Sydney to Taipei: First Nations Dancer Connects Cultures with Taiwan's Indigenous Communities

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When Sydney based dancer Baden Hitchcock packed his bags for Taiwan, he was after a change of pace.

The Torres Strait Islander and Papua New Guinean man seized the opportunity to take a scholarship studying Mandarin in Taipei, before turning his attention back to working with other Indigenous artists.

“I was with Bangarra [Dance Theatre] for six years … post Covid, a lot of people had a little bit of a ‘Oh I think I need a change in my life,'” he told NITV.

“But I also had a lot I wanted to say personally and I wanted to explore my own choreography and my own identity.

“I knew there were quite a few connections between the Taiwan Indigenous people and the Austronesian language groups all the way down into Australia, so I was really keen on exploring this relationship.”

Mr Hitchcock’s family is from the Mabadauan Torres Strait Island Treaty Village, and they have connections to Saibai, and Hanuabada village in Papua New Guinea’s Central Province.

He has just finished performing Sounds of Belonging, a new show running at the Pulima Art Festival held by Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation every two years.

Speaking to NITV in Taoyuan City after one of his performances, Mr Hitchcock says the piece was inspired by the concept of “gida” – a word in his mother’s language of Motu, from Papua New Guinea.

Baden first moved to Taipei to study Mandarin on a scholarship.

“Gida is the ember you take with you on long journeys, so after a fire … you smother that piece of wood so it keeps smouldering and then you can take it and it can relight fires,” he said.

“But in the more abstract way, ‘gida’ can be this sense of identity or inner smouldering flame inside of you.”

He choreographed the piece alongside performance artist Pan Panay – a member of the Amis tribe, one of the Indigenous peoples of Taiwan.

“Me and my collaborator Panay were talking a lot about how when you’re an Indigenous artist in the city, how do you connect still with where you’re from?” Mr Hitchcock said.

“Especially because I grew up in Sydney and my mum and my older sisters were born in Papua New Guinea … so as I came into my adulthood it was trying to find my way of who I am, and how I connect with my family back home.”

Community of Indigenous artists

Since moving to Taipei Mr Hitchcock has spent much of his time collaborating with other Indigenous artists – both sharing his culture, and learning about the Indigenous peoples of Taiwan.

“I started going out into the communities here and trying to meet other Indigenous artists here, and then starting to collaborate and talk about what it’s like being a contemporary Indigenous person now in Taiwan,” he said.

One of the more interesting aspects of Indigenous politics in Taiwan to Mr Hitchcock is the fight for recognition of Indigenous people from the plains in Taiwan’s west.

“In Taiwan … [the] thinking is that Indigenous Taiwan people only exist in the east of Taiwan and in the mountains,” he said.

“Everyone talks about this, ‘Their area is over here’, and then the whole western flat region was never Indigenous land, and it’s never really talked about.”

Taiwan’s government currently recognises 16 different Indigenous tribes, with most of them located in the eastern and central mountainous parts of the island.

The more I travel and meet other Indigenous artists the more I realise we’re all facing quite similar struggles.

Baden Hitchcock, dancer and choreographer

After his time living overseas, Hitchcock says he’s learned that Indigenous people from all around the world share a lot in common.

“Taiwan people are some of the nicest people I’ve met, they really go out of their way to help you and they will always welcome you into their homes with a smile,” he said.

“It reminds me of going back home to my village, I would say island customs of welcoming.”