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For the past two
summers, the Fancies have enjoyed three and four month residencies wit
" The Dream Community" in Taipei, Taiwan. The mission of The
Dream Community is to bring parade arts, including the skills of float
building, puppetry, drumming and dance, to the public in Taiwan, focusing
intently on under-serviced aboriginal communities. These parades rely
heavily on recycled materials and aspire to tell the stories of the tribes
in order to preserve their heritage and to give their youth a sense of
pride. Every few weeks we would be sent to a new community. We would be
introduced to a new tribe and a new set of up to 200 children. Taiwan's
aboriginal children are famed for their musical talent and infamous for
their "untamable wildness" and "chaotic temperament"
which sometimes caused teachers to neglect them out of fear. We came to
recognize that these self-extending negative images had emerged as cultural
propaganda due to a complex history of racism in the country. Through
our collaboration with these "problem kids" we were able to
put the fruits of their focused abilities on display, making colorful
assault on a veil of prejudice.
With every new tribe came a fresh bundle of bamboo, a machete, a stack
of paper, papier mache, house paint, scissors, staplers, a bag of donated
fabric and tape. The creations that came out of this stack of loose, donated
and recycled materials were dumbfounding. It is truly amazing to see what
happens when a child sees a two dimensional piece of cardboard become
an elephant or bird with the use of their own two hands. We feel flexible
and confident from our experiences abroad and are thrilled to share our
skills at home through the Studio at Colton.