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

Author｜Gwen Hsin-Yi CHANG

Recollections of the body movement series part I : 

When landing at the airport, what appeared before my eyes was the busiest international transportation hub in Spain's capital Madrid – the fourth terminal of Madrid-Barajas Airport. Though this was at the end of 2021, when Omicron had just emerged in a number of countries, leading to a raising of the global epidemic alert level, flights continued to land and take off from the airport uninterrupted and the terminals were crowded with passengers checking in and out. The facial features of passengers everywhere were substituted with face masks of various shapes and colors, while free disinfectants and hand sanitizers could also be seen everywhere in the airport.

The weather in Madrid in December 2021 featured a dry and cold climate, blue and sunny skies, and a temperature of around 10-degrees Celsius, while my thoughts and senses became keener as I made contact with the winter breeze. I left the air terminal and boarded the metro for Condeduquez Centre of Contemporary Culture downtown Madrid located 50 minutes away from the terminal. The venue had served as the main site for the events held by Certamen Coreográfico de Madrid throughout the course of many years.

Occupying close to 60,000 square meters and one of the three important cultural institutions supervised by the City Council of Madrid, Condeduquez Centre of Contemporary Culture was built in the 18th century during Philip V's period and designed by renowned Baroque architect Pedro de Ribera. The Centre originally served as the military camp of the royal guard, but was later renovated into a multi-functional contemporary cultural center by the City Council of Madrid, and consists of Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, multi-functional performance/exhibition venues (proscenium stage and rehearsal rooms), Museum of History of Madrid, and five libraries. In 1976, the Centre was officially included in the World Heritage List.

The freedom to communicate and move

Dance South, a contemporary dance creative international exchange project of Taiwan and Spain held by National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), started a three-way communication with Chiayi Performing Arts Center and Certamen Coreográfico de Madrid in 2017. In the past four years, the project sent choreographers and art critics from Chiayi New Style Choreography and Taiwan Dance Platform every year to participate in gender and body seminars, Female Writing About Dance Workshop, and performance displays in Spain. Past participants include SU Pin-Wen in 2017, CHIEN Ching-Ying and LIN Yu-Shih in 2018, SU Pin-Wen's Girl's Notes in 2019, and TIEN Hsiao-Tzu in 2020 (postponed to 2021/2022 due to Covid-19).

With a goal to facilitate the exchange and learning between dancers/choreographers between Taiwan and Spain, the three institutions announced Dane South, a project focusing on the collaboration between dancers/choreographers, at the third Taiwan Dance Platform in November 2020. In November 2021, the three institutions signed the collaboration memorandum at the Chiayi Intertidal Dance Festival to actively promote closer collaboration and exchange between choreographers in Taiwan and Spain.

In 2020, while countries around the world implemented lockdown measures and closed borders, Dance South organized topical online speeches and the "Freedom of Movement – overcoming the boundary between Asia and Europe" event, which incorporated the Weiwuying ONE Minute VR Stage created by artist-in-residence at Weiwuying CHOU Shu-Yi and Digital Art Center during the initial outbreak of Covid-19 in Taiwan and invited 35 choreographers/film makers from Taiwan and Spain to exchange ideas. In the meantime, with full support from Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Spain, five dance films of Taiwan were selected by Taiwan Dance Platform and invited by Certamen Coreográfico de Madrid to exhibit at Condeduquez Centre of Contemporary Culture: Fragment by LIN Yen-Chin, STOP by SU Pin-Win and Kua Bo Dance Theatre, Awaiting by CHOU Shu-Yi and director Bogi CHOU, Memories of the Tenjo by LIN Wan-Yu, and Drifting Dust by Adrianne CHIU and TIEN Hsiao-Tzu.

It's been two years into the spread of Covid-19, and travelling and physically moving to other places have become a luxury too costly to afford. Faced with physical restrictions, high risks, and high expenses, we encountered new questions and must therefore redefine the value of international exchange and find a sustainable solution through continuous effort. In this ever-changing environment, how performance/exhibition venues should respond and take actions to break the limits and the norm through continuous communication with foreign and domestic partners is a collective challenge for cross-cultural collaboration and the development of human civilization.