Bulareyaung Pagarlava is from Jialan ((Buliblosan in Paiwan) tribe in Jinfeng township, Taitung, Taiwan. He is a Paiwan. At the age of twelve, he decided to become a professional dancer. At fifteen, this dark-skinned indigenous teenager entered a professional dance school under the mandarin name “Kuo Chun-ming,” while learning to speak perfect mandarin. It was not until college that he reclaimed his Paiwan name, “Bulareyaung Pagarlava.”
After graduated from the Dance Department of Taipei National University of the Arts, Bulareyaung joined Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. In 1998, he was awarded a fellowship by the Asian Cultural Council to study in New York. Over the years, his works have reached many international stages, and he was invited to choreographed for various companies, including Cloud Gate, Cloud Gate 2, and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Bulareyaung was selected as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Taiwan in 2012 and received the National Award of Arts in 2022.
Many years after reclaiming his name, Bulareyaung found himself still searching for his true self. He decided to return home. In 2015, with the support of the Lo Man-fei Scholarship (awarded in 2014), he founded Bulareyuang Dance Company in his hometown, Taitung. His works with the Company have been praised for “fully manifesting a powerful cultural energy with physical strength and beauty” and for “being grounded in the perceptive of human existence and enrich the culture of Taiwan."
Bulareyuang’s dance belongs not only to the stage, but also to the land and to those dancers who have struggled with their identities and longed to discover who they truly are. Bularayeung takes their hands, and together they share with the world the dance deeply rooted in this land.