LAFA and Artists Dance Company
The dance of vitality that challenges the impossible:
Taiwanese dancer Fang-Yi Sheu on the world stage
Fang-Yi Sheu is doubtlessly the shiniest star in the Asian dance world, being the principle dancer from one of the oldest and most prestigious contemporary dance companies in the United States—Martha Graham Dance Company, the first Asian dancer invited to be artist-in-residence at the Baryshnikov Art Center (BAC) in New York, and heralded as one of the most prestigious dancers worldwide by Dance Magazine. It may be difficult to believe, but this dance star used to be a girl that lacked confidence, and her low school grades during her childhood actually caused her parents to worry about her future. Through a dance competition at the age of 11, she rediscovered herself and fell in love with dancing, a light that illuminated her life.
“The very first time when I discovered self-identity…was in the world of dancing.”
After receiving a BFA at the Taipei National University of the Arts, Sheu flew to the United States on a quest to excel in the world of professional dancing, and became one of the top dancers after ten years. However, at the peak of her dance career, she chose to go onto a different path, and founded the LAFA & Artists Dance Company with her partner and choreographer Bulareyaung Pagarlava. As the company’s artistic director, she suddenly shifted her role from an internationally renowned dancer to an educator, administrator, and choreographer, with the hope that Taiwanese artists may be recognized by the dance world.
The first representative work from the company is Sheu and Bula’s artist-in-residence work in 2007: “37 Arts”. The title of the work is derived from the name of the famous art centre building on the 37th street in New York, a place they called “home”—where their team of dancers passed two months of strenuous rehearsals, a period of time full of challenges and delight. This is a place that Sheu depicts as “their paradise, but also their torment chamber”.
“37 Arts” interweaves two storylines of wit and humour, cruelty and violence, with a fragmented dance expression that encompasses from swift movements to slow-motions mimicking stilled film frames, and even to a state of frozen time, fully revealing the dancers’ exceptional precision in controlling their body movements. Sheu’s perfection in body rhythms as well as her dramatic facial and body expressions shape a unique style of choreographer Bulareyaung that opens a door to a diversity of dance roles.
Documentary Showcase
Mon, 3/22/2010 from 7:30pm
Location:
Stadium Club of Edgewater Casino
Performance dates
Thurs, 3/18/2010 at 8:00 pm
Fri, 3/19/2010 at 8:00 pm
Venue Location:
Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre （181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver）
Shows： 37 Arts/ Single Room