Chen Yi En
Chen Yi En is a contemporary choreographer and dancer. He determined to learn to dance because he aspired to choreograph. When in school, he had been selected as the Youth Ambassador of Taiwan and performed in Italy. He won a scholarship to take classes at the American Dance Festival, later obtained grants of Next Choreography Project, and Young Star New Vision in Performing Arts from National Culture and Arts Foundation, and awards from several different Taiwanese youth creation programs.
In 2015, he joined Cloud Gate ２ and performed in "Beckoning," "13 tongues", and "Spring Riot," and the series of productions choreographed by the Artistic Director Cheng Tsung Lung. Chen toured with the dance group in Taiwan and oversea. During the time, he received Art Makers Project of Cloud Gate Foundation to support his creation. He later won an art residency grant to Paris in 2018, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan. Through the residency, Chen had expanded his artistic vision and reconstructed his views of choreography. He was also aware of the importance of his own culture.
- Location France / Paris
- Year of the Grant 2017
- Residency Cité Internationale des Arts
While experiencing new life in residency, by taking advantage of being in Europe, I also visited eight cities, four art festivals, eighty-three performances, and cooperated with different fields of artists to have eight performances.
I initiated a dance program called "Let's move your Bum!." It is a dance class for every artist in the artist village. With weekly meetings for body training, I developed a special friendship with the artists. Some of them even completed their first dance performance in their lives with me.
Throughout the residency, I cooperated with artists from various disciplines, including performance art and object body performance. For example, I was invited to perform in the visual artist Stefan Wirnsperger's video work. I also asked to play in the independent music group Barnabé Fountain's music video, to co-choreograph COCO with dancer Shihya Peng, a Taiwanese who expatriated in France, and performed in performance artist Stanislav Dorochenkov's work.
It was a critical turning point when I decided to change my way of living. At the time, I left the dance group and its regular dancers' life. I was preparing to be an independent worker. When I was pushed forward by my encounters in Paris, a city full of culture and excitement, I also followed my instincts to make my artist's career plan. I recognized my life again and found the rhythm most suitable for the current stage.