu-cheng @Doggy Studio
Costume Production—MAI Bi-yun、ShaTao Lazurite Art
Copywriter—WENG Zhen-xia
Playbill Design —LIN Qiao-ruo
Playbill Managing Editor —LIAO Yun-Jing
Company Management—CHIU Shu-ting
International Relations—Gwen Hsin-Yi CHANG
The production of this show is commissioned by the Pingtung County Government
Presenter—PAN Meng-an
Executive Producer —WU Ming-rong
Co-Executive Producer —LI Yun-fang
Administration Producer—PENG Rui-zhen
Production Supervisor—CAO Zhong-mei
Adviser —Ministry of Culture、Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture
Organizer —Pingtung County Government
Co-organizer —Cultural Affairs Department of Pingtung County
Performer—Tjimur Dance Theatre
Special thanks to—the people from Mudan Township
