By SHAFIQUE DANIAL JOHARI

Have you ever thought that for many of us, our daily routine is all about waking up, going out of the house, getting things done then it’s back to the house again to call it a day? This cycle repeats on a daily basis until it is time for us to depart from this world. However, how is it like if this routine is being staged as a dance number and performed traditionally in an indigenous language and culture? Well, while we think about it, the Bulareyaung Dance Company has done it.

The exquisite uniqueness of this up-and-coming dance company is that they hold dance training and practices outdoors and are not just confined within the four walls of a studio. So, one fine day back in 2017 while they were up on the mountains of central Taiwan to recce for a tour location, they stumbled upon a group of people who were joyously singing underneath street lamps. 

It was the Luluna Bunun Choir, a group of singing folks from the Bunun indigenous tribe in Luluna village which lies 1,000m above sea level. It is home to the largest Bunun tribe of Taiwan. The dance company chief, Bulareyaung Pagarlava said “after coming down from the mountains and returning to my regular routines for a week, I couldn’t stand it anymore. The voices were still in my head,” he shared. 

He just had to go back up into the mountains to uncover this unique culture and learn more about the songs that these people were singing. The dance company went back up to Luluna village, collaborated with the Luluna Bunun Choir to sing these ancient Bunun chants and the rest is history. 

Amazingly, these ancient Bunun chants are also recognised as a cultural heritage in Taiwan. They tell stories of how people of the Bunun tribe live their life up on the mountains, how they go out of the house in the morning, how they go to hunt for a living and eventually come back home after a long day out in the pristine nature.  

“I hope you can take our songs and share them with more people, share the most beautiful voices of Taiwan,” this was the mandate and message given from the elders of the Bunun tribe to Bulareyaung and his dance crew. Holding strongly onto this oath, Bulareyaung transforms the four walls of theatre halls into mountainous forests transporting each and every audience present up onto the mountains of Taiwan. This same show has also made impressions in Canada back in 2019 and in Japan last year. 

The show is being presented in Kuala Lumpur by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Malaysia and it’s representative Pheobe Yeh says the last time a Taiwanese professional dance troupe performed here was back in 2019. Then everything went to a complete stop due to the pandemic and no cultural exchange happened since then.

Now that the Bulareyaung Dance Company is representing Taiwan on Malaysian soil again after a 4-year lapse, she says it is not an exaggeration to say that she is over the moon. “In many ways, the Bulareyaung Dance Company embodies the values cherished by the people of Taiwan through cultural awareness and diversity, self-identity, integration of tradition and modernity, sense of community and the connection between people and land,” she adds.

It was truly a night full of emotions and the connection between man and nature was felt tremendously throughout the spectacular performance. Kudos to the Bulareyaung and his amazing dance crew for staging this wonderful dance number. It was indeed a world-class performance, by a world-class dance company who brought their small but genuine, sincere efforts to showcase the power of a simple and yet beautiful cultural exchange. It was a show which left a huge impact in the hearts of everyone who were present in the hallowed halls of the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre on that one night in July.

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