Esplanade Presents

Dance | Theatre

Two men, ten years later

HORSE (Taiwan)

27 Jan 2023, Fri, 8pm

28 Jan 2023, Sat, 8pm

1hr 40mins

(Intermission: 1 x 15mins)

Esplanade Theatre Studio

This event is over.

Synopsis

How often in life can you make and keep a friend for over 30 years?

 

One suave yet boorish, the other stout yet refined, Chen and Su met as dance students in National Taiwan University of Arts, without knowing that it would be the start of their 30-plus years of friendship and artistic collaborators.

 

Embarking on their individual creative paths a decade ago after co-founding dance company HORSE in 2004, they have each advanced to differing stages in their personal and professional lives. Through it all, faced with the noise and turmoil from the outside world, their mutually competitive yet honest relations with dance and with each other have always been a refuge. Now, nearing mid-life, and with wives and kids in tow, they confront and cross-examine their relationship with stark honesty and reconsider the ways their lives have crossed and ran parallel with each other.

 

Following their dance collaboration 2 Men in 2012, Chen Wu-kang and Su Wei-chia come together once again for Two men, ten years later. Featuring a text-based dramatic structure and variable sounds of piano, Two men, ten years later is a poignant and compelling chronicle of their personal and professional lives as dance artists and friends for life, set against an atmospheric score by pianist Lee Shih-yang.

 

Choreographer and performers: Chen Wu-kang, Su Wei-chia
Music Design and Performer: Lee Shih-yang
Co-creator: Edward Lam
Lighting Design: Chen Chao-chun
Video Design: Sun Ruey-horng
Stage Design: Liao Yin-chiao
Costume Design: Teng Yu-fang

Advisory:

Contains infrequent use of coarse language. 

 

There will be a post-show dialogue conducted in Mandarin after each performance.

 

Mask-wearing is optional. However, audiences are encouraged to continue to exercise responsibility and caution, such as wearing masks when in crowded places. 

Recommended Age: 13 and above.
Admission Age:
6 and above.
Language: Mandarin
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Artist Information

Chen Wu-kang

Instagram

Chen Wu-kang was born and raised in Taiwan. He began studying dance at the age of twelve and graduated from the Taiwan University of Arts. In 2001, Wu-kang danced with Ballet Tech and Peridance and became the soloist, starting his long-term collaboration with choreographer Eliot Feld. He was also the guest dancer in Diamond Project of New York City Ballet in 2006. 

 

In 2004, he co-founded HORSE as an artistic director. Some significant works include Velocity (2007), Bones (2008), 2 Men (2012) which toured in Asia, US and Europe. He started to collaborate with artists in different fields in 2011, including Exhibition X Performance Successor (2011), and curatorial project Dance X Sounds as well as seasonal improvisation platform Primal Chaos since 2016, a year where he also began an intercultural-dance dialogue with renowned Thai choreographer and performer Pichet Klunchun. Their work, Behalf, premiered in 2018 and toured in 2019. Meanwhile, they also worked on a three-year project, Rama House. Chen was also the stage director of The show must go on by Jérôme Bel in Taipei Art Festival in 2019, and co-created as well as performed in Dances for Wu-Kang Chen (2020). Chen is a recipient of the Taishin Performing Arts Award 2021.

Su Wei-chia

Instagram

Born in Kaohsiung, Su Wei-chia co-founded HORSE in 2004. His numerous choreographies and collaborations include the group-created work Velocity, a winner of the 6th Taishin Arts Awards, and the autobiographical 2 Men, a collaboration with Chen Wu-kang, which also won the 1st prize and Audience's Choice Award at the 2013 Kurt-Jooss-Preis.  

 

From 2009 to 2013, he was invited by Eliot Feld to join the Ballet Tech Dance Company in New York as a guest dancer. His ongoing FreeSteps project, launched in 2013, explores the relationship between contours, movements, characters, rhythm, music, and light; a performance at Les Hivernales - CDCN d'Avignon was described as “a succession of shocks that drive the imagination into obscure and delicious depths.” He was the Artist-in-Residence of the NTCH in 2016. In addition to continuous dancing and creation in recent years, he has also started to focus on his social responsibility as a dancer and sharing the joy of dancing everywhere. 

HORSE

Website | Instagram

The visual identity of HORSE is a Chinese character made of three horses, indicating the strong motivation and explosive energy. Founded in December 2004, HORSE has established a distinctive profile with delicate physical movements and unrestricted creativities. In 2008, Velocity won the Taishin Arts Award Taiwan’s grand arts prize. In 2013, their work 2 Men won the 1st prize and Audience Award in Kurt Jooss Preis, PACT Zollverein, Essen, Germany.  

 

In recent years, Chen Wu-Kang, the artistic director, and Su Wei-Chia, the general director, have developed a unique art praxis. They continue to advance the company into the bright future, a period of metamorphism for them in the Taiwanese contemporary dance scene.  

 

HORSE is active in international collaboration, outreach programmes and curatorial projects. Their practice include the platforms Primal Chaos Dance x Sounds Improvisation, Back to the moment Dancing Talking Bar, a dance cinema in which creators and commentators have a live sharing, We Island Dance Festival and, Inclusive Arts Programme.

 

Note: The character骉 is pronounced as “biao”, refers to horses galloping in herd. 

Date & Time

27 Jan 2023, Fri

8pm

Esplanade Theatre Studio

28 Jan 2023, Sat

8pm

Esplanade Theatre Studio
Tickets & Prices
Standard

Students, NSFs, Seniors & PWDs
(Limited)

Price $38 $30

Esplanade&Me Specials

Early Bird (15 – 21 Dec 2022, limited tickets)
Black: 20% savings
White: 15% savings
Discover: 15% savings (Min. of 2 tickets)


From 22 Dec 2022, 9am
Black: 15% savings  
White: 10% savings (Limited tickets)
Discover: 10% savings (Min. of 2 tickets, limited tickets)

 

Applicable to Standard tickets only. Terms and Conditions apply.

Tote Board Arts Grant

All Secondary Schools (Upper Sec), Junior Colleges/ Centralised Institute & ITEs may use the Tote Board Arts Grant to subsidise up to 50% of the programme cost.

 

For more details, please contact Esplanade Box Office at 6828 8389 or email boxoffice@esplanade.com

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