CAFAM Workshop Features Taiwanese Dancers

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What: Traditional & Modern Dance from Taiwan and China
Where: University of Southern Maine, Portland—Talbot Lecture Hall in the Luther Bonney Building
When: Monday, Aug 7, 2017; 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Join us for a special opportunity to learn about traditional and modern dance, featuring visiting dancers from Taiwan.

The workshop will offer a brief overview of dance practices in Taiwan before demonstrating modern dance techniques infused with aspects of Chinese folk dance and wushu (martial arts). Finally, the audience will be invited to try some of the basic elements of Taiwanese dance as previewed in the lecture demonstration. No dance experience necessary to enjoy this event!

The event is free. Some refreshments will be provided.

Here is information about the featured dancers:

Hsiu-Ju is a professional dancer and choreographer from Taipei, Taiwan.

In 1999, Hsiu-Ju received an American Dance Festival (A.D.F) scholarship to work with the David Dorfman Dance Company in the U.S. Since then, she has danced for numerous dance companies in Taiwan, performing large-scale works in a variety of venues. She danced in “Dream Dream Dream Dream,” produced by Century Contemporary Dance Company and has worked with Zhong Mei Li, co-choreographing a piece performed in Taiwan’s Experimental Theater. 


In 2002, Hsiu-Ju returned to the U.S. as she traveled with fellow artists from Taiwan University of Arts to tour various colleges and universities. In 2007, Hsiu-Ju danced for German-based choreographer Lai-Chui Shuang and in Century Contemporary Dance Company’s “living room of the home,” performed at the National Experimental Theatre.

Hsiu-Ju has worked with Taiwanese and foreign artists to create a music and dance collaboration between dancers and an orchestra through an exhibition that took place in southern Taiwan. Furthermore, she participated in the work “Room,” by Aboriginal Dance Theater and has worked with Hitoshi Hitoshi Theatre, Thirty Dance Theatre, and performed in the piece “Look” by Tainan’s Dance Theater. She joined 8213 Physical Theater’s production of “Unsigned Season” and “Not Dance” in 2011 and 2012. She also worked with Ilanit Tadmor, an Israeli choreographer to create a collaborative piece. Recently, Hsiu-Ju has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2014, Avignon Festival OFF in 2015 and at the World Dance Alliance symposium in Seoul, Korea in 2016.

Hsin-Yi is a graduate of Taiwan’s prestigious dance conservatory, Taipei National University of the Arts. She has performed and taught internationally and throughout Taiwan.

She has had the opportunity to dance with multiple professional dance companies in Taiwan including Assembly Dance Theatre, Century Contemporary Dance Company, 30 Dance Contemporary, Jazz Dance Theater and 8213 Physical Dance Theater.

Over the past seven years, Hsin-Yi has been invited to participate in a variety of international festivals including the New York International Arts Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Korean International Dance Festival.

In addition to her dance career, Hsin-Yi is a professional martial artist, specializing in Tai-Chi forms. She incorporates her martial arts expertise and knowledge of the subtle, intuitive body into her dance movement practice. She is renowned for her unique movement style that combines Eastern and Western aesthetics, resulting in a style that is strong yet graceful.