The Team

In Taiwan, Ballet was enrooted and developed earlier than Modern Dance. However, because ballet dancers have merely focused on the Western Classical Ballet, Taiwan local artists seldom create and choreograph their own ballet works. Without accumulating any ballet pieces, it is very natural for Taiwan to lacking its own original ballet art.

Anything is hard from the beginning. The Capital Ballet Taipei is founded on March, 1993. Since then, the troupe’s main task is to create and produce innovative ballet pieces. In order to maintain their best performance, the dancers first worked five days a week, from Monday to Friday, just like other professional ballet companies. Practice starts at ten-thirty A.M., and from two to five o’clock P.M., rehearsals are scheduled. This weekly work routine was followed for about six years. But due to a lack of financial resources and qualified ballet dancers, the Capital Ballet Taipei has now been forced to work only three days, a week. The troupe still keeps on practicing without a rest, however, and they hope the ballet company can continue their work and develop further.

The Capital Ballet Taipei insists on a circuit of performances at least once, a year. Till now, the company has produced over thirty ballet pieces and has done almost four hundreds performances. The dancers use ballet as a basic tool to explore and create new genres and styles. Those works which combine ballet with Taiwanese Aboriginal Dance are the most surprising, outstanding and highly praised. The Company’s first performance aboard was on March, 1999. The New York Times Chief Dance Critic, Anna Kisselgoff praised the performance as a romantic legend from Taiwan illustrating a full range of Taiwan imagery.

To maintain their creativity, and variety, the Capital Ballet Taipei invites choreographers from different territories to collaborate with them and hopes the troupe will continue to thrive, and make its contribution to Taiwan Ballet.

The troupe founders Mr. Chin Feng Hsu and Ms. Shu Hui Lee are now the Troupe Principal and Artistic Director.