25th July, Not Alone.

Today I really thought I’d feel alone and a little bit lost after all the excitement that the past three weeks gave me. But it was not so.

First I visited my good friends at the lake, Big Tom, Cathy and the Badminton team, who fed me a delicious meal of dumpling soup and Oolong tea. Then Big Tom took me to an orchard green house where he has his own plot, it was the wrong season for all the flowers to be out, but we still found a few quite beautiful examples (Tom promises to take a photo for me in the peak season, I can imagine the place looking amazing!)

The team! 11 of them came to the show, some for the first time and loved it!

Then I went for a Taiwanese massage before some more tea and my flight back home. On the plane I slept like a baby………..I was exhausted!

So surprisingly, I managed to avoid the lonely feeling one can get upon reaching the end of such an amazing experience.

My time here in Taiwan has been fuller than I can describe in one page, so I will summarise and touch upon the main points of interest.

This experience has not just been an opportunity to showcase myself and my work, it’s also been a learning experience, a definite opportunity to network and find more work (and I did a lot of that!), and a chance to learn a lot about a new culture. Of course, I knew this before I arrived, but had no idea how MUCH more I would learn from this experience.

One of the criteria for this project was to be prepared to create a 10 minute work on non English speaking dancers, but each choreographer did so much more than that; we made lifelong relationships with non English speaking dancers, other choreographers, artists, administrators, facilitators and all of Kaohsiung!  And know that most of what you say to your dancers in the first two weeks DOSE get "Lost in Translation"!

If I had the opportunity to partake in this project again, I would without hesitation! In fact all of the choreographers made a pact to re-apply every year to keep it just for ourselves (of course we’d have to re name it the “2011-IYCP for under 50’s”).  Seriously, I recommend this opportunity to all Australian choreographers, but be warned, it’s not for the faint hearted! People are more friendly here than anywhere else I’ve been to in the world, so if you don’t like friendly people who like to share Oolong tea, home cooked food, and talk………………..don’t go! It would be a waste of time, because, for me the meeting and sharing with new people was the most important part of this trip!

Criteria wise, I did manage to make a new short work, which I was very pleased about! For me this work is a great starting point for something bigger, I hope. Also I was forced to make adjustments to my practice, not just because of the language barrier, but also because of the time constraints and the way dancers are used to working (practice, practice, perfect!:)). I didn't have the luxury of time to play and develop a collaborative language like the one I've developed here, with dancers that I work with all time. But these adjustments mean more confidence for me in knowing that I will be able to deal with similar circumstances, that I'm sure I will come across in the future.

The Q&A Forum, with Translation by Ya-Chin

Photo by Rossy Siong

Photos with the Principle of Tsoying Senior High School, Executive Dir. of Chin-Lin Foundation for the Arts and Culture Wang Yunyu and Secretry General of Tso's Dance Association Miss Chou (Both of whom are Directors of the 'International Young Choreographers Project")

Photo by Rossy Siong

Gifts for the amazing Ya-Chin and Miss Chou!

My Fabulous dancers!

Photo by Yi-Jie

But this experience is not about heading over to produce a kick ass work! If I went over with that attitude, it might have worked, but I would have missed out on so much of the people, plus I think I would have been stressed out and miserable the whole time!

Go there knowing what you want to create for sure! But be adaptable, flexible and sensitive to their cultural needs also. Enjoy the twists and turns of working in a very foreign environment (it won't be what you're used to). Be open and always share your knowledge and experiences with the other choreographers (or just share a beer) the sooner you do that the sooner everyone relaxes and that whole (inner) expectation to be successful is out the window and the three week experience becomes an awesome adventure!

Thank you WDA 2011- International Young Choreographers Project!  I had the best time ever! I will miss you all very much!

.....................!

Photo by Triple C!

24th July, It's over :(

For once, I am lost for words...................just really really sad it's over.

I have one more day here and fly out in the evening. I will make the most of tomorrow I think.

Body and mind on shut down, heaps to think about..............plenty of time to do that on the plane.

stay tuned for my round up.

but for now, far well and goodnight Taiwan!

Zx

23rd July, Chookas!

It's Opening Night!

I’ve had a chance to see all the works  yesterday, and I can guarantee it’s not going to be one of those boring long winded showcases that we often have to sit through!

Chookas everyone!

22nd July, Miss you already :(

Gezzz it’s nearly over, all this work for only two shows! What a shame, I want to do the show again!

