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WORKS REVIEWS
Ten Solo Landscapes｜Concert Reviews｜Prepare the Princess｜
Ten Solo Landscapes
 ---A production of 10 distinct choreographers/soloists (1999)
How could a Modern Dance work being presented in a limited 6 x 6 ft . stage space? How could a poetic outdoor garden become a theater stage? The Sun-Shier Dance Theatre, the place where lots of young choreographers gather and work, has bravely tried a new dance form and stood out proudly among many different modern dance companies in Taiwan . The production “Ten Solo Landscapes” has became as if the records of conversations with the human body that projected free and creative ideas by10 different choreographers.
It's full of fun to see “Ten Solo Landscapes”. Taking a point of view from the project itself, I saw a production that was shown in two separated weekends, and the corporation of two different uses of space that emphasized on the Outdoor Garden and Indoor Concert. (T he theater stage of Hang Tang Yuefu Classical Music Institute and its rehearsal room as the indoor space while the outdoor space was taken at the garden in the roof of the buildings.) The above has already made this production affluently. If talking further about how every space was fully utilized by each different choreographer, this production could literally be portrayed in two clear and separated themes. However, with everything being placed all together at the same time, it brought another taste that one could see the contrast and comparison within it. I have to say that this production is rarely seen in the modern dance concerts nowadays, if speaking of how well the production was planed and managed to achieve its attempt that revealed a new dance form.
Concert Reviews 
The Magic Mirror (Selected Article)
What I saw in “Mirrors” from the Sun-Shier Dance Theatre
Arts magazine, the 108 th Publication by Ru-I Mo
“Mirrors” reflect the inner thoughts of female Taiwanese choreographer s whose age is in the early 30s'. The “reflections” also correspond to the choreographers' backgrounds and theatrical experiences influenced by the culture they experienced in Western Society.
The Sun-Shier Dance Theatre is going to dance on a proscenium stage this year. “Mirrors,” the production based on the use of mirrors, reflects the distinct characteristic of the company itself. To be more exact, the “reflections” from the mirrors could suggest the inner thoughts of the choreographers, Hsiu-Ping Chang and Pi-Jung Wu; or could be the “reflections” and the insights from young female choreographers in Taiwan .
The Chinese name of the dance is a transliteration of the English word “mirrors” connotes fantasy and romance. The whole idea is presented in six parts -- “Jacqueline,” Inside Out,” “Rippling,” “Hairy Problem,” “Rotating,” and “Feeding Machine.”
While the choreographers worked on this production, both primarily intended to create a theme that depicted the characteristics of female's self-privacy and intimacy. Via the use of mirrors as the media to express the theme, it successfully and thoroughly “reflected” the complexities of choreographers' inner thoughts. It also clearly and openly “reflected” the plural personalities of each individual. The choreographic skills and structures in “Mirrors” have strode over the stereotype of choreography and built many dimensions of females' inner side within an unifying choreographic theme.
Looking at the production of “Mirrors” as a whole, one can see clearly how hard the Sun-Shier Dance Theatre has worked since the very beginning. Speaking of the choreography, dancers, light/stage design, music and costume, this production was above the standard. Knowing that every member in this production is a professional and experienced artist who consistently devotes her/himself to the performing arts, it's delightful to see how these young generation choreographers gradually take themselves to a mature and artistic level.
Prepare the Princess
In the eyes of Taiwanese, the term “princess” may suggest that the beauty who is waiting for the rescue from a prince, it may also possibly refer to those prostitutes who are being undertaken in the society. Productions from Sun-Shier Dance Theatre have always taking the themes that express females' self-awareness and self-caring. “Prepare the Princess” was another example that left the free space for the audience to wonder about the ambiguous sense of the term “princess” and the “fantasy” in this dramatic production.
“Prepare the Princess” presented by Sun-Shier Dance Theatre from last year, I thought that was the most vivid and exciting performance of the year. A compact dance company that is only 5 years old which productions have always revealing the deep insight of human beings and its capability of managing a massive program can not be ignored. Simply named the production with the word “stage” as subtitle, it gives the plenty of spaces for the audiences to think what does the word mean in the dance. “Prepare the Princess”, a work that contains with 9 different choreographic styles, has cutting into many facets based on the ideas of each individual. The ambition and imagery that appearently showed in “Prepare the Princess” have quickly stirred up my great attention to this company.
--- Intelligent Women (Selected Article) Performing Arts Internet Magazine, August 1 st , 2003 by Chi-Mu Tsu o
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