Acting school
Thinking back to the poverty of his early days at NTCPA, Pan jokes, “I was so poor I was ready to jump off a building.” He attended classes during the day, practiced hard at night, and spent his remaining scraps of free time working odd jobs. Even so, he often had to rely on family and friends to scrape by.
His age was even more of an obstacle. Pan was seven years older than his classmates and entering the field late. Most of his peers had started in the performing arts track as elementary schoolers and already had a solid foundation in the necessary skills. Both older and less limber, Pan found that hard work wasn’t enough to close the gap, and dreaded his practicums.
Fortunately, he was more interested in dan roles, which usually emphasize dignified deportment rather than martial skills. Aware that Peking Opera requires apptitude in four “arts” (singing, dialogue, dancing and martial arts) and aware of his deficiencies in three of them, Pan resolved to focus intently on his singing.
Four years later, he completed this stage of his improbable opera adventure by finishing his degree.
Dano Pan (left) is one of Taiwan’s very few nandan (male performers of female roles).