Bulareyaung Dance Company

Choreographer Bulareyaung Pagarlava was awestruck when he first heard the voices of Senayan, Muagai, and Ivi in 1993. The three aboriginal singers were singing the Puyuma chants from the Sakuban tribe in Nine Songs produced by the Cloud Gate Company. In 2017, when Bulareyaung finally had the chance to work with them in Stay That Way, he decided to use Playback Theatre to allow the audience to enter their life stories. Once empathy was constructed, the stranger spectators were led to focus their attention on the protagonists, and the ideology of “no one is an outsider” quickly permeated the entire audience. 

Interaction between the dancers and the singers revealed the sadness that pervades aboriginal life, including the 2017 protest for aboriginal land rights on the Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office building. On the surface, Stay That Way seemed to make you laugh and feel sad at the same time, but deep down, it mitigated the underlying bitterness hidden in both. With a pious attitude towards life, Bulareyaung took counter-hemogenic actions that were thought-provoking and with staying power.

Stay That Way is the fourth production of the Company, and has received the Taishin Performing Arts Award in 2018.  

2017/6/17-18 Cloud Gate Theater, New Taipei City, Taiwan
2017/10/7 National Taichung Theater, Taichung, Taiwan