CHINA DAILY Mongolian desert tale inspires dance drama Conference of the Par ties, established by...
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20 LIFE | Culture Tuesday, August 15, 2017 CHINA DAILY This weekend, Beijing Modern Dance Company will present a show on animals of the Chinese zodiac. Chen Nan reports. KEEPERS OF TIME O n a recent humid afternoon in a rehearsal room of the Beijing Modern Dance Company, some 100 people sit on the floor chat- ting. Then they start to move under the guidance of 12 danc- ers. “You tell me how you feel about this after the lesson,” Gao Yanjinzi, the troupe’s artistic director, tells the audi- ence. “You dance the way you want to. There is no standard.” The celebrated dancer-cho- reographer is giving a free les- son to interested people, and her dancers are demonstrat- ing moves from the troupe’s latest work, The Twelve Souls of Time, which will be staged at the capital’s Tianqiao Thea- ter on the weekend. It will be the third round of performance of the show since it premiered in Beijing in May. So far, the show has toured five cities on the Chinese mainland. While the troupe, which was founded in 1995, has earned respect abroad, it still strug- gles to promote the art form at home. Gao, a founding member who graduated from the Bei- jing Dance Academy with a major in modern dance chore- ography, has been trying to promote modern dance in China for long. In The Twelve Souls of Time, which Gao has choreo- graphed, she tells a story of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodi- ac, inspired by Shan Hai Jing, or Classics of Mountains and Seas, a collection of Chinese legends written more than 4,000 years ago. Gao created this sleeping “mountain god” that the 12 animals try to awaken. Through six challenges, the animals conquer their fears during a long journey and finally meet the god. In the process, the animals also become gods themselves and safeguard the wheel of time. In the Chinese zodiac, the years are given different sym- bols represented by the 12 ani- mals. People born in each year are said to share some charac- teristics with the representa- tive animal. Gao has her 12 dancers imi- tating the moves of the ani- mals through modern dance. “Modern dance is different because you cannot categorize its moves. There are no limits. It’s an art form that respects individuality. Both the dancers and the audience are required to be involved,” she says. “Audiences should abandon predictions about what they are going to see in a perform- ance. The ability to imagine and interact with the dancers is very important,” she adds. Before The Twelve Souls of Time, Gao released her chore- ography work in 2013, Bloom- ing of Time, which was inspired by the rotation of the 24 solar terms on the tradi- tional Chinese calendar. The Twelve Souls of Time continues her idea to pay respect to time, which marks the cycle of life. “The 24 solar terms and the 12 animals of the Chinese zodi- ac are essential parts of Chi- nese culture, which display the wisdom and philosophy of our ancestors,” says Gao. “We want to introduce the ancient culture to the audience through contemporary dance.” Born in Guiyang, Southwest China’s Guizhou province, Gao is a member of the Tujia ethnic group. She has received a number of awards for dancing and choreography both in China and abroad, including the Grand Prix at the Internation- al Modern Choreography Competition in Belarus in 1999 for her choreography work Worlds. She has toured the world with her dance shows. In 2008, she was invited by German dancer-choreogra- pher Pina Bausch to create and perform the solo work, As I Heard, which premiered at Bausch’s festival in Wuppertal, Germany. Gao’s combination of ele- ments from traditional Chi- nese culture and modern dance was highlighted in her work Oath Midnight Rain that premiered at the Venice Bien- nale in 2006 and used a score inspired by Peking Opera. Contact the writer at [email protected] Mongolian desert tale inspires dance drama By CHEN NAN When the dance drama Kubuqi, which is named aft- er a large desert in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, was staged at the Tianqiao Per- forming Arts Center in Bei- jing on Thursday, the audience was introduced to a lesser-known fable of the Mongolian ethnic group through folk music. The fable is about a magi- cal flower, which can cure diseases among the resi- dents of Kubuqi, a place in Ordos. But after being saved by the flower, a man takes it away out of greed, an act that turns the area’s beauti- ful land into a desert. His mistake also brings him trouble but no one wants to help him except a girl who helps the man make amends and the flower bloom again. Performed by the Ordos Singing and Dancing Troupe, the dance drama aims to raise environmental awareness. It has been staged 20 times, attracting nearly 20,000 viewers, since it premiered at the Ordos Grand Theater a year ago. Its recent show in Beijing was to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of autonomous region in August. “When we decided to make a dance drama to talk about the environment, especially combating deser- tification, we naturally thought of the fable, which best shows what we wanted to say to the audience,” says composer Cha Gan, who is from Ordos and spent two years finishing the composi- tion for the dance drama. Growing up in a herder’s family on the grasslands, Cha, in his 50s, recalls he couldn’t see the sheep while they were grazing in his childhood because the grass was tall. But about three decades ago, his hometown was hit by desertification. Efforts were made by the local people and the govern- ment to tackle