Hearing that Pina Baush's Wupata Dance Theater was going to Taipei to perform "Carnations," the dance fans in Beijing and Shanghai couldn't sit still. The dance was performed in Taipei 21 years ago, and they knew that if they missed it, they would have to spend more energy and cost to see it.
As a result, in the "two halls" of Taipei in March, there was such a scene: dance fans in the north and south of the sky played "flying" and gathered here, playing various tones, discussing this masterpiece of flowers and seas.
Stills from Carnation
As a participant in the 2018 Taiwan International Arts Festival (TIFA), the Wupata Dance Theater performed 4 consecutive performances of "Carnations" in the "Two Halls Courtyard". This dance, which came out in 1982, is outdated or even shocking even when viewed in the present.
In her work, Pina explores injustice, authoritarianism, desire, and love. 23 dancers ran and danced among nearly 10,000 carnations, sometimes innocent and sometimes depressing. In addition to the mechanical repetitive movements, the dancers also added a lot of dialogue, and even had the dangerous action of jumping the cardboard box on a high platform. They walked off the stage, invited the audience out of the theater, and led them to stand up and hug, bringing them closer to each other.
This is the 7th time that the Upata Dance Theatre has come to the stage. In 1997, Pina chose "Carnation" to meet with Taiwanese audiences for the first time.
"Pina is dead, while the senior dancers are still in the dance troupe, there is still a chance to rehearse, I hope that the audience who did not see it at that time can see that pure work again, and we also want to bring some memories to the old audience." 」 When Pina first came to Taiwan, Li Huimei, who was also the leader of the "Two Halls" program team, also helped insert carnations, and 21 years later, as the artistic director of the "Two Halls Courtyard", she said that whether it is the dance world or the literary and art circle, Pina has a great influence on young people in Taiwan.
"More than twenty years ago, small theaters were very popular in Taiwan and have been going across borders, but dance is still a pure physical performance. Pina opens the eyes of young people: dancers are all-round actors, they can dance, sing, perform, talk, dance is not just dancing, they can do a lot of things. ”
In this way, the Wupata Dance Theater has formed a deep friendship with Taiwan, coming to Taiwan almost every three years to cross-stage Pina's classic old works and urban series.
Coming back this spring, the "Two Halls" deliberately organized a staff to rehearse a "Four Seasons Dance", and when it was broadcast at the press conference, the company's new artistic director, Adolfy Penta, was very moved. "He's the new director and doesn't have any feelings for us, because of this film, he thinks we're very kind and caring." Lee smiled and said, "Taipei is Pina's home." ”
Pina Baush has only been to the mainland once, in 2007. At that time, the dance troupe performed Pina's 1970s classics "Spring Festival" and "Muller Cafe" for four consecutive nights, and celebrities from the literary and art circles flocked to the Beijing Tianqiao Theater like pilgrimages, which was a grand event for the city.
Ten years later, this trip to the mainland led by Pina herself is still nostalgic. The call for Pina to come back was incessant, and the audience was ready to greet her, but because of the high cost, few theaters dared to undertake the Upata Dance Theater.
Li Huimei said frankly that the introduction cost of Pina's 4 shows exceeded NT$10 million (about 2.16 million yuan), and the "two halls" drama hall had 1526 seats, and the ticket price was set at NT$700-3600 (about 151-777 yuan), because the ticket price was too low, even if the attendance rate was 100%, it was impossible to break even.
So, why can Taiwan introduce Pina for 7 consecutive times? Where does the Taiwan International Arts Festival (TIFA) come from to do projects that it knows will lose money?
When the spring was in full bloom, we talked about TIFA with the program team and marketing team of the "Two Halls".
Program: Don't do grand opera and ballet, feed the audience with nutrients
Launched in 2009, TIFA officially entered its 10th anniversary this year, and from the end of February to the middle of April, 20 drama, music and dance programs were staged at TIFA.
If the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Shanghai International Arts Festival follow the mainstream route in Europe, focusing on grand opera, grand ballet and big orchestra, TIFA aims to bring the audience art that they do not usually have the opportunity to appreciate.
"If mainstream programs are already available in the market, the 'two halls' don't need to grab this market anymore." Li Huimei gave examples, such as big orchestras, big operas, big ballets, which are affirmed and popular in the market, "many private companies are doing it, if the festival is still repeated, the audience will be very sorry, there is no other choice." ”
Li Huimei hopes that TIFA can break the concept of traditional art festivals, break the mainstream programs, bring different artists and unfamiliar performing art forms to the audience, and open up the creative horizons of Taiwanese artists.
