LUNA is a milestone production!
In an era of accelerating change and information explosion, this piece expresses inner calmness and assurance embodied in impactful physical movements. Bulareyaung Pagarlava’s work fully manifests a powerful cultural energy with physical strength and beauty. This piece demonstrates mutual respect between different communities as well as the possibilities of negotiation. After the refinement of learning from the culture of a different tribe, the choreographer applies a contemporary vocabulary and masculine posture through the company dancers to create a unique bodily expression. Bulareyaung Pagarlava’s dance is grounded in the perspective of human existence and enriches the culture of Taiwan.
LUNA
Bulareyaung Dance and Cultural Foundation
Date：2018.05.09
Venue：National Taichung Theater
Jury’s Comment
LUNA is a milestone production!
In an era of accelerating change and information explosion, this piece expresses inner calmness and assurance embodied in impactful physical movements. Bulareyaung Pagarlava’s work fully manifests a powerful cultural energy with physical strength and beauty. This piece demonstrates mutual respect between different communities as well as the possibilities of negotiation. After the refinement of learning from the culture of a different tribe, the choreographer applies a contemporary vocabulary and masculine posture through the company dancers to create a unique bodily expression. Bulareyaung Pagarlava’s dance is grounded in the perspective of human existence and enriches the culture of Taiwan.
Comments on the Finalist
Refined and forged by time, the dancers’ performance, uniting nature, life and culture as one, conveys a sense of inner calmness and assurance. Their tanned, robust bodies, executing simplified and pure movements, present a pious and unforced theatrical tableau. Each dancer’s concentrating look is matched with slow and steady singing of traditional indigenous melody; the sound and the body are connected through the music, harmonized in the Bunun eight-part polyphony (pasibutbut), filled with vitality and embracing with emotions. The combination of movement, still moments, the jumping and running demonstrate the power and beauty of dancing, revealing its fundamental and lasting essence while stirring the deepest corner of one’s soul. This work represents a self-seeking journey, and to go farther is for the sake of going home and rediscovering oneself.
(Commentator: YU Shan-Lu)
Artwork Introduction
LUNA is the dance company’s first dance piece based on its field survey.
The choreographer led his dancers to conduct a field survey in Nantou’s Luluna Village, living the natural way of life. Collaborating with Luluna Bunun Choir to learn the Bunun tribal songs that have been considered a world cultural heritage, they practiced indigenous dance and music as well as the teachings and anticipations inherent in the culture.
To create this dance, the dancers learned from the choir and tribal elders the singing and “Malastapan,” a traditional hunting ritual, to incorporate the Bunun culture into contemporary dance. By responding to the traditional and the contemporary from the indigenous perspective of a matured man, the dancers have taken an introspective journey within.
The survival of the dance company is as essential as breathing in the creation of a dance. Even silence can express the greatest power among the faint afterimages from headlamps. Through LUNA, the audiences, who have been largely isolated from nature, were guided to enter and breathe together in the mountains, presenting a different “dialogue” or “dialectic” between the traditional and the modern. It was also reminiscent of the dance company’s steadfast journey in exploring its cultural heritage and identity since its establishment four years ago, which has culminated in the creation of LUNA.
About the Artist
Bulareyaung Dance and Cultural Foundation
Paiwan choreographer Bulareyaung Pagarlava was a dancer in Cloud Gate Dance Troupe and a choreographer at Cloud Gate 2, and had been invited to choreograph and create works for Martha Graham Dance Company in the US. In 2014, he returned to his hometown and founded his own dance company at the old sugar refinery in Taitung. Working with a dozen of young dancers from eastern Taiwan, Bulareyaung and the dancers immerse themselves in the natural environment enriched by the mountains and the ocean and explore the relationship between sound and physical movement as a means to uncover the unique indigenous culture and humanistic history of Taiwan’s east coast, creating the body expression and language of indigenous contemporary dance.
