Dance
2026 Maoli Performing Arts Festival "The Empty Seat in Front of the Stage" (2 Performances)
The Interweaving of Hakka Seasons and the Stage
"The Empty Seat in Front of the Stage" - Echoes of Hakka Dance and Mountain Songs This work constructs a stage space that integrates farming routines, mountain song singing, and folk opera through the interweaving of the changing seasons and stage culture. Through the dancers' bodies, poetic singing, and the form of Hakka mountain song theater, it attempts to integrate traditional vocal styles and rhythms with modern performing arts, establishing a new vocabulary for dialogue with the younger generation.
Creatively, it incorporates classic Hakka folk songs and contemporary dance textures, presenting the resilience and vitality of Hakka culture. By aesthetically translating the echoes of Hakka dance and mountain songs, tradition is not only preserved but also re-understood and given voice in a contemporary context.
The Contemporary Situation of Cultural Erosion
Taiwan's traditional Hakka opera culture once flourished alongside farming seasons and festivals. However, under the influence of urbanization, population mobility, and the prevalence of cross-media entertainment, the traditional culture of "watching opera" has gradually declined. Both theater audiences and future talent face loss and discontinuity. This performance uses the metaphor of the audience member "Chen Shih-yun (陳仕雲)" washed away by a flood, symbolizing the crisis of the audience's gradual absence and the disappearance of cultural carriers. When "no one wants to watch," culture loses its reason for existence.
We explore: When culture is no longer part of life, how does it maintain its existence?
How can the power of art enable culture to continue breathing between inheritance and innovation, forming a sustainable cultural life cycle.
"The Empty Seat in Front of the Stage" - Echoes of Hakka Dance and Mountain Songs This work constructs a stage space that integrates farming routines, mountain song singing, and folk opera through the interweaving of the changing seasons and stage culture. Through the dancers' bodies, poetic singing, and the form of Hakka mountain song theater, it attempts to integrate traditional vocal styles and rhythms with modern performing arts, establishing a new vocabulary for dialogue with the younger generation.
Creatively, it incorporates classic Hakka folk songs and contemporary dance textures, presenting the resilience and vitality of Hakka culture. By aesthetically translating the echoes of Hakka dance and mountain songs, tradition is not only preserved but also re-understood and given voice in a contemporary context.
The Contemporary Situation of Cultural Erosion
Taiwan's traditional Hakka opera culture once flourished alongside farming seasons and festivals. However, under the influence of urbanization, population mobility, and the prevalence of cross-media entertainment, the traditional culture of "watching opera" has gradually declined. Both theater audiences and future talent face loss and discontinuity. This performance uses the metaphor of the audience member "Chen Shih-yun (陳仕雲)" washed away by a flood, symbolizing the crisis of the audience's gradual absence and the disappearance of cultural carriers. When "no one wants to watch," culture loses its reason for existence.
We explore: When culture is no longer part of life, how does it maintain its existence?
How can the power of art enable culture to continue breathing between inheritance and innovation, forming a sustainable cultural life cycle.
Event Details
- 2026-08-29 — 苗栗縣政府文化觀光局 · 票價+300;票價+500