Our Story
Milestones
Team
MILESTONES
One to One Hundred: A Brave Journey was invited to the Hong Kong Arts Festival, where its original four performances quickly sold out, followed by an additional show that sold out almost instantly, making it one of the festival’s best-selling productions. The production then embarked on a nationwide tour across Taiwan, journeying from the big top to theatres in cities across the island. To date, it has played over 65 sold-out performances and welcomed more than 100,000 audience members.
At 15, FOCASA joined forces with legendary choreographer Lin Hwai-min and picture-book artist Jimmy Liao to create One to One Hundred: A Brave Journey, Taiwan’s first long-running circus production under the big top—opening a new chapter for Taiwanese circus and an adventure of courage and dreams.
Reuniting with Tien Tsai-wei and Jan Möllmer, FOCASA created The Blank Character, hailed by critics and scholars as a new starting point for contemporary circus in Taiwan. Grids, fragmented bodies, gaps and empty spaces intertwine onstage, pushing circus once again into uncharted territory.
The first FOCASA Circus Arts Festival transformed Tainan’s Shueijiaoshe into a city of circus, bringing together 30 companies from eight countries and attracting 80,000 visits over seven days. More than a festival, it was a celebration that opened new horizons for Taiwanese circus.
FOCASA acquired its own big top and began laying the groundwork for the FOCASA Circus Arts Festival. More than an event, it was a commitment to the future—the birth of a circus festival Taiwan could call its own.
When COVID-19 hit, hundreds of performances in Taiwan and abroad were suddenly cancelled, putting FOCASA’s survival at risk. A public fundraising campaign, encouraged by Lin Hwai-min, brought support from across Taiwan and helped FOCASA through its most difficult chapter. The circus carried on, and so did the dream.