Are those motionless human-looking figures real or mannequins, or effigies or statues? They look quite real. On just about any day, that question plays on the minds of many people passing by Vieshow Cinema Square in Taipei’s upscale Xinyi shopping district.One sure way of discovering the Replica Watches answer is for a passer by to toss a coin or bank note toward the inert figure frozen on the sidewalk. A small gesture of consideration elicits a most animated response as the figure springs to perform a lively dance.
Visually unnerving and supremely interactive, the mime artists who stand still as statues, suddenly to be transformed into playful clowns who create bon mots of comedy, drama or simply slack-jawed astonishment have become a distinctive feature of the Taipei street scene, even if some people of Taiwan regard the art form through a jaundiced eye.The fledgling style of performance took root in Taiwan about five years ago when Chang Wang, founder of the Headspring Theatre, persuaded Taipei City and Vieshow management to allow buskers at Vieshow Square on holidays. Performances were to be free.
Since then, Chang, a versatile interdisciplinary artist who works in a variety of media, has created an ensemble of 50 characters called “Meander,” drawing inspiration from nature and the extraterrestrial. The characters come replete with “back stories” personalities, styles and links london discount costumes.”In creating Meander figures, I fantasized about floating above the clouds and conversing with aliens to help me infuse creativity into Taipei City through gorgeous living statues and their ingenious street presentations,” Chang recalls.
Since 2006, flamboyantly and sometimes grotesquely dressed performing artists from Headstring Theatre have “meandered” around Vieshow Cinema Square getting closer to audiences and adding new color and panache to local street life.Many of the characters have attracted fans, who come regularly to the Xinyi area to enjoy and even interact with their favorites. Riding a crest of street acclaim, Chang’s troupe receives a steady inflow of invitations for private engagements or public performances, locally and even abroad.
Nevertheless, Chang still feels frustrated at times and he wonders about the group’s future direction.According to Chang, the popularity of street shows measures how cosmopolitan a city is. Buskers perform as itinerant artists in cities around the globe. Chang believes that with the evolution of the form locally, it is likely to draw more international performing artists to Taiwan.Local authorities, and sometimes the general public, seem less open to the form than are people in other parts of the world.
Chang says when he performed in Europe, he frequently met police officers who patiently guided street performers to areas where they could perform legallyIn La Rambla in the Spanish city of Barcelona, city authorities even demarcated different spaces for different types of buskers to perform separately without crashing into one another, he says.By comparison, Vieshow Square and the adjoining walkway next to the Shin Kong Department Store complex, called Shin Kong Xiangti Boulevard, are overcrowded and chaotic.
Oftentimes the living statues perform in their silent, motionless mood to the accompaniment of ballad crooners and sometimes beside performers belting out raucous pop tunes. Sometimes the common becomes still more crowded as retail stalls suddenly blossom as hawkers sell farm produce and other products, turning the setting into a traditional marketplace or even a night market.”We hope the government can demarcate a clear space for street performances and develop the Xinyi shopping district into a special hub for the trade,” Chang says.
If Taipei is not as welcoming as Chang would like, the environment is even less accommodating outside Taiwan’s capital. The troupe decided to check out the generosity of the folk on Green Garden Blvd. in the central city of Taichung for a year. Financial rewards proved sparse and after a year, the Meanders gave up Green Garden Blvd as a lost cause.That’s unfortunate, Chang says, because street performance, better than any other art form, spreads the seeds of art through spontaneity, proximity to audiences, and because the field is open to just about anyone who wants to perform. But there must be rewards, and artists, who give their all for scant appreciation or reward from spectators, soon will abandon the streets and turn to something more lucrative.
Members of Chang’s troupe come from many social classes, from crafts, arts, businesses and among them are some who some aspire to make a living playing to bustling crowds of shoppers in a hurry.
“I don’t think it’s bad to have such a motive. On the contrary, I always remind them that as a human sculpture, cash donations are the key to their acting or movements,” Chang says.
He feels Taiwan needs to embrace the principle that the artist is worthy of reward and the people should not expect that access to different forms of entertainment is free.
Chang’s Meander ensemble survives on earnings from private engagements and indoor theater performances, but Chang does not collect commission on what artists take in from street performances.
“I don’t ask for a cut because I want to encourage more people to take part in this style of performing,” he says.
The job can be grueling, and troupe members must Links London Friendship Bracelet practice Taichi, also known as shadow boxing, or yoga, from which they acquire flexibility and stamina. They also are asked to meditate regularly, seeing themselves as motionless as stone or solid as trees. Thus, they acquire inner tranquility and forge who they are, Chang explains.
“Through rigorous training, troupe members who originally could remain still only for 10 minutes at a time now can hold a position for more than an hour without getting tired,” Chang says.
Wang Chien-wen, the troupe’s “Moon” god, acknowledged that performing as a living statue is tough work. “If your goal is just to make money, you won’t be around for long.”
But Wang herself enjoys the performances. “When I performed in Barcelona, I met a Hong Kong traveler who said ‘I’ve seen you in Taipei.’ When I returned to Taiwan, a French tourist told me ‘it was you who played the role in the streets of Avignon.’”
“It is this kind of borderless love for the arts that has given me the greatest gratification and enjoyment,” Wang explained.
She thinks creativity is a critical component, if Taiwan truly wants to enhance its tourism development.
“Street performance has become a creative industry in Europe, but when will our dream of having a La Rambla in Taiwan be realized,” she wondered?
The challenge for the troupe now is how to create the same cosmopolitan atmosphere in Taiwan that its performers have experienced while traveling on tours overseas.
Since 2006, the troupe has sent eight members each year, to attend the Festival d’Avignon in France. They’ve earned acclaim and made some friends while performing their improvisational shows and demonstrating traditional Chinese arts like calligraphy and brush painting in the southern French city.
This summer, some members of the Meander troupe will travel to Scotland to take part in the annual Edinburgh International Arts Festival celebrations.
“After three years of adventurous performances in France, this year we decide to explore a brand new market to get new inspiration,” Huang says.