I’m gonna miss this place. People are so unbelievably nice here; people spontaneously invite you for tea at the lake (I must go back Monday morning, entry is free before 6am and that’s when it most alive) and when it’s raining, strangers insist on sharing their umbrella with you as you wait at a bus stop or go to walk across the street. The door man at the hostel shares his cigarettes with me and there is a cute old dog that passes by where I smoke at night for a wee chat, I’ll miss her too.

But most of all I’ll miss these guys! My champions!

Thanks Taiwan! Thanks World Dance Alliance 2011-International Young Choreographers Project! Thanks Miss Chou, Thanks Ya-Chin and most of all thanks Li Yen, Pei Ing, Hsing-Miao, Yi-Ting, Yi-Echen, Ming Shan, Yi-Jie, Michun and Li-Wei!!! You Rock!

21st July, we finished the work!

Hooray! I took my own advice from yesterday and simplified the final game this afternoon. And it was still too long, so in the tech run this evening, I simplified it even more and finished right on time!! Given that we were  two dancers missing tonight (performing for the schools sponsors)  it might change a bit tomorrow, but we have another 3hr rehearsal to resolve this. I don’t care; my dancers have put up with my Nancy behavior over the last two days and still pulled together. Nice job! They ROCK!

After the run they asked me if they could shout and muck around a bit more in each of the games, I said ‘Hell Yeah!”

Oh yeah! And it was Angela's Birthday today

Music By Ryadan Jeavons
Cinematography By Kuan Ling Tsai

20th July, Nancy Day!

Today I had my Nancy day!

 I’m trying to  create a third and final game for my work, and the dancers told me it was too hard! So I got a little bit shitty, called a 10 minute break and ducked around the back of the school for a ciggy……maybe I left it a little bit late to start something new (we have our first plotting tomorrow, but we have till Saturday for the performances) . As I see it, this project is an opportunity to create a completely new work, in an unfamiliar environment, so I’m OK if I fail. But I won’t, because the first two games are finished and look great! So, to try something completely different is fun for me…………..however, I’m learning that most of the dancers are really young (18years) and have never been allowed to fail, all they want to do is “practice, practice, perfect!” (I think that’s normal in every culture, not just TaiwanJ) All I want to do is “play, play, create”.

So I had my 10 minutes to think, went back inside, had a small talk with them, tried explained my reasoning and tried to apologise. I think they were on the same wave length because they drew this wee picture on the floor while I was away.

Last week the dancers saved me from embarrassment when I walked into rehearsal with this tee shirt that I bought at the night markets on.

It says something like “I’m afraid of my wife” (I won’t show you what it says on the shoulder it’s really rude!)

So I think it’s only fair that I cut the dancers a little slack and find a way to make the third game a little simpler so they have time to “practice, practice, perfect!” it's only fair.

19th July, It’s all coming together!

I have almost finished my work…………And thanks to Kenny (the lighting designer) the sound operator now has Q-Lab!! Ryadan has sent me the final version of the music and I have almost finished the final game (hehe). Three more rehearsals!

And now I am soaking wet from having to ride in the Taiwan rain to buy more props!

This is the Taipei national theater (Right and Left) This pic dose no justice. It dwarfs the Opera House!

Pic from the other direction, a Memorial Monument to a famous General.

18th July, Cheng Tsung-Lung

Allen “Hey Zaimon, Can I have your music today?”

Zaimon “No.”

Allen “Oh? Well, tomorrow then”

Zaimon “I can get it to you buy Thursday.”

Allen “Oh no, that’s too late!?”

Zaimon “Well maybe Wednesday then....................”

Allen “………………..errrrr”

Zaimon “……………morning?”

Allen “Ok! But no later!”

On Sunday I went to Taipei to see our good friend Cheng Tsung-Lung and I got to sit in on a rehearsal of “On The Road”, for the designers and production staff! It’s a new work and he said it was different work for him, I think he’s quite nervous, but he has nothing to worry about: Three beautiful, amazing dancers, dancing for 70 minutes (with only a three minute break). There is so much focus that you can understand, empathises, laugh and cry just through watching their eyes. I think this is going to be a really special work! I was very honoured to be there!

The performance runs Friday22nd-Sunday24th July in the Experimental Theatre at the Taipei National Theatre. 

Pin-Hsiu Chen and Cheng Tsung-Lung

 I also had a really great chat to Pin-Hsiu about contemporary dance and dance development in Taipei too.

15th July, Let's dance!

Sorry for the delay, I've just had way to many things to explore this weekend.
But here is a short video of my dancing experience's so far!

Music composed by Ryadan Jeavons

See you Monday!

14th July, Nearly finished, not finished yet.

