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“Varhung~Heart to Heart” is a creative work based on the traditional Paiwan dance, transforming the form of one unity of the Paiwan dance and music into a contemporary body language. The dance movements were designed based on the songs, and the songs were written based on the dance movements, enriching the physical performances of the dancers on stage. Baru, the choreographer, designed the movement elements for this dance work with shell gingers, which are very important in tribal lives, in mind. The tribal people brought the dancers to the mountains to pick shell gingers. “All the detailed movements during this process, such as picking, drying, and pealing layer by layer became the movement elements in this work.” The dancers presented their performances at one go on stage. During the performance, every once in a while the rhythms of the four-step dance and the chanting and singing to go with the dance steps could be found. Everything, from steps, to dances, to singing, and to drama, was presented in such an intense way with strong impacts on the audience’s hearts.
This dance work aimed to have an intimate talk with the audience. The dancers were totally devoted and gave away their deepest secrets through singing, dancing, and speaking. Baru expected that this work can remind the audience their own emotional stories buried deep inside them a long time ago, and further achieve the goal of healing. One of the audience said, “the dancers’ crying and performances were intense with strong vitality, healing those unspeakable loss. The fast falling of the shell ginger leaves eliminated all the loads on the mind in a split second.” This work showed the dancers’ attitudes of firmness and restraining and is a majestic work with depth.
In this work, choreographer Baru Madiljin projects the performers into listeners and speakers. They keep on asking anemaq (what) and makudja (what happened)? These two words run through the whole dance, when the characters ask about each others’ depression in life and difficulty in love. We are always willing to listen to others talk about the things on their minds. Yet, we have no one to talk to. It is hoped that this work can be a channel for people to unburden themselves.
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What are forest compartment songs?
It is very common that workers in the forestry industry must live in a block house with other workers and cannot go home for months. At night, during their leisure time, they would play their guitars and sing. Most of these workers are young indigenous people. And the songs created by workers together in forest compartments are called forest compartment songs. They were the cradle of the creative songs written by indigenous people in the early days.
“Forest compartment songs” sing about indigenous people’s joys and sorrows and the transformation from the lives of barter, hunting, and farming, to the modern life of money. Indigenous people express their feelings through “forest compartment songs”. They directly sing about their internal pains and depressions. That’s why forest compartment songs are so touching.
The “forest compartment song” sung by the dancers during the show was a song created in the old days when the tribal people worked away from home and found out that their partners had already met someone else.
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The first song : What Should I Do Without You? (solo)
The second song : It’s Not My Fault to Fall In Love with You. (solo)
This dance work aimed to have an intimate talk with the audience. The dancers were totally devoted and gave away their deepest secrets through singing, dancing, and speaking. Baru expected that this work can remind the audience their own emotional stories buried deep inside them a long time ago, and further achieve the goal of healing. One of the audience said, “the dancers’ crying and performances were intense with strong vitality, healing those unspeakable loss. The fast falling of the shell ginger leaves eliminated all the loads on the mind in a split second.” This work showed the dancers’ attitudes of firmness and restraining and is a majestic work with depth.
In this work, choreographer Baru Madiljin projects the performers into listeners and speakers. They keep on asking anemaq (what) and makudja (what happened)? These two words run through the whole dance, when the characters ask about each others’ depression in life and difficulty in love. We are always willing to listen to others talk about the things on their minds. Yet, we have no one to talk to. It is hoped that this work can be a channel for people to unburden themselves.
-
What are forest compartment songs?
It is very common that workers in the forestry industry must live in a block house with other workers and cannot go home for months. At night, during their leisure time, they would play their guitars and sing. Most of these workers are young indigenous people. And the songs created by workers together in forest compartments are called forest compartment songs. They were the cradle of the creative songs written by indigenous people in the early days.
“Forest compartment songs” sing about indigenous people’s joys and sorrows and the transformation from the lives of barter, hunting, and farming, to the modern life of money. Indigenous people express their feelings through “forest compartment songs”. They directly sing about their internal pains and depressions. That’s why forest compartment songs are so touching.
The “forest compartment song” sung by the dancers during the show was a song created in the old days when the tribal people worked away from home and found out that their partners had already met someone else.
