2022TAF: A Room by the Sea

Ready. On your toes. Into the room with a sea view.

Developed since 2020 in the Festival ‘Think Bar’ platform, SHE is a dialogue by Yeh Ming-Hwa between female icons of dance history and her own reflections as a Taiwan-trained dancer-choreographer. In its final iteration this year, A Room by the Sea sums up her encounters and sets on a transversal sojourn along and across time and space.

With dance, pre-recorded images, and objects, the work maps out a space where the dancer practises. But it could also be a film set, a mental chamber, or simply a room by the sea. Ming-Hwa is sometimes a persona of the story, sometimes a narrator, and also a silent chronicler. The shimmering sea view is at once a horizon of disappearance and creation, diving into memory, desire and self-making.

Yeh Ming-Hwa, Taiwan

Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Ming-Hwa received her BFA in Dance from Taipei National University of Arts in 2006. Songshan Creative Park commissioned her to create Nordic in 2015 and 17 Years Cicada in 2018. She created The Serene Gallery Performance X Exhibition in MoNTUE Museum in 2017. She was commissioned by Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art, Taiwan in 2018 and 2019. Ming-Hwa received a fellowship from Asian Culture Council (ACC) to conduct her research in Japan in 2018. She took up the role of stage direction in Jérôme Bel's The show must go on in Taipei Arts Festival in 2019. In 2019-2020 she was invited in Museum of Human Emotions Project, presented by Centro per la Scena Contemporanea, Bassano del Grappa (IT), La Briqueterie CDCN, Val-de Marne (FR), Saison Foundation, Tokyo, Japan and National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The House Behind the Wall was commissioned by Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan at Wang Da Hong House Theatre in 2020 and won the Grand Prize of 19th Taishin Arts Award in 2021. Pink Smile was commissioned by National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 2020. Her latest work-in-progress SHE & SHE_O.S. was commissioned by Taipei Performing Arts Center in THINK BAR of 2020 & 2021 Taipei Arts Festival and co-produced by BIT Teatergarasjen