Traversing slowly through the foggy room to find my seat, Taiwan Season: Monster by Yen-Cheng Liu was an experience from the onset. Creative, evocative, uncomfortable, boundary pushing – This is the kind of work I came to the Fringe to experience.
Afterwards, Liu was very approachable and open to share about his art. Although created in 2017, this is his first time touring with this piece. Liu, an acclaimed international dancer, explained that he reached a point in his dance career where he began to seriously question why he was dancing? “What was the point of dancing?” This work reflects those explorations as he experiments with space and time in unusual and interesting ways. He says that this is a “movement piece” versus a dance piece. Liu explained how he likes that in some Chinese landscape paintings you see mountains on each side of the picture and a big open space between. The concept is reflected in his work. His actual dance movements were captivating. I walked away wanting more! MORE! And needing to think and take it all in. I love that. I love that the Fringe is the place he decided to allow a very non-traditional piece the space. Isn’t that what the Fringe should be about after all?