10:00 A.M. and all is quiet. Where are the students?

You need to stop and listen to hear an allegro piano rhythm, punctuated with a steady 1,2,3 1,2,3 counting out of beats by modern dance students. The sounds come from a Chinese-style szu- ho-yuan, a four-sided building with a center courtyard. Inside you will see students doing a Chinese sword dance, or classical ballet, and others busily taking notes in a theory class.

Each of the four departments of the National Institute of the Arts--dance, music, theater, and fine arts--has its own szu-ho-yuan. The students tend to remain inside their respective department buildings for much of the day, and are not frequently seen outside unless you catch them coming or going.

Early in the morning you may find them tapping away at sculptures, practicing piano scales, or memorizing lines for a play. Unlike other universities, where students are anxious to take in a movie or maybe go hiking in their free time, Institute students practice, practice, and practice some more between classes. Practice is also how they fill their winter and summer breaks; those who don't find the going very rough the next semester!

The National Institute of the Arts is a young school in many respects. It was founded just five years ago, on July 1, 1982. It is the first five-year college in Taiwan whose main goal is to teach and develop modern Chinese arts. The faculty is also young: the average age is 39. Most faculty members have studied abroad, and are at the top of their fields in terms of knowledge, creativity, performing ability, and experience.

The total population of the Institute is under 700, and the emphasis is clearly on quality rather than quantity. Just about everybody knows each other by name. The one-to-five faculty-to-student ratio makes it possible for much of the teaching to be done on an individual basis, or in small groups.

The Institute is presently using temporary facilities, until its own campus is completed some years from now. When completed, the theater department will have professional-standard concert and opera halls, to give students solid stage experience as well as a place for polished performances. There will also be a fully equipped workshop for woodworking, backdrop painting, and preparing other stage needs, and a practice auditorium with full light, sound, and intercom systems. The music department at present has 39 piano practice rooms. The fine arts department has three studios each for watercolor and oil painting, and two sculpture studios. The Institute's facilities, once completed, will all be state-of-the-art, and are certain to be the envy of the art departments of other schools around the island.

The environment just outside of the Institute's present temporary campus, however, leaves much to be desired. It is in an industrial area, and is surrounded by smoke-belching factories and closely spaced apartment buildings. The school is also near a main thoroughfare, which adds to the noise and pollution. The one advantage offered by the area is low rents for student housing.

Local residents, too, seem to have med feelings about the student newcomers. One taxi driver describes them as "weird." He reports having seen someone suddenly start dancing while walking down the street. Others act as though they were performing on stage when carrying on an ordinary conversation. And some get so wrapped up in their thoughts that they don't even notice when they have come to the road, and don't watch for traffic. This last point has the nerves of this particular taxi driver constantly on end! One can only ascribe this peculiar behavior to the total involvement of the students with their art.

The atmosphere at the Institute may be a relaxed one, but course loads are not. At the core of the five-year program are the traditional arts of China and the major art forms of the rest of the world. It is the Institute's goal to work from this core to create and develop modern Chinese arts that unite technique and art, theory and practice, incorporating traditional, modern, Oriental, and Western elements.

A sample of the course offerings in the music department: history of Chinese music, Chinese vocal music, introduction to traditional Chinese musical instruments (these three are required), and cymbals and gongs in Peking opera. Acting Department Chairman Liu Chu-wei believes that many people don't think they like Chinese traditional music simply because they haven't heard much of it. At the National Institute of the Arts, students are "forced" to break through this mental barrier by learning to play at least one traditional instrument well. In almost all cases, students develop a deep appreciation for Chinese music once they begin to study it.

At present, only four students are majoring in a traditional instrument: one is learning the ku ch'in, a seven-stringed zither that was formerly played by the intellectual elite; and three study the p'i-p'a, or Chinese lute. More and more students, however, are discovering the beauty and richness of traditional Chinese music.

One student chose to study the sona, a wind instrument that can make a pretty good imitation of a goose honk. She chose this instrument mainly because she already played the oboe and thought she could save some study and practice time. But the more proficient she became on the sona, the more she began to appreciate its unique range of expression and delightful folksiness. Her previous impression of the sona--a common one--as a raucous, ear-piercing instrument played only at funerals was completely reversed.

Some of the courses offered by the drama department include body movement and vocal performance of Peking opera, history of opera and stage in China, Yuan and Ming Dynasty drama, Chinese local opera, and special topics in traditional opera. Fine arts students are required to study Chinese calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting. Participation in early morning t'ai-chi-ch'uan, or Chinese shadow boxing, is required of all dance department students.

Stringent requirements and heavy course loads mean a high dropout rate. Only 16 of the original 28 freshmen in the dance department have made it to their fourth year. Those who do not seem to "have what it takes" are encouraged to transfer elsewhere. But those who make it become first-rate dancers.

In order to round out the students' programs, classes are also offered in the humanities, such as literature, history, and philosophy.

The school holds numerous exhibits and performances of the fruits of students' work. Many are multimedia, involving students and faculty from all four departments. For example, the Institute recently staged a spectacular performance of an aborigine harvest ritual. Besides dancers, students in fine arts were enlisted to help design and make the costumes, musicians performed the accompaniment, and theater students helped with props and staging.

As may be imagined, more women than men are willing to try to make a career of the arts. Not too many men begin playing the violin or dancing ballet at five, probably out of fear of being labeled a "sissy." To counter this problem, the Institute is attempting to use "affirmative action" to guarantee an equal number of male and female admissions each year.

Interest in the arts is burgeoning on Taiwan, and career prospects for both men and women are brighter than ever before. And the National Institute of the Arts is leading the way in bringing Chinese culture into the twentieth century.

[Picture Caption]

Another quiet morning on the National Institute of the Arts campus.

(above) Theater students reading a script are oblivious to a mangy dog searching for his dinner.

(below) The cats on campus create their own body art.

The music department houses a collection of rare and unusual traditional Chinese musical instruments.

A music student immersed in her art.

(left) Dance teacher Lo Man-fei perks up when talking about her students.

(right) A scene in the modern dance studio.

Dance department students performing Fire Phoenix by Ross Parks.

(left) Passing out fliers advertising the theater production The Orphan of Human Kind.

(right) All sorts of instruments and tools are put to use in the demanding and exacting work of stage design.

A student-run canteen adds an artistic touch to the town of Luchow.

Students freely express their creativity in the center courtyard of the art building. Two inverted bicycles add a note of humor.

Colorful works in the oil painting classroom--the fruits of student labors.

Student rents in the Luchow area are low; these three students share good times in their flat near campus.

（above） Theater students reading a script are oblivious to a mangy dog searching for his dinner.

（below） The cats on campus create their own body art.

The music department houses a collection of rare and unusual traditional Chinese musical instruments.

A music student immersed in her art.

（left） Dance teacher Lo Man-fei perks up when talking about her students.

Dance department students performing Fire Phoenix by Ross Parks.

（right） A scene in the modern dance studio.

（left） Passing out fliers advertising the theater production The Orphan of Human Kind.

（right） All sorts of instruments and tools are put to use in the demanding and exacting work of stage design.

A student-run canteen adds an artistic touch to the town of Luchow.

Students freely express their creativity in the center courtyard of the art building. Two inverted bicycles add a note of humor.

Colorful works in the oil painting classroom--the fruits of student labors.

Student rents in the Luchow area are low; these three students share good times in their flat near campus.