Featured Report
Post-Pandemic Art: Outdoor Performances as Innovative Travel Destinations
All art events in Taiwan have now been suspended due to the pandemic. How will they revive quickly in the future? Integrating beautiful scenery and art, outdoor performances are a great choice for those who enjoy the fresh air, open stage, and nature.
Of all destinations in Taiwan, Yilan, Hualian, and Taitung are the most travelers’ favorite due to their beautiful sceneries, low-pollution environment, simple lifestyle, and friendly locals. Many people visit these places multiple times. Naturally, these areas become top choices when new ideas come out of the arts field. Integrating arts and tourism results in a new recreational experience for tourists and art lovers.
The Sword in the Lake at Mingchi Lake by Tendrum Percussion Group: Ecology + Performing Arts
The internationally renowned Tendrum Art Percussion Group from Tainan was founded in 2000. The group has over 20 years’ worth of experience and has done water-based stage productions for over a decade. Having done tens of thousands of performances all over the world, it has been nominated for the Grammy Award, Independent Music Award, and Taiwan’s Golden Melody Award.
This year, Tendrum goes to Yilan for the first time and collaborates with Lealea Group to transform Mingchi Lake within the Lealea Makauy Ecological Park into an environmental theater that emphasizes the natural connection between the ecological environment and performing arts. The result is the brand-new, customized percussion musical, The Sword in the Lake.
Yilan’s Mingchi has been called the Pearl of the North; it’s an unworldly paradise with ridge upon ridge of forests. Tendrum has been nicknamed the Swordsmen of the East. The musical The Sword in the Lake combines the design concepts of “ink well, calligraphy, and dead trees” and the imagery of the solitude of a swordsman in the mountains. These three elements are juxtaposed with the giant trees in the surrounding. The program contains eight sections. Each uses a different performance technique, and all of them bring music that touches the listeners’ hearts. The audience sits at the shore, surrounded by mist and the everchanging scenery, and watches the performers proudly move amid the landscape and wave their swords in the water as if writing calligraphy. It is an unparalleled artistic feast!
To support art in Taiwan, Lion Travel has the exclusive distribution right to ticket sales to the Mingchi Lake—The Swords in the Lake shows. Travelers will watch the international-level art performance in person at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters. Unlike in the past, where only ticket sales and shuttles were provided, Lion Travel now takes the advantage of a group marketing channel and offers a series of 1-day to 4-day itineraries that include the ticket, transportations, lodging, self-tour passes, and other packages. The art performance is not just a show, but a complete and high-end tour package.
Following the government’s pandemic prevention measures, the original six shows in June have been postponed to 9/24, 9/25, 9/26, 10/1, 10/2, and 10/3 this year.
For details, contact Lion Travel Ticket Sales at https://reurl.cc/xg4251
The East Coast Is Even More Fun with the Land Art Festival’s Moonlight Sea Concerts
The East Coast Land Art Festival has been well received since its debut in 2015. It integrates landscape and culture and showcases local arts through the exchange between artists and tribal residents. This year, the festival further extends the event to include an “art and culture platform” that links together the local program series in Hualian and Taitung, “Open Studio“ and “Art Series,” from April to November (suspended during May and June due to the Level 3 Epidemic Alert). A major highlight of the annual event is the Moonlight Sea Concerts that incorporates the moonrise, which is unique to the east coast.
The Moonlight Sea Concerts has an exciting and multifaceted content with a leisurely and romantic atmosphere. The administration’s Duli campus is designed as an outdoor space for professional performances embedded in nature. There will be seven concerts this year with a wide range of themes: “Island of the Summer solstice, Song of Hope,” “Island’s Mother, Ocean’s Son,” “Mountains and Ocean as One,” “the Dance of Dawn and Moonlight,” “Mountains and Ocean and Music of All Things,” “Trekking toward the Light of the Sea,” and “Harmony of Mountains and Ocean, Love Goes On”. The artists invited to perform include Amis Kakeng, Misa, Genio Dance Group, Sangpuy, WeArt Performing Arts Platform, i’unu, Sang Mei-Chuan, Matzka, Mango Jump, Biung, ufa, Balai, Enno Cheng, Andrew Mao, Ciwas Losin, Mafana, Sheng Xiang & Band, Hsieh Ming-Yu, Bulareyaung Dance Company, Jérome Chassagnard, Ceko, Suming, etc.
For the first time in these events, a ticketed concert will be held. The “Mountains and Ocean as One” concert on July 24th is created this year to raise the value and quality of the concerts. The performers are Michelle Pan, Accusefive, Sun Of Morning, Your Woman Sleep With Others, and TOTEM. These musicians are sure to please audiences of all ages and preferences.
The Director of East Coast Scenic Area Administration, Lin Weiling, says that the worsening of the pandemic has prompted the Land Art Festival to delay until July 22. The seven concerts are rescheduled to 7/22, 7/23, 7/24, 8/22, 8/23, 9/21, and 9/22.
Lin also says that while many people like to welcome the new dawn in Taitung, the temperature rises quickly after sunrise, and it can be too hot to stay outside for long. She recommends visitors attend the Moonlight Sea Concerts. The audience can sit on the hillside and watch the moon rise out of the Pacific Ocean, starting as a small red dot and gradually turning into a big, silver full moon. Listening to beautiful music and watching the moon-lit sea is a treat for both the ears and the eyes.
For details, contact East Coast Land Art Festival at www.teclandart.tw/zh/home.
Yilan’s Volando Satoyama: A Trip of the Spirit, Art, and Culture in the Northeast
As international travel is ill-advised now, a great option is to head northeast for a short trip that connects the spirit, art, and culture.
The greater northeast corner of Taiwan has many scenic areas that speak to the soul. A good example is Yilan’s Volando Satoyama Resort, a recreational farm that co-exists with nature. It provides a recreational space and travel experience that let the traveler rest the body, quiet the heart, and soothe the soul. Surrounded by the mountains and the sea, one can enjoy being as one with nature. The artistic performances let you embrace nature as you reflect on the rituals of life as the drums beat on. Watching Breaking Emptiness, a drum show that uses the Pacific Ocean as the backdrop and the hilltop alfresco café as the stage, the audience is moved by the natural aesthetics and comes to a deeper understanding of life.
Through the art director’s vision, the feelings, knowledge, and inspirations that the performing group received from the satoyama nature are condensed into five representations that echo the spirit of the land. These performances are presented amid forests and creeks. Through the epic genre, they speak of the passionate stories of the people and the land and how nature embraces life.
啟示整合行銷 