Chinese Dancers from Beijing and the U.S.
Gorgeous costumes—satin and silk, glitter and design—first catch the eye as it zeros in on graceful, meltingly soft, passionate and cheeky women and powerful, soaring men. Kicking off the celebration of 30 years of U.S.-China diplomacy, The Beijing Dance Academy Youth Dance Company of China (BDAYD) and the Washington, DC-area Golden Universe Dance Studio jointly presented The Golden Autumn Showcase of Chinese Dances at the Harman Center for the Arts in DC on November 1 and 2.
BDAYD, making its first appearance in the U.S., featured international dance competition winners who performed at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games ceremonies. Washington, DC’s company featured well-trained first-generation Chinese immigrants who have been pursuing dance as an avocation under the artistic direction of Yu Jin, a professional dancer/choreographer with more than 40 years of experience in China and the U.S.
American Aly Rose, dance professor and choreographer at New York University who studied Chinese dance in China, and Ling Tang, a Chinese dance teaching artist with the Washington Performing Arts Society who is getting a master’s in arts management at Columbia’s Teachers College, were guest artists.
Lyrical choreography characterized several dances: “Joyful World,” a harvest dance; the fire-worshipping Yi people in “Happy Torch Festival;” and “Stamping in Melody,” a re-creation based on historical accounts and paintings from the Han-Tang Dynasty. Dancers, waving sleeves extending far beyond their hands, used mincing steps, head tilts, hip shifts and movement in circles and lines. Xiao Liu worked 20 foot-long silk ribbons fluttering and rippling with one and then both hands in “The Flying Goddess.”
In “Round Fan Dance,” an ensemble manipulating pink fans illustrated the reserved beauty of privileged maids serving in the Qing Dynasty’s imperial palace. “Bidding Farewell” illustrated a couple expressing love along with the pain of separation.
“The Passion of Kang Ding,” reminiscent of a cowboy dance, portrayed Tibetan girls from Kang Ding gathering at Horse Riding Mountain. In “Hani Dance with Muji Shoes,” dancers wore ankle bells and wood platform sandals to tap out beats.
The cheeky women in “Pretty Chinese Opera Girls” conveyed the naughtiness and playfulness of young actresses. Wearing headdress topped by four-foot plume extensions, they could pass as Las Vegas showgirls! In “One Woman Show,” Rose playfully rejected each suitor in a folk dance with a love plot seen in the popular Errenzhuan traditional opera.
Two female solos were ardent. Tang’s “Everlasting Fire” created an image of a Mongolian jumping horse or wavering flame symbolizing bravery and vitality as she rapidly maneuvered her full red dress. Like a passionate flamenco dancer, Jiao Guo’s “What a Beautiful Red Flower” showed a Tajik’s girl’s pursuit of love, spinning in multiple turns in place and dropping to the floor.
Male dancers communicated control and strength. In “Trudging Alone in the Desert,” Zihan Wang, accompanied only by his sword, rediscovers his heroic mettle with held arabesque balances, torso contractions and releases and leaps. Sheng Feng Wang, in “The One,” contrasted sharp attack with stillness to demonstrate the Chinese philosophy of using body movements and rest to reach internal harmony.
“Close to the Sun” revealed Shuai Wu bearing a rope/whip in each hand as he beat the drum on his back like whipping the herds to a song about the Tibetan people being closer to the sun than the clouds. “Emperor Qin Calling Up Troops” featured a dramatic, tense male quartet with spectacular leaps.
The stunning dance concert clearly gave us a glimpse of some of China’s 5,000 year-old culture that surely calls for more exposure in America.