Indigenous choreographer lends hand to typhoon-hit hometown

He added that when Fang-yi and he were received by President Ma Ying-jeou in mid June, he had told the President that the dike the government promised to build to relieve flooding had still not been built yet.

In the latest typhoon, 72 houses were washed away in the village of less than 100 households built on an old river bed.

“The villagers were able to run for their lives on August 8 ... thanks to the timely warning broadcast by the village chief at the wee hours that day,” according to Bulareyaung.

A very important task for Bulareyaung and Fang-yi during their week-long stay at Chialan Village was to visit school children and try to cheer them up, as they knew the distressed sentiment among the adults could be contaminating.

The couple taught the kids a few dance moves, and shared with them the importance of having goals and working hard to achieve one's goals.

In recent years, Fang-yi and Bulareyaung have been invited to give speeches at many university campuses not only about their dancing career, but also how they strived to achieve their goals in life.

Both Bulareyaung and Fang-yi graduated from the National University of Arts in Taipei.

Upon graduation in 1994, Fang-yi received a full scholarship from the Council for Cultural Affairs to study in the United States. She went to New York and joined the Martha Graham Dance Company the next year. As a principle dancer at the Martha Graham Company, Fang-yi made a name for herself in the artistic circles in New York in the early 2000s. In 2005, she was featured on the cover of Dance Magazine in “25 to Watch,” as one of the rising young talents in dancing.

Joining Taiwan's renowned Cloud Gate Dance Theatre as a soloist after graduating in 1996, Bulareyaung was praised as one of the “brightest stars on stage” by Taiwan's Dance Magazine. In 1998, he received a Performing Arts Fellowship from the Asian Culture Council to conduct advanced studies in New York. Upon returning to Taiwan in 2000, Bulareyaung was invited by Lin Hwai-min, founder of Cloud Gate, to rejoin the company as a dancer and a choreographer.

Over the past few years, the couple has been among the Taiwanese dancers and choreographers with the highest international exposure.

Nonetheless, both Bulareyaung and Fang-yi are always like a son and a daughter living next door to the villagers in Chialan Village.

Their pursuit of dance took them from Taiwan to New York and back. It has been a long struggle, first to explore in a foreign land with limited support, and then to make a difficult decision of giving up what they had achieved overseas and coming home to develop their talents here.

Despite their tight schedule of overseas tours and rehearsals with dancers and musicians, Bulareyaung would spend some time at home four or five times a year.

“The September visit (to Chialan Village) meant a lot to me and LAFA members,” Bulareyaung said. “I was told by elders in the village that some teachers in local schools have made Fang-yi and me role models, and we were deeply moved facing the exciting young faces there.”

They would have stayed longer, if not for a new project scheduled earlier.

Embracing the world and caring for his native people are equally important for Bulareyaung, because he knows making contributions to his people brings pride not only to himself, but also to his community.

“The elders in the village told us what they appreciate the most is not the money, but the warmth we brought to them.”

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