Taiwanese American Heritage Week

 Youth Indigenous Dancers   (Photos of this event)

 "Memories from the mountain; Calling of the sea"

 Saturday, May 24 (3pm-5pm)

 at AISD Murchison MS gym - 3700 N Hills Dr - Austin, TX  78731 (map)

 Admission : FREE for the general public !!! (One day only)

Traditional Dance by the Youth Indigenous People

                Promoting cultural exchange through lively and powerful dance performances

                A Taiwanese indigenous youth club is slated to perform aboriginal-style dances in major cities in the United States of America this month in an effort to boost Taiwan-U.S. cultural exchanges.

               Twenty members of the club affiliated with the National Pingtung University of Education, southern Taiwan, were selected by Taiwan's Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission and related government agencies to go on a 22-day performance tour of the central and southern United States, starting May 3, and returning to Taiwan May 26.

                Dance and music are among the richest legacies of Taiwan’s indigenous people. Group dances that are performed at a wide variety of ceremonies and rituals consist mostly of simple but harmonious walking and foot-stomping movements.

                Indigenous dance performance includes songs, dance and rituals from traditional ceremonies. All the dance performances are presented in the purest way, true-heartedly by every single performer. Their performances are being staged as part of a traditional Taiwanese cultural week event being held around the United States. Performers will be dressed in their traditional clothing of each tribe and with elegant voices and powerful dances (13 tribes: Amis, Atayal, Paiwan, Bunun, Puyuma, Tsou, Saisiyat, Yami(Tao), Rukai, Thao, Kavalan, Truku, and Sakizaya.)

  The Traditional Dance of the Tsou : The dance is meant to greet the coming of a warrior king, symbolizing the moving forward of the whole tribe with the warrior king. Everyone sings and holds hands in a circle to represent the unity of the tribe. In collaboration with the movement of the body, the front-and-back dance steps move in a counterclockwise direction to show the anticipation for the descent of the warrior king from the sky. These simple movements and steps are all that are required for the dance. The dance continues the mayasvi ritual, using simple but pure body movements to show the respect on the part of the tribal people. This is a very primitive dance. In addition, the Tsou were inspired by the sound of waterfalls. This gave them certain insights into music, and thus, the tone and the melody from the Tsou traditional music were based on the sounds of waterfalls. The traditional song of the Tsou is the song meant for traditional ceremony and rituals as well. They use the song in their hope for protection by the warrior king, and encourage their tribe people to be as brave as their ancestors were.

The Traditional Dance of the Amis － Yiwan Village : The Ilisin is the annual celebration similar to New Years for the Amis tribe. At the end of the year, the Amis tribe worship their ancestors and gods to show their gratitude for the year and to hope for happiness and a great harvest. The marikuda dance performed in the Ilisin was originally rooted in agriculture. The tribal people believed that the greater the dance and celebration, the grander the harvesting, and the better the years that would follow. The songs from Ilisin are composed of interaction between a song leader and many followers, the lyrics are mostly functional words with occasional prompting verse added by the singer. The dance steps are very diverse, mainly from the Ilisin spirit-welcoming, spirit-thanking, and spirit-sending dances.

The Traditional Dance of the Puyuma : The Puyuma tribe has the largest celebration ceremony among all the tribes, and they are the most intact tribe was well. The dance is composed of the singing of Emayaayam (old tones) from the women’s holiday (Mugamut), the praying song (Kmodao) from the celebration of the youths (Basibas), the dance from the annual ceremony, and the songs from Puadangi (the visiting of the youngsters to different family).

The Traditional Dance of the Amis － Kiwit Village : The music and dance from the Amis are very important to the indigenous culture. This dance will present the Solotao dance and Ciupihai (dance from youngster) to present the whole Ilisin ceremony from the ancient Kiwit village.

The Interactive dance with The Audience : The interactive dance with the audience, putting a perfect ending to the feast of Indigenous culture.

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