| Cultures shift; art forms migrate. As the global village expands, the sharing and appreciation of foreign cultural properties and non-native art forms have increased. Crossing Europe to reach Taiwan via Mainland China and Japan, the Taiwanese ballet, as a hybrid form of dance integrating both Eastern and Western aesthetics, has experienced resistance and acceptance, differentiation and assimilation, alienation and conciliation, absorption and renovation, internalization and externalization, and localization and internationalization. This dissertation examines how the ballet has been negotiating its place in the specific destination of Taiwan, where it first arrived during the 1930s and steadily evolved, particularly after 1995.; As a study in dance history, the primary research method applied is semistructured interviewing. Ten Taiwanese ballet artists selected from the Kaohsiung City Ballet, the Tainan City Ballet, the Capital Ballet---Taipei, and the Taipei Ballet Company describe their working experiences and professional desires. The technique of grounded theory is utilized to locate, organize, and analyze themes emerging from the interview transcripts. Meanwhile, the status of their respective troupes reflects the current state of the Taiwanese ballet and its survival. Archival, field, and internet research further explores evidence to address the larger discourse of cultural globalization epitomized by ballet's establishment in Taiwan.; Struggling with lack of understanding on the part of the larger public, unsatisfactory funding from state and local governments and corporations, and overwhelming competition from visiting foreign companies, the development of the Taiwanese ballet has yet to reach a preferred status. Nonetheless, resolving contradictions and finding compromises are part of the process of molding an art form of cultural fusion. The Taiwanese ballet needs to present itself, domestically, as a foreign import with a genuine customary touch, and internationally, as a local export with a special ethnic appeal. The key to fulfilling this paradoxical mission is to re-define the ballet's identity in the Taiwanese culture, re-discover its value in the Taiwanese society, re-assess its position within worldwide trends, and create its uniqueness on the global stage. When the Taiwanese ballet can satisfy the demands both at home and abroad, its development and status will leap substantially. |
