About the Taipei Children Arts Festival
The 2011 Taipei Children Ar ts Festival ( TCAF ) is about being “extraordinary.” From July 4th to August 28th, many pluralistic performances and exhibitions will be held in many corners around the city. It is expected that children can have some sense of achievement from practicing creativity and experience the infinite possibilities of themselves so as to build the confidence to take on challenges and the courage to break to build, creating their own beautiful lives.
Organized by the TCAF to celebrate the 100 th anniversary of ROC, Brave Fish is a large-scale work of art installation that consists of six “brave fish” made by six hundred pairs of grandparents and grandchildren along with the visual artist, Akibo, collecting people’s blessing and love to children as a present for their growth. From July 19th to July 29th, the family of brave fish will have a tour around TCAF’s venues to collect the blessing and set out on August 6th from the URS27 The Grand Green in central Taipei, swimming into the dream about the future. Fr om Augus t 12th to August 28th, the whole process of the creation of Dive into the Future will be exhibited in MOCA Studio.
Dream is not only the driving engine to move forward but also the power to transcend . From July 13th to July 17th, guided by the professional performers of Polyglot Theatre, Australia, We Built This City will summon children to exploit their imagination and cr eativity to do the magic tricks of constructing buildings for the future.
Celestial Mechanics by the Theatre des Confettis, Canada, will be opened up from July 19th to July 25th; this theatre within mirrors is a curio music box where you can just open the door and roam in this incredible time and space with the music of the dream. From July 29th to July 31st, Les Ames Nocturnes by Le Shlemil Theatre, France, will be sounding. In the beautiful classic music, the drowsy clowns will perform a fantastica l physical comedy together with the clothes hangers, the quilts and the pillows. The performances from last year’s winning scripts are presented here. The Lucky Pawn Shop by Kiss Me Theatre Company will measure the weight of happiness for children; The Choices of the Ugly Lamb by If Kids Theatre, where the lamb in wolf skin will show up mysteriously.
This year, TCAF offers both the indoor and outdoor performances. The Free Community Performances require no tickets while introducing new spaces as performance venues such as the department stores, the Fine Arts Park Area (EXPO Hall) and even Taipei Zoo (Children’s Theatre). Under the starlit sky and shades of trees, the Free Outdoor Performances are just like parties of arts in the urban green space. From July 7th to July 9th, three shows will be held in the amphitheater of Da-an Forest Park to celebrate the opening of the 2011 TC F. The shows include aboriginal Paiwan dances in modern movement, U Little Drummer’s drumming, A Cappella performance. From August 4th to August 6th, three closing shows will be staged on the URS27 The Grand Green. The performances include Taiwanese Opera , Chinese Opera for Children, and Taiwan Temple Festival. TCAF sincerely invites all fellow citizens to come and enjoy these shows as mustering up courage for the brave fish and witnessing the touching moment when the dream launches.