- Name: 翃舞製作
- Year of Establishment: 2017
- Founder: Lai Hung-chung (賴翃中)
- Did You Know That …?
- Artistic Director Lai boldly invites both Taiwanese and foreign choreographers to produce original dance pieces for Hung Dance, which have led to crowd-pleasing and intriguing productions. One of these international collaborations was "Out of Elegant (優雅之外)" with Marcat Dance.
- Site: www.hungdance.com
Hung Dance (翃舞製作) is a contemporary dance troupe founded in 2017 by up-and-coming choreographer and dancer Lai Hung-chung (賴翃中). In Mandarin, the character "Hung (翃)" symbolizes soaring into the sky. Inspired by traditional cultural elements and modern dance techniques, the emerging troupe has garnered increasing recognition in Taiwan and abroad, receiving invitations to participate in international choreography contests and dance festivals.
Lai is the choreographer and artistic director of Hung Dance. In 2015, the International Young Choreographer Project (IYCP), hosted by World Dance Alliance – Asia Pacific (WDA-AP) Taiwan, selected Lai as one of the eight choreographers in the project, and Lai created "Insistence of Beauty (極境)," which was critically lauded. His two other choreographic works, "Colored (著色)"and "Stranger (陌生‧不陌生)," were both invited to the 2015 WDA-Americas Conference & Festival, held in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Lai was then launched into the spotlight when his choreographic work "Watcher (守)" won first prize at
a dance competition affiliated with the Ministry of Culture in 2016. Lai's "Thunder (咆哮)," "Cloud (浮雲)," and "Insistence of Beauty (極境)" also won special awards at the competition. In the same year, his work "Cloud (浮雲)" was invited by WDA-AP Korea Dance Festival for a showcase performance.
From 2012-2018, as a special guest artist for the Kaohsiung City Ballet (高雄城市芭蕾舞團), Lai choreographed "Gravity (重)," "Distant Light (遠光)," "Grim Winter (凜凜)," "False (謬)," "Light (光)," and "Raining in the Room," which were all extremely well-received as he began to build a name for himself.
Lai's dances are inspired by the insights he draws from everyday occurrences, which he complements with Tai chi-inspired techniques that enrich the pieces with the profound serenity of traditional Asian aesthetics. He projects his emotions and physical conditions onto the choreography, ingeniously fusing traditional Asian dance culture and modern schools of thought, culminating in a distinctive style that has become the unique mark of the troupe's annual productions.
Although Hung Dance started with just three established dancers, it now includes 10 who have an average age below 35, making it a very young troupe. Another defining characteristic of the dance group is its emphasis on the body's natural movements, such as using the natural rotation of the pelvis and spine to stabilize one's center of gravity.
In 2017, the troupe's debut piece, "Birdy," received first prize in the Burgos & New York International Choreography Contest in Spain. Following the win, the troupe was invited to stage performances at the 22nd Masdanza International Contemporary Dance Festival of Canary Islands in Spain.
Hung Dance went on to perform in Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Poland, and Singapore, and accumulated accolades like the Audience Award for Best Choreography at the Odoru Akita International Dance Festival in Japan and the Audience Award for Best Choreography at Tanzplattform Bern in Switzerland.
In 2018, Hung Dance made an accompanying piece for "Birdy," titled "Boundless (無盡天空)," and was invited to showcase that production at the
5th "Made in Taiwan-Taiwan en el Círculo" program organized by the Ministry of Culture's Madrid office.
In addition to the troupe's annual productions, Hung Dance founded the Stray Birds Platform, a stage for showcasing the talents of young choreographers and dancers in Taiwan. It also encourages them to envision their future while still studying at school and to further develop their international competitiveness.
The inaugural Stray Birds Platform was conducted at the Experimental Theatre of Taiwan's Traditional Theatre Center in 2019, inviting collaborations with international dance crews in order to provide emerging dancers with the courage to embrace the world stage and attempt individual discovery and progress with the confidence of stray birds leaving their nests to explore the world.