Every year, TIFA will make appropriate allocations in the theater, music and dance sections, and will also consider joining indigenous and parent-child programs, and give Taiwanese local artists a certain display space. It is a comprehensive arts festival that has both a high-cold and avant-garde program that also caters to the needs of the public, not just serving the appreciators of high art.
The general direction of the entire program planning is decided by Lee Hye-mi. Because Lee Hye-mei has a special love for modern and contemporary dance, TIFA and the "two halls" have also become an important platform for the promotion of modern and contemporary dance.
This year's TIFA, in addition to the "Carnation" of the Wupata Dance Theater, the European choreographers - Christopher Pat, Ivan Perez, Laudio Bernardo, respectively, brought the modern dance "Etudes of Love and Pain", "BECOMING" and "Jovanni Club", and Taiwanese dancer Su Wenqi also staged a new work "Looking Back from Infinity" here.
Because it is obscure, abstract, and not easy to get started, Taiwanese private brokerage companies do not do much modern and contemporary dance, as an administrative legal person partially funded by the government, Li Huimei believes that the "two halls and courtyards" must not give in, and this bridge must be built.
For example, belgium's famous Rosa Dance Company has come to Taiwan three times, in 2006, the audience was not cold, the box office only sold to 50%; in 2015 with "Rosas danst Rosas" on stage TIFA, the box office soared to 70% or 80%; in 2017 with "The Vortex of Time" to TIFA, the box office was sold out in a short period of time - when the audience was cultivated, the initial high-cold investment of "two halls" was not high-cold later.
"We are just making up for the position, Taiwan's performance market is so big, we will do special programs and feed the audience with nutrients."
Speaking of "special", Lee Hye-mi recalls the avant-garde opera "Psychedelic Battlefield" in 2015 when TIFA introduced a Danish theater company-style hotel.
Founded in 1985, the hotel is known as an experimental workshop for visual, musical, performing, and installation art. It is internationally famous, but in the Chinese-speaking world, its popularity is almost zero. "Psychedelic Battlefield" cross-border combination of Japanese manga, noh drama, electronic music, installation art, 12 singers with classical bel canto chants of Japanese noh drama, after premiering in Latvia in 2011 after a blockbuster.
"A lot of people don't understand, saying that I have the guts to invite such a cold music group. This group is very new to Taiwan, but they are not young. Li Huimei recalled that the image of the form hotel is refreshing, and the cross-border attempt is also very touching, the original music can be so interesting, the image can be so trendy, the singer's body movements can be so beautiful, "It opened a lot of doors for us, and Taiwanese artists can learn a lot from the programs we introduced." ”
"If the risk of doing a new show is very high, we will find some more easy to start programs to do, and constantly adjust the proportion of the program." We allow one part of the show to lose, and the other part can make up for it. Li Huimei admitted that TIFA often gambles on the biggest risk when introducing programs, they will not only pick "high-performing stocks", but also focus on tapping "potential stocks".
Ticket sales: No private shows are allowed, and every show is racking their brains
The annual operating expenses of the "two halls and courtyards" are about NT$700 million (about 150 million yuan), of which 40% is funded by the government and 60% is self-financed by the "two halls", including box office, field rent, resident income, sponsorship, etc.
TIFA's annual operating expenses are nearly NT$90 million (about 19.43 million yuan), in addition to introducing programs, it also has to do various supporting activities such as guided tours, post-performance talks, workshops, master classes and so on.
Usually, TIFA prepares the marketing of the festival in August of the previous year, announces the show on October 25, and goes on sale on November 1. This is a process that Taiwanese audiences are used to, and the 90% ticket sales rate is the lowest target of the festival.
February and March were originally the off-season for performances in Taipei, and the emergence of TIFA brought the market up and made the off-season a peak season.
In 2017, TIFA staged a total of 25 shows, with a ticket sales rate of 9.5%, more than half of the performances sold to 100%, and many performances were "killed". 60,000 spectators entered the theater by buying loose tickets.
Among them, 1/3 of the box office, the festival is confident and stable, this part of the audience is regarded by Lee Hye-mei as the "egg yolk district" deep audience, they are loyal fans of the "two halls", but also the fans of TIFA. In another 2/3, Li Huimei admitted that because the programs are not necessarily familiar to the audience, they must rack their brains, use various media to promote, and desperately sell.
Before the release of the 2018 TIFA program list in October last year, the "two halls" tried to have a face-to-face exchange with the audience of the "egg yolk area".
