Liu Ruo-yu

Taiwan

Liu Ruo-yu

Taiwan

Liu Ruo-yu's career in the performing arts began in the 1980s in the milieu of avant-garde theater with the Lan Ling Theater Workshop, where she was a principal actor. Her dreams took her to the USA in 1983, where she pursued a Master's Degree in Theater Arts at New York University. Liu Ruo-yu's exceptionalism earned her the opportunity to be part of a year-long workshop, with a Polish theater director in the US, Jerzy Grotowski, who believed drama provided a framework for self-exploration.

Liu Ruo-yu returned to Taiwan and a gave a breath of new life to Taiwanese drama. She created, founded, formed a new theatrical troupe, the U Theatre, in 1988. At first, they performed popular ritual ceremonies and folk performing arts with masks. Then Liu Ruo-yu integrated her personal transformation in the US about self-exploration with her troupe and introduced the process of awakening of the self to her actors via Taichi and physical training.

In 1993, she invited Malaysian musician and drummer, Huang Chih-chun to join the troupe and brought together drumming, meditation and martial arts with drama.

In 1997, "The Sound of Ocean" featured at the Avignon Festival, France's annual arts festival, and local media named it the best program. She brought it on tour for more than 100 performances worldwide. In 2002, "Meeting with Vajrasattva" earned 1^st^ Prize at the Taiwan New Arts Awards. In 2003, she graced Taiwan with, "The Dandelion Sword." "Shaolin Martial Arts" is her newest production in collaboration with Shaolin Temple Wushu Training Center.

Liu Ruo-yu provides for the troupe members to be away from the hustle and bustle of Taipei to concentrate on their meditation, and thus, reside in nature in a half outdoor theatre on a hill nearby Taipei. Her performances have been staged in traditional theaters, outdoor open spaces, and even in the middle of rice paddies. She embodies the spirit of Tao in herself and has embraced her troupe's constant search for inner peace and conveyance to the audience through performances.

In 2009, Liu Ruo-yu, brought drumming to the Changhua Prison and established a prison drumming group. In 2011, Liu Ruo-yu's book entitled, "Liu Ruo-yu's 36 Acting Lessons" was published, and she won the 36^th^ Golden Tripod Award of Taiwan. In 2015, she was awarded the, "Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon." In 2016, her book, "Hugs" was published.

Since the beginning of 2020, Liu Ruo-yu has led her theatrical troupe to compose large-scale productions of a key part of the Threefold Lotus Sutra, the Sutra of Infinite Meanings, which is foundational to the Tzu Chi School of Buddhism, the Jing Si Dharma lineage. She also composed music and Huang Zhiqun arranged and co-created sound tracks of: "The Six Auspicious Signs of the Lotus," "Herbs as Hand Notes," "Clothes Beads as Hand Notes," "Beautiful Hair Beads as Hand Notes," "Tzu Chi Asteroid," and others. She also extrapolated from the Sutra's three chapters to create chants about: Virtues, Expounding the Dharma, and the Ten Merits.