the situation and improve residents’ liv- ing standards. “The desert’s harsh envi- ronment resulted in poverty. The loss of grasslands is painful for herders who live by raising livestock. But now that we have got the grass- lands back, we should pro- tect them,” says the composer, who has used tra- ditional Mongolian ele- ments, such as the morin khuur (horse-head fiddle) and khoomei (throat-sing- ing), to tell the story in the dance drama. The actors and actresses from Ordos are connected to the changes of the grass- lands, and helped deliver the emotions better, says the dance drama’s director He Yanmin. She says borrowing the name Kubuqi, which is spread over 18,600 square kilometers, was an attempt to remind the audience that the once-barren area got greener in recent years — more than 6,000 sq km are turning green. Zeng Han, a senior local government official, says the sixth Kubuqi International Desert Forum, held in Ordos in July, praised the green drive of Kubuqi. The Conference of the Par- ties, established by the Unit- ed Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, will hold its 13th session in Ordos over Sept 6-16, with about 5,000 Chinese and for- eign delegates likely to attend. The dance drama will be performed four times at the convention. Although folk songs vary among regions, music is a uni- versal language.” Susan Nation, the double- bass player of the Chuck Nation Band from the US says she finds similarities between the ethnic culture of Qiandongnan and her home- land. “I am from a part of America that is in the mountains and in the middle of the country. There is a very old mountain tradition. We have a similar history like the Miao and Dong (groups),” she says of the shared tradition of teaching songs from generation to gen- eration. With a history of more than 2,000 years, the “grand song” of the Dong people was derived from the sounds of nature, such as the chirping of birds or the flowing of riv- ers. The song that eulogizes nature, labor and love was listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2009. “We Dong girls start to learn the chorus from around 5 years of age. People from dif- ferent villages gather under the drum tower (a building) and practice singing after working in the fields. The cho- rus also bonds us,” says Qiu Miao and Dong songs in limelight at unique choral festival By CHINA DAILY in Kaili, Guizhou Two young women of the Miao ethnic group, clad in tra- ditional dresses, sing on a boat that passes under an arched bridge over the Qingshui Riv- er in Southwest China’s Gui- zhou province, raising the curtain for an international festival in the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture. The 2017 China (Qiandong- nan) International Folk Song Choral Festival that ended on Saturday was held in Kaili, the prefecture’s capital. The festival’s “world voices conference” drew 69 choirs from more than 20 countries and regions, including the United States, Mexico, Hunga- ry and Russia. It was perhaps the first time that traditional Miao and Dong songs were heard at an international event, according to Emily Kuo Vong, president of the International Federa- tion for Choral Music, one of the organizers of the festival. “It is a great chance for cul- tural exchanges as the festival also brings the most beautiful voices of the world to Qian- dongnan,” she says. At the opening ceremony on Aug 10, local choirs, such as the Congjiang County Dong Choir and the Kaili Choir, per- formed songs with features of the two ethnic groups in Qian- dongnan. “Now I have a better idea about traditional Chinese songs,” says Paulo Lourenco, the conductor of the ECCE Ensemble from Portugal. Regarding differences in folk songs of Portugal and Chi- na, he explains: “These Chi- nese folk songs are based on the pentatonic scale, which is typical in Asian countries, while we use more harmonic and diatonic scales. And the instruments we use are also different from each other. Xian, a local choir member. Fan Ying, 50, a music lover from North China’s Shanxi province, who was at the festi- val, says: “It was amazing to see the spectacular Dong cho- rus live. And the wonderful performances of foreign sing- ers also broadened my hori- zon.” Many local choirs debuted at the festival. Gan Wenhua, a singer from the Majiang County Choir, says his group had been gear- ing up for a performance by practicing more than five hours a day for the past month. Sergio Quiroz, a singer from Mexico, says: “I was touched by the local voices. I hope our singing made them feel the same way.” The festival was held at the Kaili Cultural Palace of Nationalities. Contact the writer at [email protected] 7:30 pm, Saturday-Sunday. Tianqiao Theater, 30 Beiwei Road, Xicheng district, Beijing. 400-680-6215. If you go Choirs from more than 20 countries and regions take part in the international choral festival in Kaili, Guizhou province. Singers from the Miao ethnic group (left) and Kentucky Harmony from the United States perform at the festival. PHOTOS BY XING WEN / CHINA DAILY Gao Yanjinzi performs in her 2004 production, Jue Aware. ZHANG HEPING / FOR CHINA DAILY The dance show The Twelve Souls of Time is inspired by the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY The dance drama Kubuqi focuses on the theme of environ- ment protection. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY The desert’s harsh environment resulted in poverty. But now ... we have got the grasslands back.” Cha Gan, composer, Kubuqi
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Transcript of CHINA DAILY Mongolian desert tale inspires dance drama Conference of the Par ties, established by...
