Bulareyaung Dance Company

In July 2016, Typhoon Nepartak made landfall in Taitung at midnight and swept through Taiwan. Bulareyaung couldn’t sleep that night. He drove to the rehearsal studio first thing in the morning, only to find the roof blown away and the studio turned into a pond. All the members rolled up their sleeves, put on rain boots, and begun to clean up. The studio was ruined, but the dancers kept their spirits high. They were used to having nothing anyways. Since the studio was out of use, the dancers playfully “upgraded” their rehearsal space to the beach. They ran across the sandy beach and bathed in the fresh waves. They might have lost something, but somehow, they managed to find strength.

While the seemingly naive yet delicate-hearted dancers were having fun cleaning up the space, Bulareyaung was stressed about the upcoming production. As an indigenous artist, what kind of work should he create? The dancers called out to him, “Do you have to be this serious? Can’t we just bring our real lives onto the stage?” Bulareyaung agreed, and the dancers went wild.

Rain boots, working trousers and sweatshirts, a giant blue and white PE sheet for temporary roofing, and the dancers playful movements came together to form the most colorful scenes. Colors was born.  

In Colors, dancers wrap themselves in the PE sheet as if wearing a grand night gown, singing high notes until their voices cracked, and dancing in high hills with pride. They say, those are the moments they finally feel “pretty”. 

2016/10/15-17 Cloud Gate Theater, New Taipei City, Taiwan
2017/10/8 National Taichung Theater, Taichung, Taiwan
2019/2/22-24 Esplanade — Theatres on the Bay, Singapore