From Self-searching to Strategic-orientation： The Cloudgate Dance Theater of Taiwan and the Social Change of Taiwan

The point of departure of this research is: As the first professional modern dance company in the Chinese-speaking World, how was Cloudgate Dance Theater of Taiwan and the modern dance possible in the 1970’s when Taiwan was in the historical phase of developing country. To solve this puzzle, there are two main questions to be answered: first, what is the social process of the specific cultural production of Cloudgate since 1973? ; secondly, what is the relatedness between this cultural production and the social change of Taiwan during the past 35 years?n this dissertation, I analyze the history of Cloudgate Dance Theater and the structural change of Taiwan, and point out that even though Lin, Hwei-Ming, the founder of the Cloulgate carried much social and cultural capital to the modern dance field due to his special family background and social network, the organizational and institutional factors, including the change of the national cultural policy and the establishment of the department of dance of TNUA, are crucial to the continue of this modern dance company. They gave the Cloudgate structural support for capital distribution and reproduction. t is also important to know that the development of Cloudgate and the social change of Taiwanese society share the same trajectory from self-searching to strategic-orientation. It is because by their practices, the dance company is able to response to the main social issues in different periods with different ways that Cloudgate become the national icon of Taiwan.