International Folk Dancing Communities in Taiwan and California

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Dancing Within Taiwanese-ness: International Folk Dancing Communities in Taiwan and California A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Critical Dance Studies by Wei-Chi Wu September 2018 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Anthea Kraut, Chairperson Dr. Jose Reynoso Dr. Crystal Baik Copyright by Wei-Chi Wu 2018 The Dissertation of Wei-Chi Wu is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements I am faced with the impossible challenge of acknowledging all the people who have guided, inspired, and helped me throughout my graduate study. First and foremost, I am indebted to my dissertation Chair, Anthea Kraut, who has been my guiding light throughout the past five years. She has taught me how to research, teach, and handle stress with elegance, patience, and perseverance. I am extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated advisor who has inspired and supported me throughout this journey. I would like to express my great appreciation to Crystal Baik, who prepared me with instrumental knowledge in Asian American Studies and Memory Studies, and always warmly offered her time to Skype wherever I was conducting my fieldwork; to Jose Reynoso, who inspired me with thoughtful challenges on the scholarship of nationalism and sent me positive vibes throughout my writing process; to Christina Schwenkel, who provided me in-depth training in ethnographic methodologies, enabling me to be well-prepared before entering the field; and to Melissa Templeton, who offered fruitful conversations on globalization and transnationalism, and generously provided useful tips on teaching. I also want to thank the entire faculty of the Department of Dance at UC Riverside, especially Linda Tomko, Jacqueline Shea Murphy, Anusha Kedhar, and Kelli King. Their intellectual insights in dance theories and practices have had a positive influence on my project. My deep gratitude extends to each one of my interviewees from the international folk dancing communities in Taiwan and California, especially to the members of the NTU Folk Dance Club, the Orodancer Folkdance Group, and the NTUFD Alumni iv Association NorCal Branch. I am especially thankful to Maya Chen, my first international folk dancing instructor. Without her guidance, I would not have fallen in love with this fascinating dance practice that became the subject of my research. I am truly appreciative to the professors from my former educational and working institutions: Hui-Shan Chen, Show-Jen Lin, and Yu-Ling Chao from National Taiwan University of Arts; Ting-Ting Chang, director of T.T.C. Dance; and Hui-Fen Chen from National Taipei University of Education. They have equipped me with professional skills in Dance and Performance Studies. Their intelligence and determination are characteristics I hope to model as a female scholar. I owe a special thanks to Wan-Ching Hsu, who has been guiding me with grace since high school. It was wonderful to have reunited through international folk dancing. I would not have been able to complete this dissertation without the generous support from UC Riverside, in particular the Dance Department, the Graduate Student Association, and the Center for Ideas and Society. Additionally, thanks are due to Hillary Jenks and the other consultants in the Graduate Writing Center at UC Riverside. Their generous assistance has helped me navigate the world of writing in my second language. I am grateful for my cohort Casey Avaunt, Denise Machin, and Christine Şahin, whose continual support has made my life as an international student less difficult and more enjoyable. I am so grateful to Xiomara Forbez, Eduardo Chen, Yi-Ching Chen, Hsiao-Yen Chou, and Hsin Yi Lin. Without their company and kind encouragement, the writing process would have been more strenuous. v I feel enormous gratitude to my family members, Wen-Jung Lee, Fang-Ku (Ann) Tung, and Chao-Wen (Gina) Chen, for supporting me and my dreams, teaching me to face adversity with positivity, and accompanying me through the past five years. Last but not least, I am immensely appreciative of my parents, Wan-Hsiang (Debbie) Lee and Shyh-Hwang (Sherwin) Wu, for nurturing me with love and patience over the years. Without them, I would not have become the person I am today. vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Dancing Within Taiwanese-ness: International Folk Dancing Communities in Taiwan and California by Wei-Chi Wu Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Critical Dance Studies University of California, Riverside, September 2018 Dr. Anthea Kraut, Chairperson This research investigates Taiwanese dancers’ practice of international folk dancing through interviews and