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The first song : What Should I Do Without You? (solo)
The second song : It’s Not My Fault to Fall In Love with You. (solo)
Production Team
Artistic Director ｜Ljuzem Madiljin
Choreographer｜Baru Madiljin
Performer｜Chu-Yuan Hsu, Ching-Hao Yang, Ljaucu Dapukarac, Tzu-En Meng, Amale Gadhu
Costume Designer｜Baru Madiljin
Technical Director and Lighting Design｜Yu-Cheng Lin
Stage Manger ｜Bo-Wei Chen
Costume Producer｜Amy Mind
Make-up Designer｜Chien-Hwei Lin
Graphic Photographer｜Jhao-Lun Huang
Graphic Design｜Tjimur Dance Theatre
Photographer｜Jhao-Lun Huang (Pingtung), Sandy Ouyang (Taipei)
Company Manger ｜Shu-Ting Chiu
International Affairs Coordinator｜ I-Hsuan Li
Choreographer｜Baru Madiljin
Performer｜Chu-Yuan Hsu, Ching-Hao Yang, Ljaucu Dapukarac, Tzu-En Meng, Amale Gadhu
Costume Designer｜Baru Madiljin
Technical Director and Lighting Design｜Yu-Cheng Lin
Stage Manger ｜Bo-Wei Chen
Costume Producer｜Amy Mind
Make-up Designer｜Chien-Hwei Lin
Graphic Photographer｜Jhao-Lun Huang
Graphic Design｜Tjimur Dance Theatre
Photographer｜Jhao-Lun Huang (Pingtung), Sandy Ouyang (Taipei)
Company Manger ｜Shu-Ting Chiu
International Affairs Coordinator｜ I-Hsuan Li
Event
Premiere in 2017
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2019 Invited to perform in Vancouver International Dance Festival, Canada2019 invited to perform in Brighton Festival, UK
2019 Invited to perform in Identities International Festival of Performing Arts in the Atacama Desert, Chile
2018 Nominated in Total Theatre & The Place Award for Dance by Total Theatre Award
2018 Selected to perform in Seoul International Choreography Dance Festival, Korea
2018 Selected to perform in Edinburgh Festival Fringe, UK
2018 Selected to perform in Festival off d'Avignon, France
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2019 Invited to perform in Vancouver International Dance Festival, Canada2019 invited to perform in Brighton Festival, UK
2019 Invited to perform in Identities International Festival of Performing Arts in the Atacama Desert, Chile
2018 Nominated in Total Theatre & The Place Award for Dance by Total Theatre Award
2018 Selected to perform in Seoul International Choreography Dance Festival, Korea
2018 Selected to perform in Edinburgh Festival Fringe, UK
2018 Selected to perform in Festival off d'Avignon, France
Reviews
"Yesterday and today sit down at the table, shoulder to shoulder."
- Le Monde / Rosita Boisseau
"A Bouquet of Magnificently Beautiful “Heaven Flowers” Presented by Tjimur Dance Theatre."
- Le Figaro / Ariane
Nomination for Total Theatre Award-Dance Category
“Its gentle but strong energy is appealing, and I feel a window has been opened to invite me to look in on a culture I know very little about.”
- Total Theatre / Dorothy Max Prior
“Varhung- Heart to Heart will touch your heart. A mesmerizing experience of exquisitely melded indigenous and contemporary dance.”
- The Broadway Baby / Stephanie Green ★★★★★
“It has a mesmerising quality that borders on hypnotic. Tjimur Dance Theatre uses contemporary choreography to focus on the traditions and cultures of Taiwan’s indigenous people.”
- The Scotsman / Kelly Apter ★★★★
"It’s mesmerizing. This is fine work, fine dance, fine visual storytelling. Highly Recommended!" ——Fringe Review/Jo Tomlain
- Fringe Review / Jo Tomalin 【Highly Recommonded】
“Varhung - Heart to Heart is dance that means something vital to its own culture, and also something rather special to us.”
- The Herald / Mary Brennan ★★★★
“Varhung- Heart to Heart will touch your heart. A mesmerizing experience of exquisitely melded indigenous and contemporary dance, it is choreographed by Baru Madiljin of Tjimur Dance Theatre, whose explicit aim is to preserve and transform the Taiwanese minority Paiwan people’s culture into an expressive body language for today.”
- Taiwan Today
“The songs are beautiful and haunting and the three dancers give a virtuoso performance in what may be one of the most unique physical and aural performances at the Fringe this year.”
- The wee Review / Max Scratchmann ★★★★★
"Even more remarkable is the physical and emotional levels of the incredibly committed performers. For the full fifty minutes, Varhung is non-stop, the score following the power of the choreography as it becomes increasingly percussive."
- Seeing Dance / David Mead ★★★★★
“Heart to Hear-Varhung is a rewarding harvest.”
- London Evening Standard / Emma Bryne ★★★★
"Shaking up the customs and usages, they invite one through their ballet, whether the As Four Step or Vahrung - heart to heart [this year], to a motionless journey out of time or space, a walk in the heart of their emotion, of their tradition. These are performances to enjoy, to live!
