2017 TAICHUNG INTERNATIONAL DANCE PARADE & FESTIVAL
Event Introduction
Mayor of Taichung, Lin Chia-Lung ：「To Make Taichung the birthplace of Dance Parade! 」
Taichung Dance Parade & Festival was named by exclusively by the major of Taichung, Lin Chia-Lung. The word 「step」in Chinese does not only mean to tour the street but also 「colorful」, which represents the great variety of activities in this festival. 「Dance」represents parade and also the integration of difference dance performances. 「Matsuri」in Japanese means festival, this is also the first time that the Taichung city government attempts to call for the participation of both the performers and audiences to join together and celebrate the festival with joy. Employing the theme of 「Dance Parade」, the mayor would like to bring to his citizens a very different cultural festival feast and leading Taichung to becoming an Event City!
Inherited from the spirit of Japan’s YOSAKOI festival , grows a new wave of historical trend
People may have different and interesting interpretations when they first hear the term 「Dance Parade」, but「2016 Taichung International Dance Parade festival」got its inspiration from the Japanese traditional YOSAKOI festival. The secretary of Tourism and Travel Bureau Taichung City Government Chen Sheng-Shan, who has travelled much of the world and seen countless performances mentioned that: 「I’m already over 50 years old but I still feel excited and throbbed!」. He sincerely wishes to see the beautiful smiles of Taichung citizens and that is why he puts in everything to make the parade happen.
Through the integration of industry, government and academia, with many years of planning, comes the first Taichung International Dance Parade
At the 2003 Taiwan Lantern festival, Tourism bureau invited Japan’s YOSAKOI SORAN matsuri group to perform in Taiwan for the first time. And since 2004 the Tourism Bureau has continually invited students who major in dance related fields to go perform in Japan. Japan and Taiwan have been interacting through Dance Parade festivals for over 14 years.
Meet in Dance, Once in a life, see you at the Dance Parade!
After a year of preparation, 12 groups from Taiwan and 6 groups from Japan, in total 18 groups answered to our call to participate. The performers are all high in spirit, endlessly rearranging their choreography and rehearsing, fastidious about their music, all working hard together to make it unique and authentic to Taiwanese culture. The Japanese groups are even more eager and looking forward to perform in Taiwan, wishing to extend and expand this spirit. We invite you to come dance with us at this once annually Dance Parade and experience the joy from within. You have our words that we will meet again soon in near future.
Program
11/17(Fri)Eve Offering
Venue: Front Plaza of Taichung City Hall
17:50-18:00 Opening Show
【Drum show-Rejoice /Taichung Municipal Xinyi Elementary School Taiko Drum Team】
18:00-18:05 Eve Offering Commence
18:05-18:15 Mayor’s Speech. Present certificate of appreciation.
18:15-18:20 Taichung International Dance Parade & Festival Initiation ceremony
【Flower Blossom Parade Stage Performance】
18:20-18:30 2018 Taichung World FloraExpo Dance Performance
【Taiwan Mountain Cherry/Youth Senior High School】
18:30-20:30 Grand joint performance by 18 groups from Taiwan and Japan
11/18(Sat) Street Tour
Venue：Summer Green Park Area (opposite National Taichung Theater)
14:00-14:30 Opening with Mascot
14:30-16:30 Street tour performanceby 17 groups from Taiwan and Japan
11/18(Sat) Evening Party
Venue: Front Plaza of Taichung City Hall
17:40-17:50 Warm up performance
【Chiayi DPC Children Dance Group】
17:50-18:00 Warm up performance
【Japan Osaka Awa dance group「South Osaka Sequence」】
18:00-20:00 Grand joint performance by 17 groups from Taiwan and Japan
20:00-20:30 Present Award
11/19(Sun)Performance by Taiwan Dancing groups+ Dance Teaching
Venue: Front Plaza of Taichung City Hall10:20-17:30
