Paiwan choreographer sets up dance base in Taitung

2015-03-02

Celebrated Taiwan choreographer Bulareyaung Pagarlava will inaugurate the base for his dance company Feb. 27-28 in eastern Taiwan’s Taitung City.

Located in a corner of century-old Taitung Sugar Factory, the Bulareyaung Dance Company studio was established in January after the Paiwan dancer decided to return home from Taipei City.

“It was as if Vuvu, our ancestral spirit, had guided my way here,” Pagarlava said. “I was lucky to have received plenty of love and support in pursuit of a professional career in dance. Now it is my turn to give back and help indigenous children with similar aspirations.”

Pagarlava, aka Kuo Chun-ming in Mandarin, was born in Taitung’s Chialan Village. Starting with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, he saw his works performed at such renowned events like the 2008 Fall for Dance Festival in New York, 2009 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts, and 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Invitations followed in 2009 and 2011 for collaboration with New York City-based Martha Graham Dance Company. But it was while performing his companion piece “Chasing” to the Graham-choreographed “Deaths and Entrances” at the Lincoln Center that Pagarlava first felt the pangs to return home.

“Just before answering the curtain call, I vowed to give the young children of my tribe an opportunity to strut their stuff on the world stage,” he said. “In my early 20s, I was given such a chance by my late mentor Luo Man-fei. Now that I have the means, I will pass this legacy along to the younger generations.”

According to Pagarlava, his company’s new base will provide comfortable and familiar surrounds for local dancers. Auditions and workshops staged ahead of the Lunar New Year attracted a large number of performers countywide, as well as from the rest of Taiwan and even Hong Kong and Australia.

“This enthusiasm proves that art can thrive in places far away from metropolitan cultural hubs like Taipei,” he said. “I hope that in a decade’s time, Taitung will be a magnet for dance aficionados from around the world.”
 

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=227786&CtNode=413)