Today I had a panic attack! I thought that next week we only had Monday and Tuesday for rehearsals before we begin tech runs from Wednesday! I’m already running over the 10 minute time limit and I hadn’t even begun the third and final game, so I have a lot of work cut out for me!!?? But the timetable for next week was up on the notice board today and it turns out that we still have 5 full 3 hour rehearsals in between right up to Friday, so all is happy in Zaimon land…………J

I was pleased to have dinner and ice cream with Naim and some of the dancers tonight, I haven’t had a chance to chat with him yet and learn more about him. So tonight we got to talk, and he’s very interesting, we even have someone we know in common, Nanette Hassell (he performed in Perth one time, unfortunately he never meet my good my good friend Justin Rutzou who also works at WAPPA,, but I will find out more…..)

Yi-Jie Yeh, Naim, ?,?

Half of the cold rock ice cream was funded buy my coffee addiction. For every two coffees you buy at the 7/11, you get one sticker.

And I have my Program photo I love it!

13th July, Sharing

Today I had an opportunity to share some knowledge I’ve learnt over the last couple of years, about critical feedback. Julia, Angela and I thought it might be good to show some of the ideas we have been working on over the last week. I suggested that maybe we could use some of Liz Lerman’s critical feed back as a base; neither of them had heard of her and found the process very useful and interesting. I think the three of us walked out of that showing with a big sigh of relief! Knowing that, the only pressure to produce is the pressure you put on yourself and any expectations from anyone else is irrelevant.  Our dancers also got to sit in on the discussions and I think they’re beginning to understand, perhaps, that we don’t want robots, we want personality.

My dancers a speaking up more now too, giving their opinions and input to the work, sometimes I can’t get them to shut up! I love it!

12th July, not superstitious at all!

I’ve broken my piece down into three stages. I have stage one organised, stage two well developed, stage three…..well let’s just say it will be a nail bitting finish J

Went out for dinner with the dancers tonight at a awesome dumpling house! And shared jokes, mine seemed to get lost in translation……..or maybe they were just really bad, I think I have to Google some better jokes tonight, I got a lot of kudos to make up!

On the left Li Yen, Pei Ing, Hsing-Miao, Yi-Ting & Yi-Echen
Right Me, Ming Shan, Yi-Jie & Michun

If you look closely at my forehead you can see how I learnt that I’m actually pretty tall over here, when it comes to doorways.

This morning I went for a walk to this amazing run down old graveyard behind the hotel. After that photo, I tried to take a video of the dogs, but they all upped and left before I had a chance, so I walked around some more and more dogs keep poking their noses out from behind tomb stones, but not long enough to get clear shot. Guess they thought one shot was enough. Is there a Chinese superstition about dogs chillin on tomb stones? I love dogs!

Then I came across this shanty home in the middle of the graveyard and an old man (later worked out he was the caretaker), his daughter and a their beautiful cat  invited me to sit, and chat, English to Taiwanese, didn’t understand a word, but I’m pretty sure they want me to purchase a plot, they were pretty funny!

11th July Fishing Alley

Wow! It’s amazing how a weekend off can give a dancer something special! We worked on some new solo material today and they were so on it! It’s hard to describe. Anyway the work is progressing and I’m happy J Also we resolved one of the three games I’m creating for this work. All I have to do is find a way to keep track of the time so they know when it's over. One of the dancers suggested a warning sound in the music, like Count Down, haha! awesome! how annoying! Any suggestions? Something from Taiwan?

For anyone unfamiliar with the Count Down Theme click here, but be warned! It will haunt you forever!

Tonight, on my way down to my regular restaurant, I discovered a fishing hall, much like a Bowling Alley, so I’ve named it the “Fishing Alley”, you buy beer, catch fish, take it home and cook it?! There are even arcade games in the back corner for the kids! I’m sooooo up for this! Kuan like's bowling, maybe she will? Now I need a cook J

In this picture: a lot of keen anglers!

8th July, TGIF

Ahhhh! It’s Friday! I’ve got some time to think and contemplate.

Today I invested a lot more time on a theatre sport kind of game, which we have been working on this week. The focus was mainly on critical feedback from each of the dancers about the other dancers. It was a bit slow to start with! Like most of the week, no one dared to speak or give an opinion. I was listening to the sound of my own voice, trying desperately to encourage them to say something, anything! Then after about half an hour the photographer, who was there today to observe, put his hand up and said “I like what Michun and Lee Way did was very interesting.” So I said “Ok but you have to tell us why” and as a visual artists he did without hesitation, in great detail and my beautiful little dancers got a little bit kooky. Nice!

