- Date 2025.05.05
- Venue Yuan Hall, Taishin Tower (2F, NO.118, Sec. 4, Ren-Ai Rd, Taipei City)
Taishin Arts Award—Special Talks with International Jurors
Standing on the Border of the Speech: My Dance and I
Date：2025, May 20th, Tuesday, 19:00-21:00
Venue：Yuan Hall, Taishin Tower (2F, No.118, Sec. 4, Ren-Ai Rd, Taipei City)
▘Speaker:
Mathilde Monnier (Choreographer, Former Director of CND Centre National de la Danse)
▘Panelists:
HO Hsiao-Mei (Dean of the Dance Department, Taipei National University of the Arts; Artistic Director of MeimageDance) Winner of the 12th Taishin Arts Award
YEH Ming-Hwa (Choreographer and dancer) Winner of the 19th Taishin Arts Award
LEE Chen-Wei (Founder of LEE\VAKULYA, independent dancer) Winner of the 21st Taishin Arts Award
KUO Liang-Ting (Art critic, Translator of Alliterations: Conversations Sur La Danse by Mathilde Monnier)
Renowned French choreographer Mathilde Monnier has consistently presented thought-provoking and diverse dance pieces while serving as Artistic Director at the Montpellier National Choreographic Center (1994–2014) and the French National Dance Center (2014–2019) for over two decades. Throughout her career, she has launched numerous experiments and collaborations that connect dance with other art forms, creating a new and influential system for the discipline. During her time in Taiwan and prior to the final selection for the Taishin Arts Award, the Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture is hosting this talk featuring Monnier and three choreographers—HO Hsiao-Mei, YEH Ming-Hwa, and LEE Chen-Wei—who are recent recipients of the Taishin Arts Award. Collectively, these four female choreographers, each with over 15 years of creative experience, will share their artistic journeys, exploring various topics such as women, interdisciplinary creation, and the roles of institutions and education.
※French-Mandarin simultaneous interpretation is provided
(Identification required for renting interpretation devices)
※Free Admission. Please register in advance. Sing up here
About the Speaker
Mathilde Monnier
Choreographer, Former Director of CND Centre National de la Danse
After coming to dance late, Mathilde Monnier performed in dance companies before taking up choreography in 1984. Her work explores the inherent issues of composing movement and are also linked to broader questions like communality and the links to music and memory.
Her appointment as director of the Centre Choreographique National de Montpellier from 1994 to 2013 and then of the CND Centre National de la Danse from 2014 to 2019 based in Paris and Lyon marked the beginning of a period of experimentation with other fields of art, and a reflection on the role of the institution and its outreach. In these 2 establishments, she initiated reforms aimed at other artists and she created new systems still relevant to dance.
Her dances have been performed on the biggest stages, as well as at international festivals and abroad Japan, Korea, Taipei. She alternates solo projects and collaborative works with various figures from the art world, such as Katerine, Christine Angot, La Ribot and Heiner Goebbels…Since 2020, she is back to her artistic work in Montpellier. Her last piece Black Lights receive the Grand prix best performance season 23/24.
She has received awards including Prize Minister of Culture in 1983, SACD Grand Prize in 2002, decorated as a Knights of the Legion of Honor in 2013 and Officer in 2025.
Mathilde Monnier - Chorégraphe
About the Panelists
HO Hsiao-Mei
Dean of the Dance Department, Taipei National University of the Arts; Artistic Director of MeimageDance
Since founding MeimageDance in 2010, HO Hsiao-Mei has cultivated a bold, multi-dimensional choreographic language deeply rooted in female imagery. Her seminal work, New Paradise of the Silent Island, captures the raw energy of 1990s Taiwan through dynamic characters and emotions.
Ho integrates technology to craft immersive experiences bridging the real and virtual, expanding dance beyond the stage, as seen in Sister Lin-Tou and Monologue of Barbie. Since 2023, her Silent Island Movement project has redefined contemporary dance by collaborating with folk troupes to forge a living tradition.
“The world sees new dimensions through Ho Hsiao-Mei’s dance.” — Yang Kai-Lin
Recent Highlights
2023–2025: Lead Artistic Director, Dance Now Asia
2024: New Paradise of the Silent Island, Roppongi Art Night (Japan)
2024: Sister Lin-Tou, Kunstfest Weimar (Germany), SXSW (USA)
2025: Sister Lin-Tou, Bozar Immersive Cinema (Belgium)
YEH Ming-Hwa
Choreographer, dancer
An independent female choreographer and dancer born in 1983 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Ming-Hwa maps the dimensions of time and space through the body and senses. She received her BFA in Dance from Taipei National University of Arts in 2006. She was commissioned for the works: The Serene Gallery Performance X Exhibition in MoNTUE Museum (2017). Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art, Taiwan (2018-2019), the series work SHE and A Room by the Sea (2020-2022). Dancing Ballet, a commissioned creation of Taiwan Dance Platform, National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) (2022). Paradise, Who?, NEXT — Taishin Arts Award 20th Anniversary Exhibition in MoNTUE Museum (2022). The House Behind the Wall by Taipei Fine Arts Museum, at Wang Da Hong House Theatre (2020) won the Grand Prize of 19th Taishin Arts Award (2021). The Ballet Concert - Into the Fantasy of Nutcracker , a commissioned creation from National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) (2023-2025). Since 2023 hold a position as an Adjunct Professor at the National Taiwan University of Arts, teaching Interdisciplinary Performance and Body Image courses.
LEE Chen-Wei
Founder of LEE\VAKULYA, independent dancer
LEE Chen-Wei graduated from the Dance Department of Taipei National University of the Arts. She is now an independent dancer, choreographer, and Gaga instructor based in Europe. She is also the recipient of the TECO Award in the dance category. As the former principal dancer with Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company (2009–2014), Lee is praised by renowned choreographer Ohad Naharin as “one of the most attractive dancers.” Her explosive physicality and infectious energy earned her acclaim as “a sexpot soloist” from The New York Times and as “Amazing!” twice by Göteborgs-Posten. As a guest dancer, she collaborated with the Gothenburg Opera Dance Company (Sweden, 2015-2016), Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch (Germany, 2017), Peeping Tom (Belgium, 2020-2022), VOETVOLK/Lisbeth Gruwez (Belgium, 2018-2025), and Baro d’Evel Circus (2024-present).
Her notable choreographic works include Elephant, which was recognized as the “Outstanding Performance of the Year” by The Jerusalem Post, and Black Box (2014), a solo piece created for the “New Choreographer” program, which was lauded by Taipei Times as a “memorable performance.” In 2016, she formed the dance duo LEE\VAKULYA with Hungarian artist Vakulya Zoltán. Their piece, Together Alone, was a finalist for both the 15th Taishin Arts Award and the Total Theatre Award. Their later works, including the solo dance performance, kNOwn FACE, and the group piece, Ride the Beat, earned their recognition as a four-time finalist for the Taishin Arts Award within seven years. In 2023, LEE\VAKULYA won the Taishin Arts Award for Performing Arts for Burnt [the eternal long now].
About the Moderator
KUO Liang-Ting
Art critic, Translator of Alliterations: Conversations Sur La Danse by Mathilde Monnier
KUO Liang-Ting, adjunct lecturer at Taipei National University of the Arts, art critic and translator, graduated from the Taipei National University of the Arts, the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and the University Rennes 2 – Upper Brittany. He translated Un ethnologue dans le métro of Marc Augé and Alliterations: Conversations Sur La Danse, and writes for Artalks, Performance Arts Review and Ink Literary Magazine.
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