衛武營國家藝術文化中心 Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts

Photo：Choreographer, WU Kuo-chu (©LIU Chen-hsiang, provided by CLOUD GATE )

Written by Weiwuying Residency Artist CHOU Shu-yi

While writing today, I suddenly thought of the late choreographer WU Kuo-chu, who was born (in Mituo Township) and raised in Kaohsiung and died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 36. His work deeply touched many lives, and the piece that touched me most was Oculus. A 33-minute version was performed by Cloud Gate 2 in 2004, and the entire piece was performed the year he passed away. It was also performed in 2014, once again touching so many hearts. It has of course been performed in Kaohsiung, his hometown. Though he was in the regular classes at Tsoying Senior High School, he would at times peek into his "dreamland" of the dance class. Perhaps this is the city where he fell in love with this form of art. Later, he left Kaohsiung to study directing at the School of Theatre Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts. During this time, he continued learning to dance and even got a major, dramatic role in the ballet Giselle. After graduation, he went to Germany to study in the dance department at Folkwang Hochschule, where he embarked on the path to becoming a choreographer. His work started gaining recognition and invitations to international art festivals. In 2004, he was invited to work as the artistic director of the Staatstheater Kassel Dance Company in Germany, and he was also a guest choreographer for Cloud Gate. He thus gave dance in Taiwan and Europe the opportunity to connect. He was an artist whom I greatly admire and whom we should remember. Cloud Gate founder LIN Hwai-min once said of him, "The best way to commemorate him is to perform his work." Upon thinking of all of this, I started to miss his work and started wanting to let everyone know that there was once such a dancer in Kaohsiung who brought so much life to the stage.

“I still remember that vibration of a half-naked body,

those arms that never stopped beating.

A group of people looking into the distance.

Is it my hometown or somewhere else?

All of a sudden, Canon begins to be played.

A lone girl stands under a tree,

the wind blowing her skirt,

the sun shining down on her.

Life pursues time,

during which are countless episodes of joy and grief,

until the end,

the instant when the leaves fall.”

Photo：Oculus (©LIU Chen-hsiang, provided by CLOUD GATE )

While thinking of how Oculus moved me, I jotted down a few memories. Now, as I am on the path of choreography, I think about what kinds of dances I will create. I have recently been working on The Center with a highly experienced Taiwanese theater artist named CHENG Chih-chung, viewing the relationship of people to the world from the angle of equality and inequality for the physically disabled. If WU were still alive, he would be about the same age as CHENG. I always feel so powered by them. I once briefly met WU, noticing how filled with hope his eyes were. CHENG long ago freed found relief from the difficulties of his identity as a physically disabled person, attaining freedom and possibilities within theater and art. This show will be performed at Weiwuying. It is not just a work of dance. It is the hope that this city gave me. Dance steps that have faded away yet still are sources of power continue to be danced in some unknown place. There was once such a dancer in Kaohsiung.

Weiwuying will be a venue for many works that will leave behind a sense of life. I look forward to seeing that life once again. I will be living in Kaohsiung for a while too, sharing the love and pain of the life of dance.

Learn more：

Weiwuying Artist-In-Residence-CHOU Shu-yi