The Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, one of the partner institutions of the Ministry of Culture's Spotlight Taiwan project, organized a series of Taiwan-related events between Dec. 2 and 7. Dubbed one of the art center's year-end highlights, "Made in Taiwan — Taiwan in el Circulo” offered a variety of programs featuring Taiwan's cinema, music, and dance.
Taiwan's arts and culture have reached a mature development stage, said the center. To increase the Spanish audience's understanding of Taiwan's culture, the center held an arts festival featuring the Chang Dance Theater (長弓舞蹈劇場), singer-song writer Suming (舒米恩), and Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢), three representatives of Taiwan's different arts.
The event opened with the Chang Dance Theater's 2014 work, "Fabrication,” a fusion of modern dance and magic that discusses how people in today's bustling world can restore their interpersonal relations.
Aboriginal singer Suming then performed traditional Amis music and his own style that combines indigenous music with jazz and even techno.
The art center also highlighted award-winning Taiwanese director Hou, screening six of his films in 14 sessions to introduce Taiwanese society through Hou's lens.
In addition, the Chang Dance Theater held a joint workshop with Spanish choreographer Carlos Chamorro, while Suming sang in a concert with local indie folk singer Lorena Alvarez. Roberto Cueto, an Asian film expert in Spain, also hosted a seminar to discuss Hou's role in Taiwanese cinema history.
Co-organized by Taiwan's representative office in Spain and the Circulo center, the "Made in Taiwan — Taiwan in el Circulo” program is part of the global Spotlight Taiwan project, which is sponsored by Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin (尹衍樑) and supervised by the Ministry of Culture.