Category: Taiwan

TUTU DANCE STORE, TAIWAN

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DANCE STORES IN TAIWAN: TUTU DANCE, TAIWAN
Welcome to Taiwan! Besides my VLOG which i posted on my new youtube page, I’ll be writing more about Tutu dance, in Taipei Taiwan.
HOW TO GET THERE: 
From the main station, or from any train station. Take the train to Zhongshan Elementary school ( TAKE EXIT C ) or you can also take the bus. Cross underneath the big highway and go straight, about a 2 min walk until you see the 7-11 to your right, turn right to the small street.
You will see an entrance to your right as you can see in the video and go up to the 7th floor, you will find TUTU DANCE showroom.
ABOUT TUTU DANCE STORE:
What I love about Tutu Dance store, is that it is probably one of the most complete dance stores that I’ve been to. Even compared to Chacott in Japan, i really love their selection of leotards, shoes and warmers. They have all kinds of selections, styles and all brands! Including online shops such as myself. In terms of shoes and pointe shoes, they also have all selections of sizes, including the new kinds of fits and the rare to find styles and sizes.
They even require all their staff to take ballet once or twice a week, which is why I love them because all their staff are knowledgeable on what to recommend and they are also very quick to follow in new trends. They are a very hands on shop and they definitely know how to take care of their dancers.
If you’re ever in Taipei, go check them out! I’ll leave you their address here under this blog and a map to their store. Enjoy Dancers!
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Where to take ballet classes in Taiwan, Taipei

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As per the recommendation of my customer and now friend from Taiwan. I listed down all of her tips and suggestions on where to take ballet classes in Taiwan. Taiwanese people are really big on ballet. I took a ballet class with her and i was surprised by the number of dancers taking ballet class. Each class was filled with not less than 20 students packed in the studios. I wish that I could have a photo for you but they did not allow us to take any photos of their studios. These studios are in no particular order.
All of them are very kind and reply on Facebook immediately, so if you are looking to take class and you would like to know their time schedules you could send them a message in english on their Facebook pages and I assure you they will reply.

1. Wuyi studio 

Website:  http://rayhsiao2002.myweb.hinet.net/ 

This studio is very old but the teachers are very good here and a lot of students go here because it is the cheapest option from all of the dance classes in Taiwan. A walk in class will only cost you 400TWD as compared to other studios who would charge 500-800TWD. Just come 20 mins before class and they will allow you to join any of their classes.

How to get there: Exit M7 at the Taipei main station. You will see a 7-11 to your left and you turn left to that street then you will see a small door to your Right and go up to the 3rd floor using the elevator.

Cost of classes: 400 TWD regular, 500TWD pointe shoes

wuyi studio schedule

Here is a schedule just in case. The green encircled portions are the advanced classes.

2. 62 studio ( Art Wave, organizer of Gala in Taipei )

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/62

This studio different from the Wuyi studio is relatively new. They are one of the more famous studios because they are the organisers of Galas in Taipei. Their teachers are also very good here and plenty of kids and adults take class here during the evening. If you would like to come here go here during the day where there are lesser people. They also sell ballet rosa leotards here, which is a local leotard brand from Taipei. 

Cost of classes: 500 TWD regular class and 200TWD pointe shoes.

62 studio schedule english

The classes encircled in green are the advanced classes.

3. Kenny Wang Ballet school 
This particular school seems to be famous because this was where Miko Fogarty visited the last time she was here for the Taiwan competitions. I hear that they have one of the prettiest studios here in Taiwan and their teachers according to my friend are good too. You could try it out if you are interested to see their studio.
Other places she recommended if you were too far from the first 3 that was recommended are:
4. Paramita Dance Studio 
5. O-dance 1983
Not everyone would want to take class while on vacation. But I really did enjoy the classes that I took while I was in Taiwan even if I took them all half out because I was pretty tired from all of the walking we did. If you are looking for a friendly ambiance the first studio mentioned was the most comfortable to take class in because they are like a family. Whats good about ballet is that its the same use of words everywhere, and since I knew how to count 1-8 in Chinese it really helped me.  Hope this helps for dancers who want to visit Taiwan !
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We couldn’t take pictures inside, so this is what we got from the outside.

Yongle Fabric market in Daocheng, Taipei

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After walking an hour or so in Yongle, we finally found the fabric market. The street leading up to it, lined with fabric stores, makes you think that’s already it –we walked past the mall the first time. Funny because it’s the biggest structure in the area. In front of the street are a few benches in a small open space and across the street is the 1920’s bookstore. You should’t miss it.

Eating the mall, through the plastic curtains, the first thing you notice is the smell of fish. This is because the first floor is in fact a wet market. Crabs, squid, a nd other sea creatures whose names I have only seen in my textbooks. And of course, there are also stalls that sell cooked food.

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Fabric purchase after hours of looking for ballerina fabric

The second floor, to put it simply, is a maze of fabric stores. From mesh to cotton to those things you use for blankets, they have everything. Plenty of Japanese prints. There are not so much people going around, mostly young people who look like they go to fashion school. As I do not look very Chinese, they still addressed us in the language. Perhaps this is because they do not get much tourists around her. But in any case, yards and meters are still the units used.

We managed to get out of the maze and up into the third floor. It was full a floor full of seamstresses. We did not go around up there too much as we aren’t staying long enough to have something sown anyway. So we just went back to the second floor to shop some more!

How to get there:  Most sites say to take the MRT, get off at the Shuanglian Station, then take the Red 33 or 518 buses, and get off at the intersection of Minsheng West Road.  We opted however to ride the train to Biemen station and exit the Y7 exit. As you walk along that area you will already start to see lace shops and tailoring shops. Small crochet shops and nice pottery and wood working places. Its a nice walk to the Yongle market if you like to do a lot of walking you could opt to take this  route.

Opening hours: Open Mondays to Saturdays from 10am to 6pm and closed on Sundays