- L’Oeil d’Olivier / Olivier Fregaville
”Vahrung - heart to heart”They used dance to express their innermost thoughts, which they couldn’t say. And they won the audience’s warm response, and the applause continued...
- Central News Agency, Yi-Hsuan, Tseng
"The songs, the voices fuse together to form a wild and contagious ritual, a contemporary ceremony, issued from the depth of a little known culture."
- Geneviève-Charras / Geneviève-Charras
"These young people also know how to dance "contemporary", and they prove it in a very beautiful finale both danced and sung."
- La Provence / Daniele Carraz
"Above all harmony, beauty and delicacy, a festive choreography to illustrate the harvesting, it is not just any old expression, they respect the succession of the steps intoning the chants. A very aesthetic show not to be missed !"
- Théâtre passion / Anne Delaleu
"Heart to heart" is like "As Four Steps" as one ethnic Paiwan dance looks like another, and also does not look like it. It is a trip of an hour to the antipodes; above all do not deny yourself the pleasure! Cathartic..."
- Envrak / Jean Barak
"The three dancers, are very different from each other, but with an impressive tonicity, rigor and harmony...These choreographies signed by Baru Madiljin pay homage to the culture of these aboriginal people from Taiwan."
- La revue du spectacle / Bruno Fougniès
"Anchored in the ground and driven by a godlike mystical force they draw the audience into the emotional whirl of their dance steps leading in crescendo to the exhaustion of body and senses."
- RMTnews International / Diane Vandermolina
"The wonderful ballet of the three Taiwanese dancers who revisit here the tradition of the Paiwan aboriginal community radiates the collision of “hearts” and the resulting permanent emotional flow. Intertwined body, voice and music reveal gracefully this continuous effervescence."
- I/O Gazette / Lola Salem
"The choreography has charm and vibrancy, the dancers are accomplished, and the result is a fascinating fusion of traditional inspiration and contemporary dance idiom."
- The Komisar Scoop / Komisar Scoop
“In the tipsy state while stepping left and right, the dancers led the audience to peek at the haze of worry locked deep inside. However, this work did not reveal any specific plot or secret buried deep inside. Instead, it created a twilight zone between reality and fantasy.”
- Vivian HSU / Performing Arts Review
“More spine and shoulder blade movements were used to create horizontal gurgling motions, extending to the shoulders, arms, wrists, and palms. Through vibrations, drawing circles, and motions, the theme of handicrafts woven using shell ginger was cleverly caught. In the ancient chanting and silent ravings, there was a layer hidden below of strong emotions being taken out.”
- Yu Cheng WANG / Performing Arts Review
“The traditional style can still be seen in the choreography, with movements such as hands holding together, stable and low steps, transition from individuals to groups, and split of groups into individuals. In fact, the four people holding hands represents a complete cycle, showing that they are interwoven and willing to open their hearts to each other.”
- Yu Xuan XIE / Performing Arts Review
- Le Monde / Rosita Boisseau
"A Bouquet of Magnificently Beautiful “Heaven Flowers” Presented by Tjimur Dance Theatre."
- Le Figaro / Ariane
Nomination for Total Theatre Award-Dance Category
“Its gentle but strong energy is appealing, and I feel a window has been opened to invite me to look in on a culture I know very little about.”
- Total Theatre / Dorothy Max Prior
“Varhung- Heart to Heart will touch your heart. A mesmerizing experience of exquisitely melded indigenous and contemporary dance.”
- The Broadway Baby / Stephanie Green ★★★★★
“It has a mesmerising quality that borders on hypnotic. Tjimur Dance Theatre uses contemporary choreography to focus on the traditions and cultures of Taiwan’s indigenous people.”
- The Scotsman / Kelly Apter ★★★★
"It’s mesmerizing. This is fine work, fine dance, fine visual storytelling. Highly Recommended!" ——Fringe Review/Jo Tomlain
- Fringe Review / Jo Tomalin 【Highly Recommonded】
“Varhung - Heart to Heart is dance that means something vital to its own culture, and also something rather special to us.”
- The Herald / Mary Brennan ★★★★
“Varhung- Heart to Heart will touch your heart. A mesmerizing experience of exquisitely melded indigenous and contemporary dance, it is choreographed by Baru Madiljin of Tjimur Dance Theatre, whose explicit aim is to preserve and transform the Taiwanese minority Paiwan people’s culture into an expressive body language for today.”
- Taiwan Today
“The songs are beautiful and haunting and the three dancers give a virtuoso performance in what may be one of the most unique physical and aural performances at the Fringe this year.”
