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

Have you become what you aspired to be?——Bulareyaung Pagarlava

After five years of planning and two years of development, Not Afraid of the Sun and Rain, the newest and the seventh production by the Bulareyaung Dance Company since its founding in Taitung in 2015, has finally come into being. Following LUNA, which won the 2019 Taishin Arts Award Grand Prize, the work is also based on tribal fieldwork, this time on Pakarongay, an Amis training system for youngsters to undergo in order to be officially recognized as adults. As a celebration piece for the 5th anniversary of the Company, Not Afraid of the Sun and Rain is dedicated to those who are in need of strength during personal development, as it delves into the introspective world of the dancers as they plod along the path of self-growth and renewal.

I will share a story with you. In 2015, I went back to Taitung and founded the Bulareyaung Dance Company. Before that, I hadn't had the slightest idea what a tribal festival was. Every summer, our dancers would ask for a leave of absence, saying that they need to return to their tribal village to participate in the festival. I also started to visit neighboring villages. I would sit in a corner, observing everything going on around me, just like a tourist.

In 2015, I saw a group of adolescents in the A'tolan tribe of Amis. They were all wearing gym shorts and blue tops with Pakarongay printed on them. Whenever someone hollered, "Pakarongay!", they would scurry to perform all kinds of labor. When people became exhausted from the festival, another voice yelled, "Pakarongay! Come and dance for faki and fayi!" (Note: Faki and Fayi mean elderly males and females in Amis, respectively.) I was curious about these kids. What in the world were they doing?

I asked the elders, "What is the training of pakarongay exactly?" The elders said there is no such thing as training in the past, "All year round, all youngsters twelve and above are called pakarongay before they enter kaput, an official age set." Pakarongay literally means a service person or someone who takes orders. Since 2017, our dancers have been learning with their kaput in the Falangaw tribe of Amis. In 2018, after obtaining consent from the kaput management team from the A'tolan tribe, two dancers from the Company participated in the training of pakarongay that lasted four days and three nights. During the day, they went up to the mountains to learn cultural skills, such as setting up traps and getting to know the plants. In the afternoon, they came back to the seashore to learn skills at sea. At night, they caught freshwater shrimps and green turbans. A whole day labor always began and ended with dancing and singing with their tribal brothers hand-in-hand.

Not Afraid of the Sun and Rain, a piece created to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Company, will be performed in the National Theater in April 2020. The performance was originally scheduled to be last year but was unfortunately postponed due to the pandemic. In February, I received a call from a kaput leader of the A'tolan tribe. He told me that the pakarongay that have received training for the past five years were about to be promoted and christened. This was the only part of the ritual that I did not get to see. When the parents of the pakarongay clothed them with traditional costumes, and the pakarongay performed a guard dance in return, I was moved to tears. Everything is as it is meant to be.

The growth of the Company is like the pakarongay. We are always exploring what we want to be. I asked Suming Rupi, our Amis culture consultant for the piece, who is also from the A'tolan tribe, "For the pakarongay that you have trained, what did you want to train them into?" He did not have an answer. So this is really a deep question. Since we first started to rehearse for Not Afraid of the Sun and Rain in 2019, dancers have probably already run the distance equivalent to a round trip from Taitung to Taipei. Would this training make them stronger? Amis dancers from the troupe had refused to cooperate. They did not believe in this type of training, claiming that there should be something that is more suitable. But what is more suitable?

As a creator and an observer, I have often been asked by dancers since the founding of the Company, "Why do we have to go through all this? We are already adults!" I don't know if Not Afraid of the Sun and Rain could answer this question properly. This piece has faced difficulties arising from cultural differences, but has also brought me back to one of my childhood wishes: "Have you become what you wanted to be?" This is a lesson that takes a lifetime to learn, and I would like to share it with you.

  Post-talk  

2021/10/17(Sun) After performance at Opera House.

  Creative and Production Team  

Dancers｜Aulu Tjibulangan、Kevan Tjuljapalas、Giljigiljaw Tjaruzalun、Kwonduwa、Siyang Sawawan、Liay Kitoh、Awi Pawan、Lawis Mahay

Guest Dancers｜Ponay Akiyok、Sonlay

  Artists introduction  

Bulareyaung Dance Company

The Bulareyaung Dance Company was founded in 2015 in Taitung by Bulareyaung Pagarlava, an aboriginal choreographer from Taiwan. Creation of dance pieces and dancer training are accomplished by working in the mountains and singing old chants by the waterside. Dancers develop unique body movements and vocabulary by delving into their indigenous heritage and culture through regular field trips.

