Compagnie Maguy Marin

So, Kathleen and I took great enjoyment out of creating our very own Fall 2005 perfomance series. One thing I love about living in Taipei, I can't imagine it being an simpler to go to the theatre.


Every month there is a small booklet distributed that lists every theatre, dance, music performance of any sort, with an english description and prices. Then we take that booklet to the desk at the Eslite bookstore right across the street from the school, show them which performances we want, pick our seats, and get our tickets. Almost all the performances are at either the National Concert Hall or the National Theatre, which are conviniently right beside each other - a short bus or taxi ride from our apartment.

There is such incredible variety, I guess because Taipei is a key stop on the 'Asian' tours of all these different companies and performers. You can find a symphony performance or recital pretty much any night of the week. The tough part is choosing.

So, Kathy and I started our 'season' with the Compagnie Maguy Marin's performance of "Umwelt." We knew nothing about it, only the name, and the picture above, and that it was dance. So we bought tickets.

It was most certainly, the oddest performance I've ever been to. It only lasted one hour, no intermission, and it was the same thing the whole time.

There were a series of mirrors on the stage, that shook and made shaking metal noises. There were three electric guitars laying on stage, with a string 'playing' them as it wound from one bobbin to another. It was an hour of schreeching electic guitar noises, wind, and bending metal. The noise got to me, as it was supposed to, I guess.

Then, the dancers in different patterns and repitions would move around the mirrors, performing actions of daily life. For an hour. Then it was over. It was definitely more of a performance than dance. I read after that it was inspired by Samuel Beckett which made more sense, because it definitely reminded me of that kind of odd intentional meaninglessness.

The review in the Taipei Times said: "Considered one of France's most celebrated choreographers -- and certainly one of the most cerebral working today -- Marin's work is structured, intense and multi-layered, as the performers repeat scenes or motifs again and again as if they are trapped in some form of purgatory."

Anyway, we paid quite a bit for the priviledge of watching an hour of purgatory, and I left with a pounding headache because of the noise. However, after trying to pretend to be very intelligent and discuss it over coffee after, we decided it was worth the money, because it certainly made us think, which very few things do in our days of easy entertainment. Kathy is afraid that the days of singing and dancing are over, and that instead we are all going to have to deal with cerebral performances all the time. However, our next performance for the season is the Spanish Ballet's performance of Flamenco Carmen. So she should be okay!