A Taiwanese dance troupe, the LAFA & Artists Dance Company, will leave Tuesday for the 2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad that will be held in the Canadian city at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre March 18-19.

“We plan to show a variety of choreography presenting Taiwanese modern dance to international audiences,” said Bulareyaung Pagarlava, LAFA’s artistic director, choreographer and co-founder.

At the Olympiad, LAFA will present two of its productions, “37 Arts” and “Single Room 2010″ which have both won high acclaim at international dance festivals, and a new version of “Lamentation.”

According to Bulareyaung, “37 Arts” was the first piece in which he incorporated playful and humorous elements, and he expects the audience to appreciate its beauty and enjoy its fun.

With simple props, the dancers pull and push to depict confrontation, suffering and anger, he said.

Bulareyaung disclosed that his inspiration for the piece came from his relationship with his partner in life and in work Sheu Fang-yi — the other co-founder of LAFA and its principal dancer — during the years when they lived in a place called 37 Arts in New York.

“Lamentation,” a piece that depicts the subtle shades of sadness, is an extension of a work of the same title by the legendary Martha Graham, he said.

Bulareyaung has added a moving touch to the piece with a prelude featuring Graham relating in her own voice the story of an elderly man who told her about the cathartic effect “Lamentation” had on him.

According to Bulareyaung, “Single Room 2010″ was his and Sheu’s first joint production, and the solos showing the internal struggle of lovers being apart actually reflect the years when Sheu was in New York trying to find her own path and he was in Taiwan.

Both Bulareyaung and Sheu said that they hope that LAFA’s talented young dancers, who have just returned from a dance festival in Adelaide, Australia, will give impressive performances in Vancouver.

LAFA was founded by Bulareyaung and Sheu in 2008.

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