Asian man from the U Theatre Group practicing Tai Chi
Artistic director Liu, Ching-Ming founded U Theatre as a creative community to investigate the natural, cultural, and spiritual links between artists and their environment. Additionally, Liu interested in exploring what it means to be Taiwanese today?to ?rediscover? Taiwanese modes of expression, and to give a contemporary voice to this culture?s deep and varied underpinnings and Theatre may best be described as philosophy in motion. For this company, performance is not an end in itself, but an aspect of a holistic way of life oriented in the Tao (the ?Way?). In its work, of the individual to the whole community?and by extension, of the group to its audiences world-wide?is portrayed without explicit narrative or the creation of imagined result is a fascinating and unique mode of contemporary theater that is process-based, formal,.finely tuned, and performer-dependent. It is grounded in a collective experience predicated on personal search for enlightenment and Theatre?s rigorous aesthetic depends on disciplined training in various forms?acting, martial arts,.drumming, song and dance,.meditation?some drawn from the East, and some from the West (Liu studied at New York University?s Performance Studies program and at the famed Grotowski school). This practice? as it is physical and creative?takes place in an extraordinary setting. U Theatre?s home is high up on the lush and rugged landscape of Laochuan Mountain, an hour outside of Taipei, and shelters have been cut and built into the rock. Each new company production is premiered at the company?s 500-seat outdoor theater there. This environment is the cradle of U Theatre?s investigations and a potent source of energy and inspiration for the group.
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Photo credit: © Matthew Wakem / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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