Founded in 1993 by Wang Rong-yu (王榮裕), Golden Bough Theatre puts a connection with the land and history of Taiwan at the heart of its performances – bringing the country’s unique form of opera to people up and down Taiwan.
Read moreBulareyaung Dance Company
Credit: Ministry of Culture, Taiwan
Bulareyaung Dance Company is an indigenous performing arts group from Taiwan. Founded in 2014 by Paiwan Bulareyaung Pagarlava, the group was initially founded with the aim of revitalizing an abandoned sugar warehouse in his hometown in Taiwan’s south-eastern Taitung County with the help of the founder’s friends at Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, for whom he had served as a principal dancer.
By the late 2000s and early 2010s, he was working as a dancer and choreographer for the Martha Graham Dance Company, having created the commissioned work “Lamentation Variation” for the group in 2009. the work. After his second commissioned work for the company, “Chasing”, performed at the Lincoln Center in New York in 2011, he vowed to provide a platform for indigenous peoples. Bulareyaung, never before having focused indigenous or social issues, felt his contribution to society more than anything was the productions he created. However, after moving back to Taitung, immersed in indigenous life, he adopted the concerns of Taiwan’s indigenous communities.
Bulareyaung Dance Company, sometimes referred to as B.D.C., was established with the intention of discovering talent with Taiwan’s indigenous communities, with the group using their choreography and music to display the beauty of indigenous culture and language. The group’s debut show “La Ke” also explored issues and topics relating to tribal culture and its dancers personal stories. Their second production, “Qaciljay” held its permiere at the Taiwan’s National Theater in 2016, with their third production, “LUNA”, being held at the National Taichung Theater in 2018.
The Dance Company’s activities do not stop at its productions, however. The group provides classes and holds seminars for indigenous communities. During protests over indigenous territory which occupied Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard – outside the presidential residence – the group made several appearances in support of the protests.
The Bulareyaung’s most recent work “Not Afraid of Sun and Rain” takes its inspiration from the folk songs of Amis tribe. Originally meant for 2020, the production was delayed to this year because of the COVID19 pandemic.