- The wee Review / Max Scratchmann ★★★★★
"Even more remarkable is the physical and emotional levels of the incredibly committed performers. For the full fifty minutes, Varhung is non-stop, the score following the power of the choreography as it becomes increasingly percussive."
- Seeing Dance / David Mead ★★★★★
“Heart to Hear-Varhung is a rewarding harvest.”
- London Evening Standard / Emma Bryne ★★★★
"Shaking up the customs and usages, they invite one through their ballet, whether the As Four Step or Vahrung - heart to heart [this year], to a motionless journey out of time or space, a walk in the heart of their emotion, of their tradition. These are performances to enjoy, to live!
- L’Oeil d’Olivier / Olivier Fregaville
”Vahrung - heart to heart”They used dance to express their innermost thoughts, which they couldn’t say. And they won the audience’s warm response, and the applause continued...
- Central News Agency, Yi-Hsuan, Tseng
"The songs, the voices fuse together to form a wild and contagious ritual, a contemporary ceremony, issued from the depth of a little known culture."
- Geneviève-Charras / Geneviève-Charras
"These young people also know how to dance "contemporary", and they prove it in a very beautiful finale both danced and sung."
- La Provence / Daniele Carraz
"Above all harmony, beauty and delicacy, a festive choreography to illustrate the harvesting, it is not just any old expression, they respect the succession of the steps intoning the chants. A very aesthetic show not to be missed !"
- Théâtre passion / Anne Delaleu
"Heart to heart" is like "As Four Steps" as one ethnic Paiwan dance looks like another, and also does not look like it. It is a trip of an hour to the antipodes; above all do not deny yourself the pleasure! Cathartic..."
- Envrak / Jean Barak
"The three dancers, are very different from each other, but with an impressive tonicity, rigor and harmony...These choreographies signed by Baru Madiljin pay homage to the culture of these aboriginal people from Taiwan."
- La revue du spectacle / Bruno Fougniès
"Anchored in the ground and driven by a godlike mystical force they draw the audience into the emotional whirl of their dance steps leading in crescendo to the exhaustion of body and senses."
- RMTnews International / Diane Vandermolina
"The wonderful ballet of the three Taiwanese dancers who revisit here the tradition of the Paiwan aboriginal community radiates the collision of “hearts” and the resulting permanent emotional flow. Intertwined body, voice and music reveal gracefully this continuous effervescence."
- I/O Gazette / Lola Salem
"The choreography has charm and vibrancy, the dancers are accomplished, and the result is a fascinating fusion of traditional inspiration and contemporary dance idiom."
- The Komisar Scoop / Komisar Scoop
“In the tipsy state while stepping left and right, the dancers led the audience to peek at the haze of worry locked deep inside. However, this work did not reveal any specific plot or secret buried deep inside. Instead, it created a twilight zone between reality and fantasy.”
- Vivian HSU / Performing Arts Review
“More spine and shoulder blade movements were used to create horizontal gurgling motions, extending to the shoulders, arms, wrists, and palms. Through vibrations, drawing circles, and motions, the theme of handicrafts woven using shell ginger was cleverly caught. In the ancient chanting and silent ravings, there was a layer hidden below of strong emotions being taken out.”
- Yu Cheng WANG / Performing Arts Review
“The traditional style can still be seen in the choreography, with movements such as hands holding together, stable and low steps, transition from individuals to groups, and split of groups into individuals. In fact, the four people holding hands represents a complete cycle, showing that they are interwoven and willing to open their hearts to each other.”
- Yu Xuan XIE / Performing Arts Review
Timeline
2018.12.15 Seoul International Choreography Dance Festival - Arko Arts Theatre
2018.8/3-8/26 Edinburgh Festival Frainge - Dance Base
2018.7/6-7/29 Festival off d'Avignon - Théâtre Condition des Soies
2017.11.3 Taiepi Wellspring Theatre
2017.11.4 Taiepi Wellspring Theatre
2017.11.5 Taiepi Wellspring Theatre
2017.11.17 Pingtung Performing Arts Center
2017.11.18 Pingtung Performing Arts Center
2017.11.19 Pingtung Performing Arts Center
2018.8/3-8/26 Edinburgh Festival Frainge - Dance Base
2018.7/6-7/29 Festival off d'Avignon - Théâtre Condition des Soies
2017.11.3 Taiepi Wellspring Theatre
2017.11.4 Taiepi Wellspring Theatre
2017.11.5 Taiepi Wellspring Theatre
2017.11.17 Pingtung Performing Arts Center
2017.11.18 Pingtung Performing Arts Center
2017.11.19 Pingtung Performing Arts Center