Scarecrow Contemporary Dance Company (SCDC), awarded " National Culture and Arts Foundation TAIWAN TOP Performing Arts Group (since 2018) ", was founded in 1989 by Chiu-Mei Ko in Tainan City. It has been a recipient of Performing Art Group Classification Award from The Ministry of Culture since 2012 and was part of the Ministry of Culture's Performing Arts Groups Fostering Plan from 2007-2011, as well as a recipient of the 2005 and 2006 Tainan City Outstanding Dance Company Awards. Artistic director Wen-Jinn Luo along with SCDC director and producer Wen-chun KuLo, have led SCDC in producing, creating and performing a variety of innovative and unique contemporary dance works and performances. SCDC is committed to its mission to collaborate with outstanding dancers, choreographers, and artists from different fields to break through the existing dance creation, performance concept and production mode, and to create extraordinary and distinctive dance work by observing life, expressing humanity, caring for life, reflecting on life, and thinking about society.
The Scarecrow Contemporary Dance Company was consecutively selected as the only dance production for the National Culture and Arts Foundation’s 2nd and 4th Performing Arts Pursuit of Excellence Program with “The Man on the Moon – Andersen” (2008) and “Milky” (2015). From 2010 to 2011, the company was selected for two consecutive years to represent Taiwan at the Festival d’Avignon Off in France, presenting “S” choreographed by Shu-Yi Chou and “The Keyman” choreographed by Wen-jinn Luo (shortlisted nomination, 9th Taishin Arts Award – Performing Arts). “The Keyman” was praised by the French online performing arts magazine Reg’Arts as “a stunning creation.” In 2014, “Unbreakable · City, co-created by Wen-jinn Luo and new media artist Lien-Cheng Wang, was commissioned by the Quanta Arts Foundation and received support from the Ministry of Culture’s Cross-Disciplinary Creation and Technology Program. In June 2015, Wen-jinn Luo premiered “Dripping”, a contemporary dance-theatre work featuring live performance by a three-member band. In 2017, the work was invited by the Hong Kong Dance Company to be presented as part of 8/F Platform XI – Time and Space Journey Records at the 8th Floor of the Sheung Wan Civic Centre in Hong Kong.
In 2024, the company was commissioned to present “That’s Possible, But Not Now”, an absurd dance-theatre work paying tribute to Franz Kafka, created by Wen-jinn Luo in collaboration with dramaturg Hung-Chun Chen, at the 2024 Tainan Arts Festival. The work was subsequently nominated in 2025 for the 23rd Taishin Arts Award.
