The bridge from the past to the present in three contemporary Taiwanese dance works inspired by literature: Hwai-Min Lin's 'Nine Songs' (1993), Fu-Lann Tao's 'On the Way to the Peony Pavilion' (1991), and Sunny Pang's 'Kwaidan/Emaki' (1996) (China).

摘要

A literary text establishes a verbal, permanent language on the page, while a dance relies upon non-verbal, visual, kinesthetic body language in time and space. This interdisciplinary study focuses on analyzing three contemporary Taiwanese choreographers' dances based on traditional Asian literature: Hwai-min Lin's Nine Songs inspired by Yuan Chu's ancient Chinese ritual poetry cycle of the same name, Fulann Tao's On the Way to the Peony Pavilion based on Hsien-tsu Tang's Chinese dramatic play The Peony Pavilion, and Sunny Pang's Kwaidan/Emaki evolved from Japanese ghost stories. The purpose is to explore the roles the literary works play in the these dance works and the approaches the choreographers take to transforming the literary works into dances. In addition, I investigate how these three dance works illuminate cultural identity in contemporary Taiwan, using the choreographers' personal histories and identities as vehicles.; Drawing upon the methodologies of comparison of the dance and literary narratives, dance description, aesthetic analysis, socio-cultural contexting, and oral history, the study finds that the these choreographers add layers of contemporary meanings into their dance works through imaginative means of transforming the literary works into dance pieces. The literary works serve as devices to reconnect these choreographers and Taiwanese viewers to their shared Chinese cultural memories and broader Asian cultural heritages. By integrating into their works various Asian aesthetic concepts (primarily of Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese origin), these choreographers also succeed in formulating an Asian dancing body in their choreographies to resist the powerful influence of Euro-American modern dance in Taiwan. Through exploring the dialectic relationship between literature and dance in these works, this study also gains insights into how contemporary Taiwanese choreographers attempt to come to their terms with their Chinese cultural pasts, contemporary experiences in Taiwan, as well as cultural influences from other parts of the world. They juxtapose and negotiate among multiple cultural elements that have presence in contemporary Taiwan to create their danced representations of the original literary works. They thus create a bridge between the past and the present, making these traditional literary works once again relevant to their contemporary Taiwanese viewers.