Nine viewers who have participated in TIFA for 9 consecutive years were invited to participate in the program sharing session. Doctors, lawyers, administrators, teachers... They are in all walks of life, in the theater, music, dance preferences are also different, the common point is often run to the international stage to see the performance, the performing arts industry is very familiar, at any time to the "two halls" to make suggestions, open menus.
"We're building a platform where they can get to know each other, influence each other, and recommend each other's plays." They gathered together to present their accounts, which were more convincing than our introductions. Li Huimei said that bringing these opinion leaders together is equivalent to indirectly opening up a cross-category market, and after they return, they will also drive and influence the young people around them, bringing a new social circle to TIFA.
Compared with the consumption level of Taiwanese audiences, TIFA ticket prices are not high.
As can be seen from the official website, TIFA's most expensive ticket this year appeared in soprano Daniela Di Niss and the Lucerne Festival String Orchestra "From Mozart to Broadway", with a maximum price of NT$4800 (about 1036 yuan), followed by The Upata Dance Theater "Carnation", Mitani Yuki 'Becoming a Strange Doctor', with a maximum price of NT$3,600 (about 777 yuan)."
"Our fares are triangular, the high-priced tickets are very small, and the bottom tickets are many, which will take care of everyone's spending power." These tickets are sold purely by the theater one by one, without free tickets, and enterprises are not allowed to charter venues. This involves the issue of the rent of the "two halls".
Li Huimei explained that the more funds given by the government, the more social responsibility, and the fare and the rent reflect the responsibility of the "two halls" to society - as a government-funded administrative legal person, the "two halls" are non-profit units, so they have given public tasks to feed consumers and let them enter the theater at a more reasonable price. In addition, the rent of the "two halls" cannot be too high, in case the performance team and the private economic company cannot afford to rent.
Whether it is a drama hall or a concert hall, the rental fee of the "two halls" is NT$50,000 (about 10,788 yuan) a night, which is equivalent to 1/10 of the rental cost of the theater of the same level in Shanghai.
"The 'two halls and courtyards' have already made feedback on the rent and fare of the venue, and if the venue is chartered, it is equivalent to indirectly allowing business owners to enjoy these benefits through commercial channels, which is contrary to our original intention." We hope that the general public will have the opportunity to enter the theater, rather than charter the venue, and let some special people enjoy it. Lee Hye-mi said.
Therefore, even if tifa's ticket sales rate reaches 100%, it cannot be returned, because the ticket price covers government subsidies and sponsorships, and every show is sold at a reduced price, and the audience is watching the performance at a lower cost.
The 9.5% ticket sales rate is not easy for an art festival, Li Huimei believes that marketing is only an auxiliary means, the key lies in whether the work is good or not, and the work itself can speak.
Take dancer Su Wenqi's participation in TIFA's "Looking Back from Infinity" this year as an example. Its first box office was not ideal, but on the night of its premiere, it fermented and spread word of mouth on social media, quickly driving the ticket sales of the next three shows.
"Taiwanese audiences are already very mature, and if the work is good, they are very willing to pay." Now that the network is so developed, everyone usually waits and sees the word of mouth of the first show of the new program, afraid of stepping on the landmine, but when they see the praise, they will immediately buy tickets. ”
Marketing: It must be cut to the bone, and the audience in one direction cannot support the box office
The 9.5% ticket sales rate has to be racked up, which means that TIFA spends a lot of energy on marketing, and the CRM system is indispensable.
This is an intelligent ticketing system, based on this system, TIFA and even all the performances of the "two halls" can accurately target the target audience group in the first time, and most efficiently deliver performance information, field journals, electronic newspapers and other promotional materials.
With the CRM system, the "two halls" is equivalent to having a complete membership database, and all the audiences who buy tickets in this system must fill in the details of gender, address, age, telephone, email and other details as required, and most of them are the core audience groups who are really willing to buy tickets into the theater.
Just like looking at stocks, the shows and marketing teams in the "two halls" track the CRM system every week, and as a result, their marketing strategies change every week.
Every week, Chen Huiqi, head of the marketing team of the "Two Halls" program and marketing department, will give the team a "competitor analysis" and a "shipwreck index", for example, a show can only bear the risk of two weeks, if the ticket sales rate does not reach a certain growth percentage at the scheduled time, the ship will sink in the third week, and they must immediately start the remediation strategy in the second week.
"It's a concept of risk management. Our discussion process is like a dismantling of psychological structures, we are disassembling the needs of the audience, and the reasons for not having needs. Chen Huiqi said.
