To strengthen cultural exchanges between Hakka people and minority groups from around the world, the Hakka Affairs Council (HAC) invited French dance group Bleuniadur Ensemble to tour Hakka settlements across Taiwan from Aug. 11 through 23.

Members of the group belong to an ethnic minority in France’s Brittany, and they founded the ensemble in 1977 due to the impending language extinction crisis of their mother tongue Breton. They are devoted to local folk dance and music, by which they celebrate their own ethnicity and revive their language. The traditional dance form preserved by Bleuniadur Ensemble earned the country’s first recognition from UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

In HAC’s statement, performance art is a universal medium for all groups, whether Bretons or Hakkas, to preserve and pass down their languages and cultures. The dance ensemble’s visit to Taiwan was a great chance for the general public to see world-class performances and exchange ideas and stories.

On Aug. 17, Bleuniadur Ensemble and HaChiKu Culture Troupe (哈旗鼓文化藝術團), which is from the Liudui region of Kaohsiung City and has cultivated Hakka performing arts for 15 years, brought their performances to Liudui Hakka Cultural Park (六堆客家文化園區) in Pingtung, presenting the cultures of Brittonic Bretons and Taiwanese Hakkas through their dance and music.

It is believed that the two-week program laid a diplomatic foundation for Hakka culture and demonstrated HAC’s efforts to protect minority languages, and that Taiwanese support for Hakka affairs will continue.