Taipei Travel

Located on the 8th and 9th floors of Yongle Market, Dadaocheng Theater is one of the most notable branches of Taipei Cultural Center. Originally a garden before 1908, it was renovated into a market during the Japanese colonial era. In the old days, the market gathered close to a thousand textile shops, making it the largest textile center in Taiwan. Dadaocheng is also the incubator of traditional Taiwanese operas were nurtured, hence its name “Cave of Theatrical Plays”. Dadaocheng Theater is a great venue for performances, promotional events, and preservation of traditional operas. The theater on the 9th floor accommodates various types of traditional operas, such as Taiwanese folk opera, Beijing opera, Nanguan (南管), Beiguan (北管), Hakka drama, Quyi (曲藝; the art of ballad singing and storytelling), etc. The 8th floor offers regular puppet plays, Nanguan and Quyi performances, while the first floor offers “Play in Play” (遊於戲) arts and cultural activities. During spring and autumn, the theater offers cultural and art workshops on traditional operas, tea making, cloth arts, etc., as well as free arts and cultural seminars, and films of traditional operas. The exhibition gallery on the 8th floor features a permanent exhibition of puppet theaters as well as other special temporary exhibitions. Reservation for guided tour is available for groups of more than 10 people. The leasing of rehearsal rooms and multifunctional presentation rooms are also available to arts and cultural groups. In addition, plans are underway for promotional performance of traditional operas on school campuses, educational courses for arts inheritance, as well as training and performance for youth folk opera groups, as an effort to systematically pass on the art of traditional opera and cultivate young talents.