Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) With Taiwan's incredible dance talent, Taipei can be the dance capital of the world if it wants to be, and corporates can be of great help along the way, the founder of a U.S. dance group said Tuesday.
"There is such incredible dance talent here on the world level. Taipei can be the dance capital if it wants to, but it needs to make investments, " said Jonathan Hollander, founder of Battery Dance Company (BDC).
"Maybe dance is a key for Taiwan to gain global recognition, " said Hollander, who founded BDC in 1976.
The New York-based group concludes a six-nation Asia tour, which has taken them to Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, the Philippines and Taiwan in six weeks, with a performance Tuesday in Taipei.
Hollander and the BDC dancers conducted 11 master classes and workshops during their six-day stay in Taiwan.
Hollander has worked with dancers from Cloud Gate, Taiwan's most prestigious dance troupe, and some BDC dancers have worked with Shue Fang-yi, the first Taiwanese principle dancer in the Martha Graham Dance Troupe in New York.
Corporates can also be a great help and a bridge between arts groups and public institutions in a "triangular relationship, " Hollander told about 50 corporate representatives in a speech focused on corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Corporate involvement, both on the company and employee level, in the community and art groups not only helps employees with their networking, personal growth, self-esteem and companies with their corporate pride and image, but also helps those art groups in need of funding, he noted.
"It's important to have that mutual respect between the corporate sector and artists, " he said.