Production Team
Artistic Director & Choreography | BULAREYAUNG PAGARLAVA
Production Manager & Lighting Design | LI,JIAN-CHANG
Costume Supervisor | HSU,YI-CHUN
Assistant Rehearsal Master | SYU,PEI-GEN
Executive director | SICIMI‧SIMUY
Associate producer | LUO,RONG-SHENG
Administration Staff | KUO,YI-JUNG
Dancers|
JHOU,YU-RUEI, ZENG, JHIH-HAO, JHOU, YU-RUEI
HSU, TING-WEI, KUNG,BO-YUAN, WANG CHIEH,
CHU YU-HANG, KONG YA-MING, KAO MIN-CIEN
Troupe Leader | ISPALAKAN UMAS
Music Director | WANG,KUEI-MING
Administration Staff |
KAO,HUI-CHING、UMAV TAKILUDUNG、SSU,JO-CHUAN
Performer |
WANG KUEI-MING, MA HSIA-YU, WANG EN-TZU,
WANG,HUNG-EN、UMAV TAKILUDUNG、WANG,SEN-LIN
SHIH JEN-HSIN, WU CHENG-KUANG, SSU TIEN-YU,
WU FU-MING, YU YA-CHIN, WU AI-WEI, CHUAN LING-YU,
WANG LEI, SUNG A-CHIU, WANG TZU-CHUAN, CHIN,MEI-YING,
SHIH LUAN-FENG, SUNG SHU-CHEN, SHIH YU-HSIANG,
KU LING-E, TIEN CHU-HUA, ISPALAKAN UMAS,
TAISNUNAN MUA, ISPALAKAN BUKUN, MU U ISKAUTAN
藝術總監暨編舞 拉瑞揚‧帕格勒法
原住民文化裡，山林是和祖靈與自然的對話場景，狩獵乘載著文化意義與宇宙觀，歌謠則是歷史記憶的精神傳承。當布拉瑞揚舞團在踏查途中，遇見南投羅娜部落，布農古謠裡的群山堆疊、獵人穿梭，無一不使之震撼。這是他們與羅娜薪傳音樂團的初識，那聲音再也無法離開。
歌在山林生活中
決定與羅娜音樂團合作後，舞團首次全體移師田調。成員跟著族人整地、工作、爬山，感受歌謠脈絡與山裡行走的氣息運用。羅娜薪傳音樂團每週兩天的練唱時間，舞者一旁安靜做著筆記，之後再自己嘗試唱出所體會歌聲。舞團慢慢用自己的方式學習，「最後當我們真的開口唱，他們嚇一跳，把我們拉到身邊，一起融在歌聲裡。」
布農族享譽各地的八部合音像空間遊戲，在主旋律與四聲部基礎上，由歌者找到旋律遊走空間。學會所有聲部，才能應人數多寡，在各自換氣空間裡，互相協調應和，疊出繁複共鳴。91歲的耆老告訴舞團：「唱歌時耳朵要打開。」旋律自由，但歌者需在自己、群體、環境空間的共感中交織出歌曲，「規範中尋找自由。這讓我想到，也許在舞蹈創作上會是很好的基礎。」布拉瑞揚說。
從歌出發的舞作首先須面對祭曲使用限制，但也在分部結構裡，找到新的身體可能。《路吶》結構為兩段：上半段由羅娜薪傳音樂團原味呈現日常與祭歌儀典，由開場的〈Tul Tul杵音〉及八首祭曲、工作歌或童謠組成，包括〈Masi-lumah背負重物之歌〉、〈Pislahi獵前祭槍之歌〉、〈Pasibutbut小米祈禱豐收歌〉、〈Malastapan報戰功〉、〈Manantu首祭歌〉、〈Kahuzas飲酒歌〉、〈打陀螺〉，以及〈Mudaning Kata歸途〉。
