ABSTRACT
Taiwan is quite westernized, on the surface at least. In contemporary dance, the Martha Graham technique and Russian ballet are strong influences, in addition to Chinese Dance and the Martial Arts. This is particularly true at the National Institute of the Arts (NIA). It is really quite impressive how disciplined the dancers are in perfecting the physical form of Western dance idioms — sometimes, perhaps, in a too codified way. I’m not saying there aren’t fine artists who have absorbed Western influences into their own personal language. I think of Lin Hwai-min’s dance, Legacy. Although his work has been influenced by the Graham aesthetic, this dance is an inspired creation, and deeply sourced from his Taiwanese heritage.
