Artist Residency in Taiwan
After India I went on to Taiwan where I met up with U-Theatre- the company of traditional drummers I had met last summer in a workshop at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center for international artists. When I first met them I felt right away that they had something I had never seen before and I knew there was much I could learn from them. After taking a workshop with them in New York I was invited to come and visit them in Taiwan. It was an opportunity I could not pass up. I arrived in April unsure of what to expect but knowing already it was to be an experience I would never forget. I joined them half way through their 20th anniversary walking tour of the country traveling on foot anywhere between 15 and 30km a day, and watching their performances each night in the different towns. Ultimately I realized that what set these extraordinary performers apart was not merely the discipline of their bodies but as in India, the discipline of their energy. The connectedness of their whole beings and the ability to put the mind at peace so the heart can fully inhabit the body was central to their work. Aside from lessons in Tai Chi, Zen walking and KungFu, this essential concept of the discipline of energy is what I learned during this incredible adventure. And by some stroke of insight the experiences I had here came to complement and illuminate those I had in India.
For more detailed accounts of my time in Taiwan, please see my Taiwan travel blog
I was also asked to create a piece during my stay in Taipei which I based on the discoveries I made during the first month of Zen walking. I created the piece through a workshop I directed with high schoolers from U-Theater’s Performing Arts School 36. A DVD of the piece, entitled Adrift, is available upon request. Please email me for further information or enquiries.