下半段，舞者在黑暗中從貓道、觀眾席四方出現，頭戴頭燈，吟唱工作歌，緩步走向舞台。布拉瑞揚設定「行走」為主旋律，依序疊加三首歌曲，各有四聲部同時發生；安排八組動作，但運用依當下而定，舞者行進中聽見彼此聲音位置，繼而發聲、移動，「必須無時無刻都在當下，才能決定下一步去哪；覺得要迷路時，可以即時轉彎，把那聲音貼近自己，找到路後再離開。」圖像、隊形皆是當下變化，看似簡單實則「機關」繁複。而動線選擇、集合、分開到相遇，其實便是獵人在山上的樣態。
舞台視覺則極簡以全黑背景加上投影呈現，圖像切頭去尾、縮小放大，投射舞台隨舞者流動；碩大符號是山林的保護，傳統的餵養，信仰的跟隨。「你知道傳統的歌跟你在一起，祖靈跟你在一起，而這些符號也一直跟隨著你，既是月光、祖靈，也是身體裡血淋淋的東西。」
行走中，是吶喊也是對話
後段，舞者重現自身版本的「報戰功」。傳統上，獵人在儀式中以節奏性呼喊回報英雄事蹟，然而舞者多無打獵經驗，練習時始終因歷練落差難有連結，在獲得長老應允後，他們轉而將歌詞化為自身驕傲之事或自我鼓勵——「父親早逝，扛下家計」、「跳舞困難重重，仍不放棄」⋯⋯布拉瑞揚回憶，長老聽完泛淚稱許，「我們突然找到連結，找到連結後，就知道要幹嘛了。」
同為尋找連結，布拉瑞揚曾讓舞者彼此對話。舞者王傑是全團唯一有打獵經驗者。一次排練途中，布拉瑞揚請另一位舞者許培根向他提問打獵的經驗與意義。「那時他用原住民口音說『去山上很危險，差點要掉到懸崖』⋯⋯，我們在旁邊笑到不行。」但問題不斷拋出，「去全聯買肉就好啦！打獵動物都不見了！為什麼要打獵？」舞者語塞，直說「這很重要，這是我的文化！」卻立即被尖銳回問「那文化是什麼？」，對話血淋淋如現實，「他知道重要，可是講不過。」壯碩舞者在數回掙扎後大哭，布拉瑞揚也近乎落淚。「這不就是每個人的課題嗎？獵人的存在到底是什麼？分析到最終，每個人、每個觀眾、每個舞者，其實都是獵人，只是在不同的戰場，找到自己與想要尋找的目標。後來，我就覺得要讓這段被看見。」
歌劇院首演時對話未被呈現，但當《路吶》巡演到雲門劇場，開演前布拉瑞揚集合舞者，告知要將對話拿上舞台，從未排練的段落讓舞者緊張不已，布拉瑞揚喊話：「你們相不相信自己？我們在山裡面走路找路，不就一種未知？你會知道終點在哪嗎？不會！那有什麼好怕的？」他將決定權交予舞者，若當下決定不說，作品就照原先版本呈現。當晚，當王傑走出舞台與許培根開始對話，布拉瑞揚充滿感動。「那對話很直白，但他去面對了這個課題，丟出問題讓每個人思考。」看似輕鬆的對話引觀眾莞爾，但笑語背後是巨大的自我提問——不說族語的族人、沒有獵場的獵人、沒有舞台的舞者⋯⋯，一一連起，艱難而讓人驚心。布拉瑞揚並不害怕，他說，真誠面對後尋找答案，才是路途開展的可能。
從原初學習的謙卑姿態
從2014年在台東成軍，布拉瑞揚舞團經歷《拉歌》、《阿棲睞》、《漂亮漂亮》、《無，或就以沈醉為名》，完成《路吶》，再到新作《是否》，不曾停止追尋自身之根，作品樣貌皆不同，但彷彿一次次回歸，如舞者至今塗身演出若嬰孩初貌，又或者，似《路吶》中的爬行，尊敬謙卑地貼伏大地脈搏，感受存在。
曾經自卑，布拉瑞揚說他現在「很幸運作為一個原住民」，「所謂幸運是我沒辦法定義這舞團長怎麼樣⋯⋯我們太多東西可以學，一定要想辦法讓自己擁有很多不同樣貌。」他說，「這無關偉大無關成功，而是作為這舞團最幸福的事情。」
《路吶》由「走路」與「吶喊」構成，外譯Luna碰巧是義大利文「月光」，又與羅娜部落名稱相仿。吶喊未必是恐懼或勇敢的放聲，有時更是巨大無聲的自我對話。布拉瑞揚說，表演最終都在整理自己，以及整個生命乘載。山林小境，部落通道，從家園出走再不斷歸返的旅程，皆是有形無形的「路」。布拉瑞揚與他的舞者們走著，一步步將路走成人，路遙漫漫，終為走向自己。
（採訪撰文／許祐綸）
