About BDC
Bulareyaung Dance Company (BDC) was founded in 2015 in Taitung by Bulareyaung Pagalarva, an indigenous choreographer from Taiwan. For him, starting BDC is not only the birth of a dance company, but also an act of returning home to dance—returning to the land and the ocean, and revisiting traditions and culture in search of self.
The Company has a unique way of creating work. Dancers participate in the daily life and rituals of tribal communities: they engage in physical work in the woods and mountains, and they chant by the shores and waterfront. This kind of “field research” is a learning experience for both body and mind. The dancers transform what they gain into distinctive physical expressions that shape each work. Every creative process is like a journey of exploration and a transformation of self-identity and culture memory.
La Song, BDC’s first work, grounds the Company’s foundation, highlighting singing and hand-holding as a call for connections among people. Stay That Way, winner of the 16th Taishin Performing Arts Award, examines deeply into personal and social issues, using honest and raw body expressions to respond the struggles and self-reflection of the indigenous people in modern times. The following year, Luna draws inspiration from the tribal rituals and searches for postures of human beings, opening a broader dialogue among communities. The work received the Annual Grand Prize of the 17th Taishin Arts Award.
The tiaen, tiamen trilogy extends the quest to relationships among individuals and groups, imagining the possibility of coexistence in dance—coexistence among people, between human beings and land, and between human beings and spirits.
Setting out from Taitung, BDC has travelled to Canada, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, France, the U.S. and Germany. Wherever they go, Bulareyaung Dance Company continues to echo the weight of life through dance and to share with the world the voice of this land and ocean.
The Company’s works include: La Song (2015), Qaciljay (2016), Colors (2016), Stay That Way (2017), Luna (2018), #Yes or No (2019), Not Afraid of the Sun and Rain (2021), Rustling, Whirring (2022), tiaen tiamen Episode 1 (2023), and tiaen tiamen Episode 2 (2024).
