TAI Body Theatre

TAI Body Theatre was founded by Truku’s indigenous artist Watan Tusi in 2012. Most team members come from the young people of different ethnic groups in Taiwan. Those like-minded people usually stay in the metal shack – Workers’ Hut – in Hualien for rehearsal, experimenting and exploring new body languages of the indigenous peoples.

TAI comes from the Truku language means to look at something or to see something. This word expresses the concern and reflection of the traditional cultures of indigenous peoples that the artistic director Watan thought. ”Except for the traditional rituals or tourist-oriented performance, any more fresh creativity for the indigenous peoples’ music and dance?” He’s spent two years conducting field studies to figure out the relationship between human feet and the land. As time goes by, he’s recorded more than eighty ”Footprint Collection”. In the creating process of deconstruction and reconstruction, those treasured elements are always his muse for creating new body postures and dance forms.

The style of TAI Body Theatre’s works is diverse such as the themes of indigenous literature, exploratory dialogue between body and music, and the issues for the conflict between the indigenous peoples’ currently difficult situation and living environment. TAI Body Theatre had been invited to perform their work The Sigh of Body for the gala opening of the Jogja International Performance Art Festival held in Indonesia. This talented group has played Who Drinks There? in the Delhi International Arts Festival hosted in New Delhi, India. Their work Dancing Under the Bridge was nominated for the Taishin Arts Award of 2016. The work Terrace on the Hill, a co-creation with French musician Roland Auzet, has won the grand prize of Pulima’s Art Award in 2018.

▶TAI Body Theatre