The Rite of Spring - Taiwan Indigenous Version: Pursuit of the Ancestral Spirit
台北首督芭蕾舞團（李淑惠） | Capital Ballet Taipei (LEE Shu-Hui)
The Rite of Spring-Taiwan Indigenous Version: Pursuit of the Ancestral Spirit
2001
Video (record expert)
11'22"
Courtesy of the Capital Ballet, Taipei
LEE Shu-Hui, the artistic director of the Taipei Capital Ballet, is a professionally trained dancer who is also an Amis indigenous from Hualien, Taiwan. This choreography incorporates the indigenous Amis ritual and reflects on the possible Taiwanese contextualization of “The Rite of Spring” by integrating Amis ritual of blessing “malernlern”. Amongst the dancers in the performance, 22 of the male dancers were indigenous students from the Hualien Vocational High School of Agriculture.
Artist description
LEE Shu-Huei, who graduated from the National Taiwan Academy of Arts (now as National Taiwan University of Arts), is a ballet teacher at Cloud Gate and the Department of Dance, University of Taipei. After graduating from Tachibana Ballet School in Japan, LEE came back to Taiwan. She started teaching at the Department of Dance, National Taiwan Academy of Arts and established the ballet grade examination. In 1987, LEE went to New York University and Joffrey Ballet School for further study. In 1990, LEE cofounded “Taipei Capital Ballet” with HSU Chin-Fong and has been the artistic director until now. She was also the assistant artistic director of “George Balanchine’s Night”, the show produced by the Atlanta Ballet (USA) and National Theater (Taiwan) in September 1990. She was the solo dancer of East-Ballet West (USA). In 1982, LEE was invited by Marsha Wales-Brown to cofounded “Taipei Art Academy (YI-YUAN) Ballet” and became the leading dancer. She also acted as Giselle, Princess Odette, Princess Aurora and Princess Florine in “Giselle”, “Swan Lake” and “The Sleeping Beauty”. Her works are “Dance with Light”, “String Quartet”, “Suite Italienne”, “Riddle-the Exit without Entrance”, “Italian Capriccio”, “Who am I-Talking about You and Me”, “1900”, “The Whisper of West Wind”, and aboriginal ballet like “The Impression of Mountain”, “Out of Cave” and so on. In 2001, LEE choreographed the dance drama “The Rite of Spring- Chapter of Taiwanese Aboriginal-Chasing Ancestors”.