Tsai Jui-Yueh Dance Research Institute

A pair of 1920s Japanese wooden buildings, originally police dormitories, that became the home of modern dance in Taiwan. The pioneering dancer Tsai Jui-Yueh (蔡瑞月) taught here from 1953 to 1983, having survived nearly four years’ imprisonment on Green Island during the early years of the White Terror. After Tsai left for Sydney in 1983 her family carried it on. In 1994 the building was slated for demolition to make way for the rapid transit administration complex next door, prompting a sustained conservation campaign where protesters fasted as the site while suspended from a crane. It was designated a municipal monument in 1999, only to be gutted by arson days later, but was rebuilt in 2003. It operates today as a dance and cultural venue.