Located between China, South Korea, Japan, and several island countries of Southeast Asia, Taiwan is situated at the junction of maritime traffic connecting Indo-Pacific countries. The earliest human activity on the island dated back to the Paleolithic in Taitung County. Taiwan then experienced the Dutch Formosa period (1624–1662), the Kingdom of Tungning (1661–1683), the Japanese rule (1895–1945), and the current period starting with the Nationalist government's move to Taiwan in 1949. With the human body as its primary medium of expression, dance is inextricably linked to the activities of different ethnic groups. Influenced by Taiwan's geographical location and historical background, the establishment and evolution of dance forms are closely connected to the political, economic, social, and cultural factors in every period.
Indigenous music and dance The cultures and languages of Taiwan's indigenous peoples belong to the Austronesian linguistic family and have a history spanning several centuries in Taiwan. The Council of Indigenous Peoples under the Executive Yuan recognizes 16 ethnic groups, comprising 2.51% of Taiwan's population at about 581,694 people. Other than the Pingpu people, most indigenous tribes have resided in remote environments, maintained an almost closed lifestyle, and had to be self-sufficient, which have allowed them to preserve their languages, cultures, customs, and social structures. The music and dances of each ethnic group are also unique.
Indigenous music and dances most often take the form of group singing and dancing with community participation. They feature repetitive movements and can be categorized into dances for religious rites, social ceremonies, and everyday entertainment based on their motivation and context. Animism is the belief system of many indigenous peoples. Dances for religious rites are primarily performed when a tribe engages in collective rites of intensification. They are usually well-structured, with clear rules and taboos. Examples of such rites include the Pas-ta'ay of the Saisiyat people, the Maljeveq of the Paiwan people, the Milalikis or Misacepo' and Harvest Festival of the Amis people, the Flying Fish Festival of the Tao people, and the Mangayau of the Pinuyumayan people.
Social ceremony dances are singing and dancing that tribespeople perform for certain individuals, events, or objects. These occasions can range from child-birth, reaching adulthood, weddings, completion of new houses, to death. Unlike religious rite dances, the songs and dances performed during social ceremonies are not as strictly regulated. The expressions of the dances will also vary depending on the specific ceremony performed. For instance, the Paiwan people of Chunri Township in Pingtung County have a unique wedding dance, in which the tribespeople offering nuptial felicitations hold hands with the newlyweds and together, they form a half circle to dance a cycle of the same moves accompanied by singing.
Dances for everyday entertainment are those that tribespeople engage in during daily labor and leisure time. These dances follow no set forms and are often more spontaneous. An example of such a dance occurs during the spring farming season, when Pinuyumayan women form mutual-help weeding groups and work together to clear the weeds in the field of each family. When at work, they follow a leader and sing freely while dancing along, with a great deal of improvisation involved.
During the Japanese rule, fieldwork conducted by Japanese scholars produced substantial literature on the music and dances of Taiwan's indigenous peoples. The preservation of these records enabled reconstructions and further studies by later researchers. After the Nationalist government relocated to Taiwan in 1949, dancers from mainland China, including Li Tien-min and Kao Yan, were commissioned to collect specimens of "mountain songs and dance" and to "instill the spirit of the 'new age' into traditional mountain songs and dances." The dancers re-arranged the traditional songs and dances they had collected during their research in 1952. The re-choreographed dances were designated as performances for welcoming guests and for recreational purposes in the military and also taught to young people from different tribes over the course.
With the growing awareness of ethnic identity, the term "mountain song and dance" was rectified and renamed "indigenous music and dance." The performances thus gradually shifted from welcome dances, which aimed at boosting the atmosphere, back to music and dances that embodied the core of indigenous cultures. The Formosa Aboriginal Song and Dance Troupe (FASDT) was founded in May 1991 and consisted of 16 young indigenous individuals, including Faidaw Fagod of the Amis and Snaiyan of the Pinuyumayan. The troupe members conducted field studies within tribes and learned the traditional music and dances from tribal elders, gradually acquiring religious rite dances and traditional music and dances from various indigenous peoples. This allowed FASDT to bring the dances to the halls of theatre arts and help indigenous dances shed their past association with recreation and welcome dances.