participant-observation. International folk dancing is a specific dance genre, in which its practitioners explore various regional folk dances around the world, regardless of their ethnicities. I define this practice as a transnational embodiment, because it not only covers folk dances from different countries, but also was a government-sanctioned exercise during the Taiwanese Martial Law Period (1945-1987). Furthermore, many Taiwanese immigrants in California are still practicing this dance for the purpose of connecting with people with similar backgrounds. In this regard, international folk dancing is a historical product from Taiwan’s Martial Law Period, and it also functions as an instrument to scrutinize some Taiwanese immigrants’ conceptions of national and cultural identity in California. My dissertation starts from post-World War II Taiwan, when international folk dancing was introduced from the United States in 1957 and became a mass exercise of the Taiwanese people during Martial Law. For the National Government at this time, vii international folk dancing was a means of presenting Taiwan’s political alignment with the United States. For the Taiwanese people, however, this dance form was a way to understand the outside world under extreme limitations on information access outside Taiwan during Martial Law. My investigation then shifts to Taiwanese immigrants’ current practice of international folk dancing in California. Though these immigrants do not limit their practice to Taiwan-specific dances and are embodying cultures of others, international folk dancing is a strong transnational embodiment that enables these Taiwanese immigrants to reconstruct their idea of home in the United States and to articulate a new definition of Taiwanese identity through practicing others’ nationalisms. Furthermore, I demonstrate that Taiwanese dancers of different generations in both regions are constantly constructing the notions of “folk” and “international” through their diverse living and dancing experiences. I argue that international folk dancing challenges these concepts when compared to previous scholars’ examinations. Additionally, this dance form demonstrates its practitioners’ cultural awareness that even though the practice seems to be inclusive, its dancers are much aware of issues of authenticity, appropriation, and cross-cultural politics. Finally, this sub-genre of self-choreographed dancing indicates a Taiwanized international folk dancing practice. Self-choreographed dancing was developed by the Taiwanese international folk dancing community during the Martial Law Period, and in California, it is practiced more in the Taiwanese international folk dancing groups but is missing in Western dancers’ community. As this sub-genre stretches the ideas of “folk,” “international,” and the sense of cultural awareness, the dissertation also explores this difference between Taiwanese and Western viii international folk dancing communities to emphasize the notion of Taiwanese-ness. International folk dancing serves to scrutinize relationships between Taiwan and the United States after World War II. Meanwhile, California-based Taiwanese immigrants apply their past dancing memories to their current practice of international folk dancing, suggesting new definitions to existing conceptions of Taiwanese identity. Moreover, the unstableness in the dance form’s translations in Mandarin Chinese—tu-feng-wu or shi-jie min-su wu-dao—indicates that there is no consistent understanding of “folk,” “international,” and even “international folk dancing” itself. The lack of coherent translation furthermore signals varied interpretations of Taiwanese-ness by Taiwanese people from different places and of different generations. ix Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One 58 A Transnational Embodiment in Taiwan’s Past and Present Landscape Chapter Two 111 Practicing Memories: Doubly Transnationality in California’s Taiwanese International Folk Dancing Communities Chapter Three 151 Dancing Transnationality: Challenges in Embodying the International, the Folk, and the Cultural Conclusion 197 Bibliography 204 x List of Figures Figure 1 18 T-shape connection Figure 2 18 Csárdás position Figure 3 19 W-shape connection xi Introduction In late October 2009, the student-based international folk dancing club I joined as an undergrad held a dance exhibition to celebrate its 40th anniversary in Taipei, Taiwan. International folk dancing is a specific dance genre in which dancers practice dances from around the world—such as Taiwan, Malaysia, Israel, Bulgaria, Italy, and the United States—regardless of their ethnicities. I invited some non-dance friends to come to see the performance, and one of them wrote on her blog after the show, “I thought tu-feng-wu was the thing that

Load more