"Moving Spirit" -- New York Battery Dance Company and Szu Chen Junior High School Jointly Perform Modern Dance
Battery Dance Company of New York City will perform modern dance with student dancers from Szu Chen Junior High School of Taichung County at Taichung City's Chung Shan Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday May 1. The performance is co-sponsored by the Council for Indigenous Peoples of the Executive Yuan, Taichung City Cultural Affairs Bureau and American Institute in Taipei (AIT). Admission is free.
The Battery Dance Company, which visited Taiwan in 2006, returns to make a debut of its new dance "Moving Spirit." Their style of modern dance features uniquely eclectic and highly original choreography and music. It is inspired by worldwide sources and reflects the diversity of cultures that make up American society. The company is currently touring South Korea, Laos, Burma, and Mongolia.
"AIT is pleased to bring Battery Dance to Taiwan again," said Lawrence A. Walker, AIT's Press Officer. "This time we are focusing on Taiwan's aboriginal dance traditions and engaging audiences in Taichung."
From April 28 and April 29, the aboriginal student dancers of Szu Chen Junior High School will work with the Battery dancers in an international cultural exchange program called "Dancing to Connect." With the help of the Battery dancers, the student dancers will create a new dance of their own and will present it as part of the May 1 performance at Chung Shan Hall.
Jonathan Hollander, artistic director of the Battery Dance Company, says, "our job is to dance, to perform, to communicate, to teach and to facilitate the art of dance - and the lines of demarcation between cultures fall away as soon as the music and dance begins." Hollander invites Taichung audiences to "come with an open mind and expect a variety of different colors, moves and moods."