In January of 2011, I agreed to write a magazine column for Performance Arts Review (PAR), a monthly periodical published by the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. Although it was understood that the column would have something to do with the performing arts, the content, direction and tone was totally up to me. The only requirement was length. It had to be between 1000 and 1200 Chinese words in length. No more, no less.
To give it a consistent style, I decided that in each column, I would try to make connections between something that happened recently with an event or person from the past. The past could be represented by either something in my own past or in the last few hundred years, connecting with a figure in music history. The general plan was to weave a storyline from these different starting points, and finally putting them together, creating anticipation and, if successful, satisfaction in the reader to see how these very different stories eventually come together.
Regarding tone, my goal is to exude a spirit that is both capricious and sunny, one that may occasionally look deeply at things, but for the most part finds enjoyment out of making interesting connections. At all costs, it should stay out of the realm of dry, serious academia. Happy reading!
