The Taiwan Season proudly returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for a sixth consecutive year with some of the best live performances being made on the island today. Carefully curated by the key Fringe venues Dance Base and Summerhall, the season shines a spotlight on dance and theatre via a diverse quartet of uniquely entertaining productions. Experience a range of ideas, emotions and flavours in a hand-picked sampling of some of the most stimulating contemporary performances from Taiwan.

SUMMERHALL
festival19.summerhall.co.uk | 0131 560 1581

Bout
Chang Dance Theatre
Summerhall – Old Lab, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 10.20am, £12 (£9). Suitable for ages 8+.
Taiwan's Chang brothers, co-creators of Fringe 2018's hit show Bon 4 Bon, bounce back with Bout, a new dance trio that reveals fresh facets of fraternal relationships and the rich possibilities – and inherent conflicts – of male bonding. Inspired by the ritual and physical rhythms of the boxing ring, this work is the deft and thoughtful expression of three contemporary young Asian men who communicate best through their bodies. By exploring their strong, if sometimes strained, personal connections, the Changs once again endear themselves indelibly to us.
Chang Dance Theatre was founded in 2011 by four brothers, all graduates from the dance department of Taipei National University of the Arts.

Fish / credit: Terry Lin

Fish
Shinehouse Theatre
Summerhall – Cairns Lecture Theatre, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), noon, £10 (£8). Suitable for ages 8+.
Sign language meets puppetry in Shinehouse Theatre's engaging, BSL-signed production Fish, based on a short novel by the revered Taiwanese author Huang Chunming. Revolving around the expected delivery and unfortunate loss of a much-desired fish, the conflict between a grandfather and grandson unfolds in a touching, richly sensory experience for d/Deaf and hearing audiences. Shinehouse, making its European debut, draws upon diverse skills to shine a warm and loving light on the subtlety and complexity of generational differences.
Founded in Taipei in 2006, and specialising in inclusive, socially conscious productions, Shinehouse Theatre creates imaginative performances that reach beyond stereotypes and cross contemporary cultural boundaries in order to bring people together.

Floating Flowers / credit: Chou Mo

DANCE BASE
dancebase.co.uk | 0131 225 5525

Floating Flowers
B.Dance
Dance Base – Studio 1, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 3.30pm, £13 (£11). Suitable for ages 5+.
Inspired by one of Taiwan's most beautiful and popular Buddhist ceremonies, Po-Cheng Tsai's Floating Flowers is a subtly detailed yet fabulously dynamic expression of body and spirit created for his company B.Dance. Dressed in vaporous tulle skirts, a gorgeous tribal ensemble of eight are pushed and pulled through the swirling rhythms of a dance that reveals tumultuous uncertainties beneath peaceful surfaces. Set to a propulsively cinematic score, Floating Flowers is a dance that reaches as high as the sky as it plumbs the depths of the ocean.
A graduate of Taipei National University of the Arts, prize-winning choreographer Po-Cheng Tsai founded B.Dance in 2014. His work is an artful fusion of martial arts, classical ballet, folk dance and contemporary movement.

Monster / credit: Etang Chen

Monster
Dua Shin Te Production
Dance Base – Studio 3, until 25 Aug (not 12, 15, 19, 22), 5.15pm, £13 (£11). Suitable for ages 12+.
Described by the choreographer Yen-Cheng Liu as 'a psychedelic fantasy,' Monster is a daring, intense and quite possibly mind-blowing questioning of one's sense of self. Created for his company Dua Shin Te Production, Liu's hard-to-categorise but strangely seductive dance-installation features symbolic props, spoken and written text, a carefully chosen soundtrack and, ultimately, an explosion of motion to help pick apart the mystery of individuality. It might lead you to discover the dear, fierce and vulnerably human monster inside yourself.
Dua Shin Te Production (translation: Grand Body) is a company founded by the cross-disciplinary dance artist Yen-Cheng Liu.

Taiwan Season is produced and managed collaboratively by Zhong He Creative International Co., Ltd., Taiwan and Step Out Arts, UK and funded by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture. sites.google.com/view/taiwanseason-edinfringe