Since its founding, the company has presented several productions, including La Song (2015), Qaciljay (2016), Colors (2016), Stay That Way (2017), Luna (2018), and #Yes or No (2019). Stay That Way won the Taishin Performing Arts Award in 2017, and Luna further won the coveted Taishin Arts Award Annual Grand Prize in 2018. It is the first performing troupe to be awarded in two consecutive years. The Company has been invited to various performances, and has also toured to the United States., Canada, Singapore, Beijing, and Hong Kong.

Choreographer｜Bulareyaung Pagarlava

Bulareyaung Pagarlava is from the Paiwan tribe of Taiwan. He aspired to become a dancer when he was twelve. After he graduated from the Dance Department, Taipei National University of the Arts, Bulareyaung joined the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. He was awarded a fellowship by the Asian Cultural Council to study in New York in 1998, and has created dance pieces for the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Cloud Gate 2, and the Martha Graham Dance Company. His works are highly contagious, pure, and unique, and have received world recognition. Bulareyaung was selected as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Taiwan in 2012. He went back to his hometown Taitung and founded the Bulareyaung Dance Company in 2015.

Cultural consultant｜Suming Rupi

Originally from the A'tolan tribe in Taitung, a rural county on the east coast of Taiwan, Suming Rupi is a man who wears several hats. He is an Amis singer-songwriter, an actor, a craftsman, a dancer, and a director at the Public Television in Taiwan. Suming is dedicated to establishing cultural educational organizations for tribal youths, and producing aboriginal music albums. He has received several awards, including two Golden Horse Awards, two Golden Melody Awards, and one Golden Indie Music Award. He is also the founder of the Amis Music Festival. Recently, Suming has been invited to world renowned music festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival and the WOMAD Festival in the United Kingdom, the Riddu Riđđu Festival in Norway, and Fuji Rock and GOOD NEIGHBORS JAMBOREE in Japan.

Costume Consultant｜Keith Lin Bing-hao

Keith Lin received his B.F.A. from the Dance Department at Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan and M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, USA. Lin took a sharp turn into costume design in 1998, and is a specialist in classical ballet costume design and production. In 2001, he founded KeithLink, a company specializing in fashionable dancewear, and is currently also the creative director at 2Orange International. His designs for dance performances include Whisper of Flowers and How Can I Live on without You by Lin Hwai-min's Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, On the Road and 13 Tongues by Choreographer Cheng Tsung-lung, and Dance Forum X Tan Dun Project HUI produced by the National Theater and Concert Hall in Autumn 2015. He was also the costume designer and style director for the opening ceremony of the 29th Summer Universiade in Taipei in 2017.

Lighting Design｜LEE Chien-chang

Graduated from the Theater Department of Taipei National University of the Arts, Lee Chien-chang majored in directing. In addition to being a director, Lee was also the leader, the playwright, the lighting designer, and an actor of the Off Performance Workshop. His lighting design works include Every Mountain Top is the Center of the World directed by Fu Hong-zheng, and Assassination Q1...GO, Dead Barbie Doll and Thin Clouds and a Light Breeze by the Off Performance Workshop. Lee is now the technical director at the Bulareyaung Dance Company.

Projection Design｜HSU Yi-chun

A video artist, Hsu Yi-chun obtained his DNSEP (National Superior Diploma of Visual Arts) from the Paris-Cergy National Graduate School of Art in France, and attended the courses of Laboratory of Movement Study at the École International de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. Hsu focuses video installations, theatre projection designs, and projection planning at major events, and his works have been exhibited at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taipei and the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. He was the chief projection designer at eh opening and closing ceremonies of the 2009 Summer Deaflympics in Taipei, the opening event of the Taipei Fashion Week SS19 in 2018, and the Kaohsiung Old City Reconstruction Environmental Theater.

Stage Design｜SU Chun-hsueh

Chun-hsueh began his career in theater in 1996. He first became a technical director in 2000, when he worked with the Godot Theatre Company for its production Communicating Doors. In 2019, he was the stage designer for #Yes or No produced by the Bulareyaung Dance Company. is now a full-time technical director.

Guitar Music & Player｜Sakinu A-hui

A music producer, composer, lyricist, and arranger from the aboriginal Paiwan tribe in Taiwan, Sakinu A-hui is the guitarist of the MATZKA band, which won several awards, including the champion of the Ho-hai-yan Rock Festival in Taiwan in 2009, the Golden Melody Award for the Best Band in 2011, the Most Popular MTV Band of the Year in 2011, and the Chinese Music Media Award for the Best Band in 2013. Sakinu has been a concert guest for many local artists, including Kimbo, Jonathan Lee, Crowd Lu, Sangpuy, and Samingad Puruburubuane. He was also a guest guitarist for several local and international bands, including the Power Station, the Omnipotent Youth Society, and BOXING from Taiwan, and Gun's N Roses from the U.S. Sakinu has toured to major cities in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

Commissioned by National Theater & Concert Hall

PHOTO© 高信宗