As dance professionals of indigenous descent began returning to their hometowns, they began adopting theatrical choreography approaches that merged elements of traditional tribal culture with contemporary dance vocabulary to create distinctive works of dance. For example, the Tjimur Dance Theatre, hailing from the Paiwan tribe in Pingtung County, came under the leadership of Ljuzem Madiljin and Baru Madiljin. Both siblings graduated from tertiary dance institutes and established Tjimur Dance Theatre as the first full-time dance company in Taiwan dedicated to presenting contemporary Paiwan culture. Also of Paiwan descent, former Cloud Gate dancer returned to his hometown Taitung in 2015 to establish the Bulareyaung Dance Company. He developed works of novel creative styles by training his dancers to undertake labor work in the mountains and sing chants by the waterside. In 2012, Watan Tusi of Truku founded TAI Body Theatre in Hualien County. Formerly a member of FASDT, Watan compiled instructions on feet movement in music and dance routines across multiple tribes. The "step charts" he created formed the basis for a catalog of movements in dance pieces, allowing for the creation of works that manifest both contemporary and traditional influences to the dance culture.
Taiwanese Folk Dance At the beginning of the Kingdom of Tungning in 1661, large groups of coastal residents from mainland China's Fujian and Guangdong provinces immigrated to Taiwan. With them they brought the folk culture and beliefs from their hometowns. Religious rites, celebrations, and other temple performances served to bring social stability, worship deities, and entertain the people. Local traditional operas that were popular during this period include Nanguan, Beiguan, Teochew opera, Taiwanese opera, puppetry, shadow puppetry, folk acrobatics, as well as chariot and drum pageantry, plowing pageantry and other operettas. "Art formations," developed by neighborhood watch groups that villagers organized for self-defense, also incorporated local operettas. These traditional operatic elements and art formation activities laid the foundations for Taiwanese folk dances that were developed later on.
After the Nationalist government’s relocation to Taiwan, Taiwanese folk dances began its budding stages of development in the 1950s. President Chiang Kai-shek issued instructions to advocate the national culture and revive Chinese music and dances. In 1952, the Chinese National Dance Propagation Committee (later known as the National Dance Association of R.O.C.) was established on the orders of Chiang Ching-kuo, who was the then Director of General Political Department at Ministry of National Defense. Lieutenant General He Chih-hao was appointed as Minister and founding chairperson of the Board of Directors, tasked with the responsibility of promoting national dance education. In 1954, the committee organized the Taiwan Area Chinese National Dance Competition. Dancers such as Ku Ya-shen, Lee Shu-fen, Tsai Jui-yueh, and Lin Hsiang-yun, who had studied abroad in Japan, accepted invitations to choreograph dance works using elements that manifested the essence of Chinese ethnic culture. Dancers from Mainland China, including Li Tien-min, Kao Tzu, Kao Yan, and Liu Feng-shueh, held teaching positions at schools and studied traditional Chinese dances. They also visited indigenous tribes, either by commission or for personal interest, to learn about indigenous music and dances, which they incorporated into their creative work.
In 1966, the Cultural Revolution erupted, prompting many choreographers and dancers to explore elements of traditional Chinese culture due to the government's promotion of the Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement. Examples include Tsai Jui-yueh's "Miaonu Nongbei" (Miao maidens dancing with wine cups), 's "Wang Zhaojun," and Kao Yan's "Gongdeng Wu" (Palace Lantern Dance). These works, refined over time, eventually became classics in Taiwanese folk dance. During this era, choreographers and dancers drew inspiration from dance traditions in mainland China and Japan, while also incorporating local Taiwanese cultural elements. Gradually, this evolutionary process culminated in the prototype for Taiwanese ethnic dance.
In 1971, the Republic of China (Taiwan, ROC) withdrew from the United Nations. Realizing the importance of pragmatic diplomacy, Minister of Education Chiang Yen-shih created the Youth Goodwill Missions of the Republic of China (Youth Groups). These groups consisted of students selected from colleges and universities throughout Taiwan to serve as cultural ambassadors, traveling to different countries around the world. They put on performances that showcased highlights of the Chinese culture, such as martial arts, Beijing opera, and folk dances. Li Tien-min, Lin Hwai-min, Hsu Huei-mei, Tsai Li-hua, Li Ying-hsiu, Wang Yu-ying, and Lai Shiu-feng had all served as program directors for these performances.
Diplomatic relations between the United States and ROC were severed on January 1, 1979. Taiwan's claim as the rightful inheritor of traditional Chinese culture was called into question in the wake of this series of diplomatic setbacks, leading to a search for Taiwan's subjectivity. Chen Chi-lu, the first Minister of the Council for Cultural Affairs, planned to establish a performance theater in 1988 that would "present the subjectivity of traditional Taiwanese culture." Tsai Li-hua accepted a commission by the China Youth Corps to produce 100 "Folk Night" sessions annually, and subsequently founded the Taipei Folk Dance Theatre. Drawing inspiration and material from folk art formations learned through field research on local Taiwanese temple fairs, Tsai composed dance works that successfully took stages internationally.
Dance in Taiwanese Theatre