Take TIFA's participation in this year's program "The Edge of Love and Pain" as an example. The modern dance was a collaboration between choreographer Christopher Pat and playwright Jonathan Young. In 2009, Jonathan Young's two daughters died in a fire, an accident that caused him to fall to the bottom of his life and embark on a difficult journey of redemption, inspired by the story of a post-traumatic syndrome.
Christopher Pat became popular in Europe, but the first time she came to Taiwan, TIFA still had to spend a lot of effort to introduce her. With more than 4,500 seats to sell, TIFA is confident of winning over audiences interested in modern dance, but where do the rest of the audience go?
The marketing team chose to start with the topic. Because the work discusses post-traumatic syndrome, which is related to psychological trauma, the staff asked the psychologist to help write a related article, and then locked the post-traumatic syndrome on the Internet through the article, so that they could pay attention to the show and enter the theater.
Therefore, the audience in one direction is far from enough to support the entire box office of TIFA, and the marketing team must always keep an eye on the audience feedback and adjust the direction of ticket sales at any time.
They will divide consumers into three layers, core (egg yolk), sub-core (egg yolk peripheral), peripheral (protein), the core of the 30% box office is a must get, the secondary core, peripheral changes have been very large, the mainstream social atmosphere, economic conditions are good or bad, the New Year's holiday, political changes, will affect the structure and consumption habits of the audience.
Chen Huiqi concluded that 70% of the consumer groups in Taiwan's performing arts industry are women, and female audiences aged 35-45 are the most likely to be lost, because most of them are married and have children, it is difficult to get rid of babies for a while and a half, and after the age of 45, they will re-emerge from the jianghu because their children have grown up and gone to school.
"Changes in life stages affect people's consumption habits, and we try to disassemble everyone's behavior patterns and design different programs for them." Chen Huiqi said that the marketing team will label the consumer group, screen and put them into different baskets, classify and target them to recommend programs, "so the 'two halls' have been doing focused things, whether it is program planning or marketing." ”
Stills from "The Flames of War"
Because the consumer group is mainly female, in Taiwan, where the "small luck" and "small fresh" culture is prevalent, some keywords such as death, fire, war and other fierce words are almost box office poison. Therefore, the marketing team pays great attention to the text and packaging design of the program.
For example, in 2016, the "Two Halls" introduced the play "The War" from the Chekhov Theater in Russia, and the title of the play was literally translated as "War", but the marketing team finally took the "War" as a much more literary and softer translation.
"It is true that it is about war, but it also talks about the private feelings of children, life and death, which is something that girls and Wenqing will care about, right?" We repackaged it, not only from the name softened, but also visually re-processed, the original still is a soldier wearing a mask of terrorism, we changed to a schoolboy with glasses carrying a suitcase to wander the world, the picture is more tender, the box office is much better. ”
The same is the modern dance, the dance company is different, TIFA packaging method is also different.
In 2017, the Belgian Rosa Dance Company staged "The Vortex of Time" at TIFA, the dance company is known for its repetitive aesthetics, its movement logic comes from mathematics, and the marketing team processed the poster into a logical static picture, which is full of symbols, simple, direct and powerful, successfully benchmarking the calm, rational and logic-obsessed audience. And if it is a dance troupe known for its flesh and skills such as the Dutch Dance Theater, the marketing team does not need to talk much, directly release the beautiful body of the dancer, and a still can beat the audience.
"We're going to do more than 80 shows throughout the year, which is equivalent to analyzing more than 80 DNA, deconstructing them and then putting on new clothes for them, and all year round it's like being Holmes, always looking for new answers."
Chen Huiqi said that all the programs of the "two halls" have undergone such a cumbersome and exquisite dismantling, and there has been a lot of exercise and accumulation, and TIFA, which accounts for half of the annual workload of the "two halls and courtyards", is no longer dazed in operation.
However, this does not mean that they have a set of ready-made marketing rules to lean on, and their marketing strategy changes every year, month or even week. They hardly do rules of thumb, such as dance should be sold this way, drama should be sold that way, old experience can be referenced, but not the only basis.
"We need new information for every show because every year the problems are different, and the experience of three years ago or even a year ago is outdated for us – as the team and the work grow, its audience structure changes, or loses old people or adds new people, so the old experience can be referenced, but not completely believed."
Chen Huiqi laughed and said that because of the limited operating funds, TIFA's marketing must be sharp and not allow the opportunity to make mistakes, "Mistakes have no bullets, we must calculate them accurately one by one." ”
In addition to the program, TIFA also has a lot of merit in terms of service and landing activities.
