What an odd year for everyone in every corner of the world. In Taiwan, the art centers were closed for about three months before June 7th. After that, theatres allowed the full capacity of audiences. The entry process for events/performances included temperature measuring, hand disinfection, and asking the audience to provide contact information, all of which has become the new normal. The virus really challenged the conventions of society and understanding, with no exceptions for circus practitioners. But still, the energy of Taiwan’s circus community didn’t stop at all but blossomed into various kinds of flowers.

As the first exchange article from DuMaXi with CircusTalk, we want to offer a window for English readers to have a glimpse into the Taiwanese circus environment with a retrospective report. New Companies, New Works, New Topics In 2020, lots of new circus companies presented their first works in Taiwan, but also many artists initiated new directions. A-Z CIRCUS (鏡距離馬戲) presented its first creation Long Time No See. Tien Circus Theatre (天馬戲創作劇團), which just re-organized and collaborated with the director Zi-Yi Sun (孫自怡) from A Theatre for Jasmine’s Magic Adventure, which successfully merges circus and musical aesthetics together. One of the striking new co...