Temple performance troupes to perform at National Day celebrations for the first time

Temple performance troupes to perform at National Day celebrations for the first time

2022-09-25

The National Day celebration will see something new this year. Taiwan’s traditional temple performance troupes will be putting on colorful acts, including lion dances and a white crane dance. Three troupes from Tainan have been selected. Chen Tsung-yen, secretary general of the National Day organizing committee, personally went to the old southern capital to inspect the progress at a dress rehearsal. In a rare sight, the three troupes will put on a joint martial arts performance. Chen said the act was in line with this year’s theme of "Defending the Homeland."

In the square in front of Luermen Mazu Temple in Tainan, three temple performance troupes file in rows as they jump and dance. More than 200 people have turned up to create this spectacular sight.

The temple troupes from Tainan this year will burst onto the stage on National Day with three traditional martial arts formations. Chen Tsung-yen, the secretary general of Taiwan’s National Day organizing committee, went to Tainan to personally inspect the rehearsal’s progress.

Chen Tsung-yen
National Day organizing committee
This is the first time we’re putting local temple performance troupes on stage at our National Day event, so this has an entirely different significance. The show is about defending one’s hometown. As it happens, this coincides with our theme of defending our homeland. It resonates with the concept that we are all in this together.

One religious organization representing a temple from Tainan’s Qigu District will perform a traditional white crane dance, while two religious troupes from Sigang and Annan Districts respectively will perform lion dances. Even though the sun was blazing, they worked hard at the rehearsal. They were excited at the idea of performing in front of the Presidential Office building.

Martial Arts Instructor
I’m very happy because I’ve only seen the Presidential Office building and have never been to it. We can offer things related to our cultural heritage to the whole nation. There are only two troupes in Taiwan that can perform the traditional white crane dance, and ours is the older group.

As Taiwanese tradition dictates, individual temple performance troupes normally put on their own acts and don’t dance in one formation. That these three troupes will be joining together for one performance on National Day will be exceptional. There is a cloud of secrecy over how the three martial arts performances will be integrated and presented. But there’s no doubt the audience will find this refreshing.