After touring in New York, Hong Kong, Germany, Singapore, Beijing and Danmark, “Kids” by Taiwanese Choreographer, Kuan-Hsiang Liu, is now touring to PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in Vancouver from January 24th to 26th. There will be three performances and one workshop at Scotiabank Dance Centre.
The 15th PuSh International Performing Arts Festival will be taking place from January 17th to February 3rd this year at different performing arts spaces across Vancouver, presenting 26 pieces of work from 24 groups and 13 different countries. “Kids” is the third Taiwanese work that comes to PuSh, and the ex-artistic director of PuSh, Norman Armour said “’Kids’ is a very strong work.”
“Kids” is a groundbreaking biographical dance piece by choreographer Kuan-Hsiang Liu. It is a tribute to death exploring the very last journey of his mother and himself. The recordings he made of his mother in her last days became the material for this piece. “I found the possibility of various dances from the recording of my mother”, Kuan-Hsiang told. For the PuSh festival performance, Kuan-Hsiang and his group will put more emphasis on dance gestures and narratives to reach across language barrier and communicate with non-Mandarin speaking audiences. He also wants to show the customs, rituals and emotions surrounding death that is unique to Taiwanese culture.
“Kids” is also the winner of 15th Taishin Performing Arts Award (Taiwan, 2017). The review from the award told that “’Kids’ presents the exuberance of life in the valley of death. This work draws on and goes beyond the choreographer’s personal experience facing death to meditate on the ever-present issue of mortality that haunts humanity.” It showcases choreographer Kuan-Hsiang Liu’s explosiveness and originality that is in his choreography and minimal sets, and challenges the audiences’ idea of dance while at the same time touching people’s heart with his sincerity.
With the support from the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan, Kuan-Hsiang Liu and his group will be presenting this new work for Canadian audiences, and interacting with dance lovers through the workshop to better understand their vocabulary of dance.