Taiwan dance troupe to present impromptu moves in Beijing

"Our life, like improvisation in dancing, is unpredictable. That's what attracts me most to the concept," says Ku, who is also the dean of the dance school at the Taipei University of the Arts.

Born in Taiwan, Ku started her ballet training at a young age and grew interested in modern dance as a teenager. She graduated from the Chinese Culture University and then became a dance teacher there. In 1985, she went to the US to further her study of modern dance, where she obtained her master's degree in it from the University of Illinois.

Since she returned to Taiwan in 1991, Ku has been involved with the dance form. In 1993, she founded Ku&Dancers, a rare professional dance company in Taiwan dedicated to research and promotion of contact improvisation.

In the beginning, Ku only had four or five dancers, but the company now has 11 dancers of different ages.

Ku has also worked as a soloist, touring around the US and Europe. One of her choreography works, titled Bamboo Grove, inspired by its use in traditional Chinese culture, premiered in the University of Illinois in 1988. In 2011, Ku initiated "i-dance", a biannual dance festival dedicated to the form with participants in Japan, South Korea and China.

"We want to offer a platform to young dancers, choreographers and the audience to talk and communicate through dancing. You just put yourself in physical situations and be comfortable with the moves you like," Ku says.

"It's not something mysterious or hard to comprehend. All you need to do is to go impromptu."

If you go

8 pm, Thursday-Saturday; 3 pm, Sunday. 77 Theater, 77 Meishuguan Houjie, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 1326-3363-865.