We also played a couple of games that I made up……….

So see you Monday! I’m gonna sit back and sip a Taiwanese beer with my good friend Claude and think and how awesome dancers have been this week!

Claude Aymon, runs his own company, c2a, in Marseille, South of France, he also writes his own music and takes the most amazing photos (I hope he posts some of them soon, they are much better than mine)

http://www.blogger.com/profile/13719329598865645739

Here is a short clip of what the dancers and I have been up too. and this is some of the music Ryadan Jeavons has composed for the work.
I’m having too much fun…….
In the video are Pei Ing, Li Yan, Li Wei, Yi-Jie, Michun, Yi-Chen, Yi-Ting, Hsing-Miao, Ming-Shan And of course The Father of Taiwan, Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Music by Ryadan Jeavons

7th July, hOt PoT

Another great day! So far I’ve been working with the dancers, individually, on movement phrases. And if it was up to me, I would happily have kept working like this until the end of the week. However the dancers (as they always do when so young) expressed their anxiousness to Miss Chou presence in the studio tomorrow, so cute. So to humour them we played the first stage of the game and all was good and happy in TJM land.

Went for a 5.30am walk around the Lake today. It was buzzing with Tai Chi, musicians, dance groups, walkers, runners, mediation, badminton and of course tea.

Yes, this time I was invited by Big Tom and Cathy to join the Pyramid badminton team for tea and soft rice. I think I might just take a walk around the lake every time I feel hungry from now on everyone is so nice hereJ

Kuan took us to a beautiful tea house for the most amazing hot pot (I’ve had pot hot in Bejing before, but this was the best by far!) before heading out to see Polymer DMT’s debut work “I have to stay to see how the story ends” ………………visual artists, musicians, actors, dancers and more. I know they premiered in somewhere in Switzerland last year but the rest of the info I’ve managed to Google tonight is in Chinese. All I know is, I plan to go again tomorrow night!

http://www.wac.gov.tw/pda/index.php?strlink=NewsShow01&lit_id=427

6th July, lovely day for tea and revised program notes.

Today I invested time with each dancer individually, working on a new movement task I had set.  And this worked out really well! For me it broke down the language barrier, they are beginning to understand how I like to move and have begun to incorporate that into their tasks and improve (the magic of collaborative language!) which is great, because the faster we get through this learning and understanding of each other, the sooner I can get onto developing the game.

This brings me to another point.

I have already received some feedback on my program notes (excellent!) and I now realise that I wasn’t clear enough in my second paragraph. It appeared that I assumed that Theory of Mind is just anticipating other person’s thoughts, but it’s not. It’s also about empathy, or understanding (in theory) the state of mind of another person, including beliefs, desires, emotions, ect.

So as I only have 10 minutes. So my aim is (I think) this:

“My dancers and I have been investigating one aspect of this theory, the ability to anticipate. Just like a game of poker, chess or rock paper scissors, the dancers anticipate each other’s thoughts within a tactical game of movement, by strategizing, calculating, manipulating and manoeuvring themselves to stay one step ahead of the others.”

On a lighter note went for a ride this morning to Chengcing Lake and was invited for tea by John and his very lovely friends out on what I think is called a pontoon?

Right Me, John, then i can't say who is who, but the lady with the hat made all the yummy food
and the lady with the glasses is a tango dancer.

2011-IYCP Poster

5th July, dinner with the choreographers

Had a great day with the dancers, the two movement phrases I taught them yesterday has already settled into their bodies and today they learnt the two new phrases much faster.  So with an hour left I finished the rehearsal with a pretty straight forward task, just an idea, which they could choreograph themselves. My intention was to manipulate and elaborate on their movement phrases after I’d had  a look at each of them, but I liked them all so much that I had to leave them as they were.

Most of these dancers are quite young,  some are still in high school, so I was prepared to take them through my improve process nice and slowly, but it turns out they do quite a lot of improve here, so there will be no holding back tomorrow, I’ll try something I've been umming about and see what I find out…they seem to be up for it.

Left Chien-Chih Chang, Claude Aymon, Kuan-Ling Tsai, Angela Blumberg
Front Miss Chou, Right Julia Milsom and me

Miss Chou joined us for an awesome meal at a restaurant just down the road from the hotel tonight. Absolutely delicious! I had forgotten how silky tofu can taste when it doesn’t come out of a Coles seal tight bag!!! And the mushrooms…………

The street is full of restaurants, so tomorrow night we move next door.

4th July, my program notes

First day with the dancers today, and I had a go at explaining my concept to them. I'm sure they think I'm crazy, but as I have to hand in my program notes by tomorrow morning sharp anyway I thought what the hell.

