A group of young Taiwanese artists will bring a Taiwanese-themed live art experience titled "Islanders: Compound Playground (寶島慢播)" to New Yorkers from June 17 to 18 in Long Island City. This program combines music, dance, film, and an interactive audio-visual experience, and authentic Taiwanese street food will also be served on-site. The audience is sure to enjoy the festive vibe as well as the beauty of Taiwanese culture.
"Islanders: Compound Playground" is produced by New York-based choreographer Chieh Hsiung and violinist Yu-Wei Hsiao, who met during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. While it seems unlikely for them to work together, as one is a choreographer and the other is a violinist, their partnership originated out of a shared passion for interdisciplinary learning and collaboration. This unique combination allowed them to be selected by Cultural Lab LIC as the artist-in-residence in February 2022, which is when "Islanders: Compound Playground" was born.
The program is a three-part live art experience, comprised of a sound installation "My Childhood Home," a film "1991" and a musical dance performance titled "Compound Playground." "My Childhood Home" was created by Tony Yang, a musical arranger, composer, and sound designer. The work portrays what multinationals like him may have gone through while growing up and living in different countries and cultures. The sound textures and non-conformist musical phrasing express confusion over self-identity, a result of moving back and forth between two different worlds.
"1991" is directed and produced by Grant Hao-Wei Lin, a multidisciplinary visual artist and filmmaker. This 15-minute short film involves the topics of homosexuality, religion, intimacy, and institutionalized oppression, which were inspired by Lin's personal history of being an LGBTQ+, immigrant, and Asian artist living in the United States.
"Compound Playground" is a project focusing on merging old-school elements with modern cultures, featuring Chieh Hsiung, Yu-Wei Hsiao Hsiung, actor Leo Yu-Ning Chang, and pianist Sobina Chi Kanter. In this performance, Hsiung not only introduces Taiwanese folk dances, but also uses them to make connections with modern dance, contemporary dance, street dance, and ballroom dance. In Hsiao's musical arrangement, he rearranges Taiwanese folk songs, such as "Loving the Year Round," "The Torment of a Flower," and "On a Rainy Night in a Harbor City," using Classical, Jazz, and neo-soul styles.