If you are familiar with Chinese netizen slang, you may have come across the term 吃土 (chītù), literally meaning to eat dirt. It is a colloquial expression that translates to a complete lack of money. In English, a similar saying would be “dirt poor”. In their next performance titled Tsiah Thóo (Taiwanese spelling of 吃土 chītù), Bare Feet reframed this lingo as a reclamation of nature: to eat dirt, and literally sustain oneself from the land. Tsiah Thóo posits the dancers in an apocalyptic world where they seek a way to reestablish a relationship with the natural world. Bare Feet Dance Theatre performed their original piece twice this week — the first for an audience of international producers and the second time for friends, family, and the general public.
To accompany the performance, Bare Feet laid out an exhibition of their past pieces, field research map, and respective choreographer / dancer / musician notes for all to see. Part of my job assisting with the studio setup was helping Gina and Leo design the exhibition tables. We artfully laid out the dissolvable fabric from their previous piece, “An Eternity Before and After (2019)”, rolled out the choreography notation scroll across the top of the table, and fetched tree stump pots, garden rocks, and plants from the outside balcony to add layers and accents to the display.
While I was entertaining international producers for the first Tsiah Thòo performance, Nalu approached me to predictably ask for scratches and sunbathe under the fluorescent bulbs. She was a hit with the producers and reveled in the attention. Nalu stretched out across the music notations and prowled around meowing as if she paid the studio bills — and everyone loved her for it.
The studio stage was framed by a wide collection of seating options: stools, benches, various chairs, tatami mats, a couch, a foam gymnastic slide, etc. The eclectic group of chair options created a unique, homey ambiance for the audience; in sitting on the wide chair collection, you knew you were watching something intimately crafted by a company that functioned like a family. It was a relatively informal setup that facilitated a feeling of community both on and off the stage.
Before the first show, I was able to glimpse different sections of Tsiah Thóo in rehearsal, but international producer night was my first time seeing the full performance. Tsiah Thóo was absolutely stunning. The performance had so many interesting elements centered within the ambient Pak-Kuàn music, but one of the biggest things I noticed was the powerful theme of body-to-body connection. It was almost reminiscent of a contact improvisation dance; the physical dynamic between the dancers was so attuned, aware, and alive. There were moments where dancers on opposing sides of the stage would synchronize their movement for brief spells before slowly falling into a dissonance, the interspersed stomps constantly straddling the rhythm and accenting the cyclic synchronization. The piece also integrated the “Asian Squat” as an essential motion in the second half — the sheer leg strength required for the dancers to go from “Asian Squat” to midair leap over and over again was truly a feat of human nature.
I left the first performance with Bo-Jun, one of the Pak-Kuàn musicians, who lives near my apartment. We were chatting before we left and, to be honest, there were a couple of sentences where all I understood was “safe” and “wait on the first floor”. Falling prey to my habit of non-confrontation, I loitered around the first floor for a bit. After a quick lap around the building to make sure I didn’t miss Bo-Jun at a different exit, I saw him come down the main stairs. As I was just about to ask him a question about the metro route, he instead plopped down on a scooter and handed me a helmet.
Although the word “scooter” was lost in translation, now it was a surprise scooter ride. All the more exciting in my opinion. To say I had been waiting for this day since I arrived in Taiwan is a vast understatement.
He took me along the Tamsui River towards central Taipei. We stopped at the Ningxia night market for an oyster omelet, taro ice cream, and pig’s blood covered in peanut brittle — a perfect nightcap for a long performance day. If you’re reading this, Bo-Jun, thanks for a super fun night :) Without you, I would not have met a new favorite local pet, aptly named Milk Tea (奶茶 nǎichá)!
For the second performance, I invited 8 of my friends out to see Tsiah Thóo. I am really happy to say they enjoyed it as much as I did. One friend had seen a TV special about Bare Feet before (see links in “About the Author”), one was brave enough to ask a question in Chinese during the Q&A section (he’s not a native Chinese speaker!), and the whole host of them pestered me with insightful and engaged questions about the research map, the concept of the cultural body, and my role in the whole production. It was a really special moment to share in the performance as both an intern with friends in the company and a spectator with friends in the audience.
In both Q&A sections, I-Chin beautifully introduced the inspirations for Bare Feet’s next piece: a continuation of Pak-kuàn music with the added element of Gamelan, an Indonesian traditional percussive ensemble. Stay tuned for more news on this upcoming piece when it debuts in 2024!
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TV Special Links:
2023《文化相放半》
About the Author
Hey everyone! My name is Jack Manting, and I am a third-year American college student studying abroad at National Taiwan University (台大). For the Spring 2023 semester, I am interning at Bare Feet Dance Theatre, where I get to experience their daily life filled to the brim with silly animals, collaborative dancing, and beautiful natural spaces. Even though my dance background is in Salsa, I am so ecstatic to be at Bare Feet Dance Theatre and learn about new contemporary choreography styles. Follow along on my blog as I share my journey working at this wonderful company!
