Intro

1955 Taipei

A seven-year-old child dressed in an elaborate costume, wearing a heavy, glittering headdress stands alone in the middle of a large stage. She faces a performance hall filled with Chiang Kai-shek’s soldiers, military officials and party members. The child is patiently awaiting her cue to perform the ‘Peace Drum Dance’. She inhales the collective stink of harsh cigarette smoke and foul body odor mixed with an uneasy eagerness to watch a little girl dance. A wave of nausea rushes through her petite body. The presences of Teacher Li, her dance mentor, as well as her parents, do not comfort her. She is locked into an invisible cage. There is a long way to go before she is to be let out of this private prison. First, she performs then she waits for her mother or father to bring her before the generals and other military officials. The men have no problem complimenting the little dancer. And she is passed about to be petted and pinched by them.

Maybe this is the moment her parents will say they are proud of her? She waits. There is always this expectation, but it never seems to happen. There is a reward however, it is a special meal of soymilk, fried dough and flat sesame pancakes. The child eats as her parents (charlatans that they are) discuss her performance. As she is not permitted to express a thought or a feeling she eats and eats until she throws everything up. Her parents laugh at their little star’s ‘silliness’. And as they laugh fear replaces the food that was in the child’s stomach and later a gnarling sensation replaces the fear. And the little dancer will choke ever so quietly in an effort to catch her breath…

"your ability to impart the profound loneliness at the core of all of us is unique ... It is a very poignant tale ... The intimacy, ultimately, is what makes it so relatable..." by Molly Cheek, actress