Breaking the Waves

As October starts to draw to an end, so too does Dance Umbrella, London’s annual international dance festival. Having worked their way through the Barbican and Sadler’s Wells East, one of the final programmes is on at the Place—which has had an especially impressive Autumn season. The Taiwanese company Tjimur Dance Theatre brings their work “Bulabulay Mun?” meaning “how are you?” from resident choreographer Baru Madiljin. The company’s art reflects the history and culture of the Paiwan people, one of Taiwan’s indigenous communities.

Performance

Tjimur Dance Theatre: “Bulabulay Mun?” by Baru Madiljin

Place

The Place, London, UK

Words

Eoin Fenton

Tjimur Dance Theatre in “Bulabulay Mun?” by Baru Madiljin. Photograph by Pa Sa-Si

The work commemorates a dark chapter of Taiwan’s history. The Mudan Incident in 1874 saw dozens of Ryukyuan soldiers, from modern day Okinawa, massacred by a group of indigenous Paiwan men after being shipwrecked on the southern shore of Taiwan. While some eyewitnesses and authors claim the Paiwanese attacked the foreign men out of a perceived threat, it led to an especially oppressive chapter for the native population: colonisation by the Japanese—who used the massacre as pretext for invasion of the southern coast.

Before the work begins we enter to the sound of crashing waves. A single dancer lies in the foetal position on the floor, clutching a bundle of red cords coming from the wings. A voiceover asks us to take a breath, to imagine the winds coming in from the coast before exploring this ‘wounded’ land. The dancer tightens her grip and is slowly dragged away. The crashing waves have now been replaced by heavy drones and bellowing foghorns as images of dark ocean waters project onto the back cloth.

The dancers are burdened in their movements, shoulders are hunched forward as feet trudge onwards, they carry an unbearable weight. Using a large piece of driftwood, dancers are lifted and sometimes catapulted about as the seas get choppier. There’s a great deal of tumult, yet Madiljin keeps the dancers in a state of constancy. Even following exhilarating passages of acrobatic lifts and high energy movement, the dancers will always find themselves together again. Huddled and ploughing onwards with trudging feet and bowed bodies. We get a real sense of perseverance, that their journey is never quite complete. Despite the chaos they remain resolute in their exhumation of the troubles of the past.

Tjimur Dance Theatre in “Bulabulay Mun?” by Baru Madiljin. Photograph by Pa Sa-Si

In one particularly moving sequence the cast gather on a narrow red carpet, joining hands and defiantly singing a folk song. An invisible force crushes them together and the carpet becomes increasingly shorter in length, yet they continue to sing, stamp their feet, and smile as they slowly fade into the dark wings. Their future is uncertain but they face it head on. Madiljin’s work is one that personifies the communal resilience of the Paiwan people. Taiwan may have seen wave after wave of invaders and colonisers, of new populations, yet this will always be their home. In the film version of “Bulabulay Mun?” found on Dance Umbrella’s digital pass, we see a group of Paiwan singers banded together in traditional clothes, holding hands as they sing in a stream. It’s a powerful image. One that speaks to the sacred bond between a people and their land.

“Bulabulay Mun?” joins a minor wave of sorts in London of work made by indigenous choreographers. Dance Umbrella itself opened with the work “Bogotá” by Andrea Peña who has indigenous ties to Colombia. Earlier this month the Place hosted Amrita Hepi’s “Rinse,” which questions the Western idea of beginnings through an Aboriginal-Australian and Māori lens. And now, with this work, Tjimur Dance Theatre brings another perspective. These works, though stylistically and culturally varied, are united by a certain interrogation of the past. Asking where the past might reside within a nation’s psyche, or indeed within our dancing bodies. It’s a conversation worth having. And one I hope we will continue to see play out in stages and studios across the world.

Eoin Fenton

Eoin (they/he) is a dance maker and writer based in Cork (Rep. of Ireland), and London (UK). They have danced across Ireland and London in venues including The Place, Project Arts Centre Dublin and Galway Cathedral. Eoin graduated with a BA in Choreography from Middlesex University in 2024 and began writing as part of the Resolution Reviews programme. They are a regular contributor to A Young(ish) Perspective.

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