From April 13 to 15, French director Toma Jolly's historical Shakespeare drama "Richard III" will be staged at TIFA. The 13th coincided with Friday, for Taiwanese audiences, Saturday is the best day to watch the performance, Sunday is a box office poison, and Friday will be more difficult.
"Richard III" is four hours long, and the show will start at seven o'clock in the evening, in order to encourage the audience to buy Friday tickets, the marketing team has long posted the news online: the theater will solve the dinner problem and provide the audience with a free "Strange Bird of the Night" sandwich, because Richard III is a dark man, and the sandwich is specially matched with devil peppers and black fans.
The audience is often moved by such a small and intimate move. Chen Huiqi said frankly, "We hope to establish a relationship of mutual trust with the audience, and we will always think about the audience's demand side, rather than rigidly stuffing the performance information to each other and making people avoid it." ”
Many times, people's needs are induced, such as you yearn for someone living a certain life, you will be hooked out of such needs, take the initiative to find information - induce the needs of the audience, rather than hypnosis, strong feeding them information, this is a healthy marketing method summarized by the entire marketing team.
Induction is carried out subtly. For example, TIFA will do landing activities for each program, guided tours, post-performance talks, lectures, workshops, master classes... From the beginning of ticket sales to the official performance, a show will do at least seven or eight activities.
For Taiwanese audiences, everything is advertised to fight, but it will cause their rejection, so the "two halls" are more inclined to use soft means to promote.
For example, in cooperation with Eslite Bookstore, the "Two Halls" did not erect advertising boards in the bookstore, but moved three red flannel chairs from the drama hall to reserve a place for potential audiences, who could either sit down and rest, or scan the QR code to intuitively understand the information of the art festival.
From time to time, the "two halls" will also hold exhibitions, give lectures, and do pop-up mobs in Eslite. Ghost director Wang Jiaming's new work "Dear Life" was staged at TIFA in March, which was inspired by the short stories of Nobel Prize-winning writer Alice Meng Ruo, in order to warm up, the "two halls" simply held a "Meng Ruo Exhibition" in Eslite.
TIFA can also be seen at the ubiquitous FamilyMart in Taipei. There are coffee cup sets all over the "two halls" here, and consumers can get performance information, buy tickets and discounts as long as they scan the QR code on the cup covers. In places where the general public is in large numbers, the festival has received a wide range of exposure.
It is worth mentioning that whether it is TIFA or the usual performance, the "two halls" will distribute questionnaires to the audience of each performance, and the resulting data analysis is an important source of information for them.
Usually, a performance can recycle 20% or 30% of the questionnaire, the audience will put forward a variety of opinions on it, in addition to improving their own services, the two halls also have a more detailed understanding of the audience, know how to do things more targeted. For example, the channels for classical music audiences to obtain performance information are more from traditional propaganda products such as manuals and leaflets, and modern theater audiences mainly obtain performance information from the Internet.
Conclusion: The leader's vision and pattern determine the height of an art festival
In its tenth year, TIFA's success is obvious to all, however, Li Huimei still has some regrets in her heart.
She hopes that TIFA will not only speak out in the "two halls", she also hopes that TIFA can give Taiwanese artists more opportunities to perform, the festival has so many programs a year, leaving them with not too many opportunities to hone, "There are very few Taiwanese artists who can appear on the stage at TIFA, some people have to wait for two years to have a chance, and it is important that the performance continues to be affirmed." ”
The "Two Halls Courtyard" was completed in 1987, and Lee Hye-mi was a member of the theater as early as the preparation of the theater. For more than 30 years, she has worked as a front desk, ticketing, stage supervisor, program manager, and even artistic director in the "two halls", and has executed and planned more than 4,000 programs. It can be said that she is the most senior performing arts curator in Taiwan, and also the person in Taiwan who knows the world's performing arts ecology best.
"She herself is very bold. 21 years ago, who in Taiwan knew Pina? But she dared to please. Chen Huiqi sighed that if it were not for Li Huimei, few people in Taiwan would be willing to touch modern and contemporary dance, because it is difficult to make a profit from the perspective of the market, but she often tries to defy the public opinion and introduce some programs that others will put question marks on.
"She has the courage to do these things that are not immediate, she has this professional vision, she has the courage to invest." This show is not accepted now, does not mean that it will not be accepted in ten years, she will slowly raise, patiently wait for the market to grow, if not, we are still watching ballet. ”
The vision and pattern of leaders often determine the height of a theater and an art festival, which Lee has proved with thirty years of experience.