So here it is:

“The Absence of TOM.”

“Theory of Mind (TOM) is the capacity to understand mental states such as: beliefs, feelings, desires, hope and intentions. It is the way we ‘imagine’ other people’s feelings or thoughts. This gives us the ability to predict some of the behaviours of others and anticipate them.

An example:

In this project, and with my nine dancers, we have been investigating this theory by developing a tactical game of movement. Just like a game of poker, chess or rock paper scissors, the dancers will need to anticipate each other’s moves, by strategizing, calculating, anticipating, manipulating and manoeuvring themselves to stay in the game.

This is a game of elimination; even I don’t know what's going to happen tonight. How will it end?  That will depend on TOM.

3rd July, the Audition

Today I got to meet all the Choreographers for the first time, we're a really varied bunch of people, which is great! We also meet Ya-Chin our co-ordinator and the lovely Miss Chou, Director of the Tsoying High School and this project. The choreographers are:-

Angela Blumberg/Germany

Claude Aymon/France

Julia Milsom/New Zealand

Chien-Chih Chang/Taiwan

Naim Syrazad/ Malaysia

Eddie Chun Hui Lin/Taiwan

and

Kuan-Ling Tsai/Taiwan

And they are all super lovely!

78 nervous dancers taking instructions from Miss Chou.

From left Naim Syahrazad and Claude Aymon

A  very nervous panel of  choreographers.

from left Kuan-Ling Tsai, Angela Blumberg, Julia Milsom,
 Ellen (Ya-Chin's mother),  Ya-Chin, Miss Chou, Chien-Chang & Claude Aymon

Picture of our 2 hours to fight over who gets who (so long as we could remember who was who?!)……….it was no easy feat, but surprisingly it was pretty civilised! I think we all got who we wanted, even if I still only remember them by their numbers “red 4, blue 13, yellow 8, 9 and 10 you’re with Zaimon”.

I think tomorrow I might get to actually know my 9 dancers a bit better.

2nd July, I Arrive.

The 20 hr journey is over!

I was greeted at the Airport by one of the dancers, Apple (easy enough to remember I thinkJ) and Miss Yu-Mie while we were heading to the hotel Apple talked through my information pack, but I don’t think I took any of it in.

All I know is pick up is at 9am tomorrow for the audition! Here is a copy of the schedule for Sunday (I’ve highlighted the bit I’m interested in seeing happenJ)

Time	Events
8:50~10:00	Choreographers will be taken from the accommodation to Tsoying Senior High School
10:00~11:30	Choreographers’ Meeting 1
11:30~12:00	Lunch Time
12:00~13:00	Preparation for Dancers Audition
13:00~16:00	Dancers Audition (20 minutes per choreographer)
16:00~17:00	Choreographers’ Meeting 2
17:15	Announcement
17:20~18:30	Choreographers’ Meeting 3 (with dancers)
18:30~	Home Time

They don’t waste any time here! No duty free G&T for me tonight, I’d better go to bed now, need to be on my game tomorrow. Apple has told me they are expecting over 50 dancers, so 20 minutes each should be interesting…….

I’ll be glad when this day is over.

What is theWDA 2011-IYCP?

I have been selected as one of eight choreographers from around the world to partake in the World Dance Alliance - 2011 International Young Choreographers Project (2011IYCP). It will be a rare opportunity to broaden my choreographic practice alongside other International emerging choreographers. The project takes place in Kaohsiung, Taiwan from the 3 - 24 July, 2011.

The WDA 2011 International Young Choreographers Project is supported by the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Bureau of Culture Affairs, Kaohsiung City Government, and the Chin-Lin Foundation for Culture and Arts in Taiwan.

The 2011ICYP provides me with studio space, dancers, housing, living allowance, and more, to be able to focus on creating a new short dance work.  The work will be showcased on July 23rd and 24th, 2011, alongside the works of the other emerging choreographers at the theatre of Tsoying High School. Performances are expected to attract between 300 and 500 people each night.

I will also have the valuable opportunity to share knowledge and experiences with artists of varying backgrounds and cultures by conducting and participating in a number of dance/choreographic workshops and masterclasses.

You will be able to follow my adentures on this project by checking out my. I’ll be posting images and sharing my thoughts and experiences throughout the process.  Upon my return from Taiwan, I’ll also be presenting a live artist’s talk (with a forum) about my 2011ICYP experience at the fabulous cultural space and bar – Room 60 (Carraway St, Kelvin Grove).

Enjoy!