Author: Sandra

It is said in the Great Preface of “The Book of Songs,” an anthology of Chinese poems dating from the 10th to the 7th century BC:

“The emotions are stirred and take form in words.
If words are not enough, we speak in sighs.
If sighs are not enough, we sing them.
If singing is not enough, then unconsciously
our hands dance them and our feet tap them.”

Dance is a powerful expression.
It speaks to earth and heaven.
It speaks of our joy, our fear and our wishes.
Dance speaks of the intangible, yet reveals the state of mind of a person and the temperaments and characters of a people.

Like many cultures in the world, the indigenous people in Taiwan dance in circle.
Their ancestors believed that evils would be kept out of the circle.
With hands linked, they share the warmth of each other and move in communal pulses.
Dance brings people together.

And dance happens at the vanishing point.
Movements disappear as they occur.
Dance exists only in that fleeting instant.
It is precious. It is a metaphor of life itself.

In this digital age, images of movements take millions of forms.
They are fascinating.
But, they can never replace dance because images do not breathe.
Dance is a celebration of life.

Come, turn off your television, switch off your computer, and come to dance.
Express yourself through that divine and dignified instrument, which is our body.
Come to dance and join people in the waves of pulses.
Seize that precious and fleeting moment.
Come to celebrate life with dance.

Lin Hwai-Min, founder and artistic director  Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan

© LIU Chen-hsiang

ACAR protests against dismissal of Valery N. Raykov, general manager of the Saratov Youth Theatre

Mid of January, the local government of the Saratov region (Russia) removed the general manager of one of the most prominent Russian theatres. He was indicted to be responsable for a fire accident in the theatre in October 2012. Valeriy Nickolayevich Raykov, who was leading the Saratov Youth Theatre named after Kisselev since 30 years to high national and international reputation, was fired contrary to the wishes of the theatre staff.

Alfira Arslanova, Secretary General, ITI-Russia:
“The dismissal took place after the fire in the theatre which happened in October last year, in spite of fire-prevention was found in accordance with norms and regulations and the theatre manager wasn’t charged with anything. The Governor of Saratov Region neither gave an official reply to the theatre nor considered it necessary to answer many appeals of prominent Russian and foreign professionals of performing arts in defense of a person who spent more than 30 years serving theatre famous in Russia and abroad for its productions.
There are letters from Professional Guild of Theatre Managers of Russia, Theatre Union of Russia, employees of Saratov Youth Theatre and stage director Matthias Langhoff. They are written by professionals in support of their colleague, whose prolonged absence from the theatre does only harm to both the theatre centre and theatre-lovers.
ITI Russian National Centre voices a protest against this kind of ill treatment of performing arts professionals on the part of bureaucracy and demands local authorities of Saratov Region to start dialogue”

Ann Mari Engel, President of ACAR and Vice President of the ITI wrote in an open letter to the Governor of the Saratov Region:
“We want to join the Russian centre of the International Theatre Institute in its protest and request to reinstate V.N.Raykov in the position of theatre manager. We regard this arbitrary decision; made against the wishes of the theatre company, to be a violation of the freedom of the arts. We urge the authorities to start a constructive dialogue with the theatre and to listen to all the voices from the international theatre community.”

Letters:
Alexander A.Kalyagin, President, People’s Artist of Russia
A.E.Polyankin, President, Professional Guild of Theatre Managers of Russia
(English translation)
Interational supporters: Letter from Matthias Langhoff (German/French director)