Building a stage for creativity
The founding members of Horse Dance Theatre—Chen Wu-kang, Su Wei-chia, Chou Shu-yi, Yang Yumin, and Chien Hua-bao—were all in their twenties at the time and full of youthful exuberance, but behind it all there was tremendous stress and pressure that took strength of will to push through.
In their first year, they had to borrow a variety of spaces to rehearse. Once they even had an estate agent come to check out the space they were practicing in, rented by a friend, before the contract was even up. A group of young men all dressed in leggings made for an awkward scene, so they quickly improvised, pretending to be movers and breaking the tension. During that year, Chen recalls, they couldn’t even pay the troupe, and so a few of them pooled their money for end-of-year red envelopes to make up that year’s pay.
Those early difficulties did nothing to dampen their passion for dance, though. To secure a dedicated rehearsal space, they borrowed money from friends and relatives, rented a place, bought materials, and essentially built a rehearsal area from the ground up. Once they finally had a space of their own, they truly began to realize how important it is for a creator to have somewhere they can go whenever inspiration strikes and turn their ideas into reality.
Once a month, Horse Dance Theatre hosts an experimental performance session called “Primal Chaos.” With dancers invited by Horse and musicians invited by improvisational group Ka Dao Yin, each meeting for the first time on the day and without having rehearsed beforehand, a show unfolds and sparks fly as the dancers let their bodies react instinctively to the music.
Since the first show in 2016, the music has included everything from clarinet trios to electronic effects. Sometimes the dancers use their bodies to tap and clap out the beat, setting the rhythm for the musicians; it is always a show full of unexpected surprises.
For over a decade, Horse Dance Theatre has worked with talent from around the world—the US, Thailand, Israel, and more—to produce pieces like Be Half and 2 Men. Crossing countries, crossing cultures, and combining art forms, Horse Dance Theatre take their passion for dance and let it shine, and they invite all of us to join with them to create a dance of joy.
Chen Wu-kang (left) and Su Wei-chia (right) have known each other for more than 20 years. In their collaboration with the Hong Kong director Edward Lam entitled 2 Men they interpreted their friendship in dance, earning rave reviews.
Horse Dance Theatre has worked with Israeli choreographer Shai Tamir for years, producing spectacular works together.
Chen Wu-kang (left) and Pichet Klunchun (right), similar in looks as well as backgrounds, have come together to comb through their collective perspective on physical history in the piece Be Half.
Bursting with passion for dance, Horse Dance Theatre has invited collaborators from all walks of life to join with them in creating dances of joy.