Taiwan’s modern dance scene is in full bloom, and we will have two exclusive chances to witness this first-hand at METTRIN this September.
CROSSING WORLDS
Date: Friday September 18. – Saturday, September 19, 2026, 7:00 p.m.
Duration: 110 minutes. The performance consists of two parts: Part I (40 minutes), followed by a 35-minute cultural experience intermission showcasing Taiwanese culture, and concluding with Part II (35 minutes).
Recommended age: 14+
Renaissance of its Ashes (2019) is a collective ritual of pain and rebirth. The hypnotic movements of this exceptional dance piece interpret the captivating encounter of two worldviews, where on one side Taiwanese Taoist traditions take shape, while on the other side European Renaissance artists line up, Judgment, or even Hell, sketching the spiritual map of the Western world.
The great master of the Polish avant-garde, Henryk Górecki, with his “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” and “The Poor Companions of Christ” — monastic melodies from the Middle Ages — we witness the seven dancers’ astonishing physical abilities and musical sensitivity, and through their high-level performance, the creators’ new, intercultural vision unfolds before us, allowing the soul and the imagination to find a previously undiscovered clarity.
Duration: 40 minutes
Performed by
CHAN, PEI-HSUAN
CHEN, YI-TING
JHOU, HAN-WEI
LI, CHUN
LIN, YIN-TING
LO, YU-CHING
YANG, I-CHUN
Choreographer: HO, HSIAO-MEI
Stage Design: WANG, SHIH-HSIN
Costume Design: YU, CHENG-ZONG
Music Design: LIM GIONG, HSU POINT
Lighting Designer: LIU, EN-TING / DENG, CHENG-WEI
Technical Director: LIU, EN-TING
Production Manager: CHEN, PENG
International Relations: LAI, SHU-CHUN
Touring Photographer: KANG, CHENG-YUEH
Producer: FANG, YI-LUN
At the Experience Break between the two performances, documentary films produced by MeimageDance will be screened at the AMETIS Restaurant:
- The documentary Silence Island Movement chronicles the background research and exciting community fieldwork that preceded the dance performance „A New Paradise on the Island of Silence”.
- The Dance Now Asia Festival 2025 short film offers a glimpse into the most influential dance platform in Asia, showcasing dance communities and inviting artists from countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines to Taiwan.
New Paradise of Silent Island (2018) – is a vibrant dance performance with a surreal style, brings us both Taiwanese ritual and the aesthetics of subculture. It reveals that Taiwan is not simply an island, but a place shaped by waves of immigration, colonial ambitions, and the traditions that took root alongside them. Through their experiences of conflict, oppression, and reconciliation, the peoples living here have developed a unique philosophy of life for themselves, drawing strength from trauma and memories to survive. Born in the spirit of cultural fusion, the performance creates a unique harmony that is at once kitschy and brilliant, realistic and magical.
In this unconventional space — now transformed into a mystical arena without chairs — audiences can witness the dancers’ breathtaking movements up close, where energies, passions, and contradictions collide, stirring up multicultural grievances and forging them into a dreamlike artistic experience, prompting the viewer to reflect on the multifaceted connections between the body, politics, and existence.
Duration: 35 minutes
Performed by
CHAN, PEI-HSUAN
CHAO, HSIN
CHEN, YI-TING
HSIEH, KUANG-YU
JHOU, HAN-WEI
LI, CHUN
LI, YI-HUA
LIN, YIN-TING
LO, YU-CHING
YANG, I-CHUN
Choreographer: HO, HSIAO-MEI
Music Design: CHEN, YANG (Original Production) /Betty Apple (revised version)
Lighting: LIU, EN-TING / TSAO, AN-HUEI (Original Production)
Costume Design: YU, CHENG-ZONG, HSU, YU-CHIA (revised version)
Props Designer: Hozen Plan Co., LTD / Shin Sheng Opera Troupe
Technical Director: LIU, EN-TING
Production Manager: CHEN, PENG
International Relations: LAI, SHU-CHUN
Touring Photographer: KANG, CHENG-YUEH
Producer: FANG, YI-LUN
The guest performance in Hungary is supported by OUR PARTNERS
Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture (South Africa); Embassy of South Africa in Budapest; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan; Ministry of Culture of Taiwan; National Cultural Association of Taiwan
Taipei Wirtschafts- und Kulturbüro in Österreich; Taipei Representative Office in Hungary; Taiwan Culture in Europe 2026 and Tó Wellness Hotel*** Bánk
Ho Hsiao-Mei and MeimageDance
The MeimageDance company was founded in 2010 by Ho Hsiao-Mei, one of Taiwan’s most renowned and creatively gifted choreographers, who is regarded as a “master of surreal imagination.” Her works are characterized by diversity, the exploration of the body, and a rich and vivid visual world, blending Taiwan’s contemporary vitality with feminine intensity. Ho examines the body as a vessel for emotions, revealing the most delicate and hidden layers of the human soul. Since 2023, Ho has served as the artistic director of the Dance Now Asia Festival, which functions as a collaborative platform across the East Asia. In recognition of his profound contribution to the development and international recognition of Taiwanese contemporary dance, she was awarded Taiwan’s highest artistic honor, the National Arts Award, in 2015.
She premiered her early work, the dance production *Three* (1991), at the Merce Cunningham Studio in New York, and *The New York Times* praised it as follows: “*Three* reminded us that people can communicate in many different ways, and that bodies, just like sounds, are capable of speaking as a language.” Her latest work, *The Lost Limbo* (2025), drawing on virtual reality and traditional self-analysis, is a modern celebration of the female voice.
In recent years, the company’s productions have gained international recognition. They have performed at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz (2025), the South by Southwest (SXSW, 2024) festival in Texas, the Kunstfest Weimar (2024), Roppongi Art Night in Japan (2024), the 2019 International Theater Olympics in Toga, Japan, and the Internationale Tanzmesse festival in Germany (2016). As part of their 2026 autumn European tour, they will perform for the first time at Helmut-List Halle in Graz (Austria), at the Jan Kochanowski Theater in Opole (Poland), and in Hungary at METTRIN.
https://www.meimagedance.tw/en
Tickets: mettrin.jegy.hu
METTRIN shuttle buses transport our guests to and from the venue.
Further information click here: https://www.arts.mettrin.hu/contact/