20 LIFE | Culture Tuesday, August 15, 2017 CHINA DAILY
This weekend, Beijing Modern Dance Company will present a show on animals of the Chinese zodiac. Chen Nan reports.
KEEPERS OF TIME
O n a recent humidafternoon in arehearsal room ofthe Beijing Modern
Dance Company, some 100 people sit on the floor chatting. Then they start to move under the guidance of 12 dancers.
“You tell me how you feelabout this after the lesson,” Gao Yanjinzi, the troupe’s artistic director, tells the audience.
“You dance the way youwant to. There is no standard.”
The celebrated dancerchoreographer is giving a free lesson to interested people, and her dancers are demonstrating moves from the troupe’s latest work, The Twelve Souls of Time, which will be staged at the capital’s Tianqiao Theater on the weekend.
It will be the third round ofperformance of the show sinceit premiered in Beijing in May.
So far, the show has touredfive cities on the Chinese mainland.
While the troupe, which wasfounded in 1995, has earned respect abroad, it still struggles to promote the art form athome.
Gao, a founding memberwho graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy with a
major in modern dance choreography, has been trying to promote modern dance in China for long.
In The Twelve Souls of Time,which Gao has choreographed, she tells a story of the12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, inspired by Shan Hai Jing, or Classics of Mountains and Seas, a collection of Chinese legends written more than 4,000 years ago.
Gao created this sleeping“mountain god” that the 12 animals try to awaken. Through six challenges, the animals conquer their fears during a long journey and finally meet the god.
In the process, the animalsalso become gods themselves and safeguard the wheel of time.
In the Chinese zodiac, theyears are given different symbols represented by the 12 animals. People born in each year
are said to share some characteristics with the representative animal.
Gao has her 12 dancers imitating the moves of the animals through modern dance.
“Modern dance is differentbecause you cannot categorize its moves. There are no limits. It’s an art form that respects individuality. Both the dancersand the audience are required to be involved,” she says.
“Audiences should abandonpredictions about what they are going to see in a performance. The ability to imagine
and interact with the dancers is very important,” she adds.
Before The Twelve Souls ofTime, Gao released her choreography work in 2013, Blooming of Time, which was inspired by the rotation of the 24 solar terms on the traditional Chinese calendar.
The Twelve Souls of Timecontinues her idea to pay respect to time, which marks the cycle of life.
“The 24 solar terms and the12 animals of the Chinese zodiac are essential parts of Chinese culture, which display
the wisdom and philosophy of our ancestors,” says Gao. “We want to introduce the ancient culture to the audience through contemporary dance.”
Born in Guiyang, SouthwestChina’s Guizhou province, Gao is a member of the Tujia ethnic group.
She has received a numberof awards for dancing and choreography both in China and abroad, including the Grand Prix at the International Modern Choreography Competition in Belarus in 1999 for her choreography work Worlds.
She has toured the worldwith her dance shows.
In 2008, she was invited byGerman dancerchoreographer Pina Bausch to create and perform the solo work, As I Heard, which premiered at Bausch’s festival in Wuppertal,Germany.
Gao’s combination of elements from traditional Chinese culture and modern dance was highlighted in her work Oath Midnight Rain thatpremiered at the Venice Biennale in 2006 and used a score inspired by Peking Opera.
Contact the writer at [email protected]
Mongolian desert tale inspires dance dramaBy CHEN NAN
When the dance dramaKubuqi, which is named after a large desert in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, was staged at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing on Thursday, the audience was introduced to a lesserknown fable of the Mongolian ethnic group through folk music.
The fable is about a magical flower, which can curediseases among the residents of Kubuqi, a place inOrdos. But after being savedby the flower, a man takes itaway out of greed, an actthat turns the area’s beautiful land into a desert. Hismistake also brings himtrouble but no one wants tohelp him except a girl whohelps the man makeamends and the flowerbloom again.
Performed by the OrdosSinging and Dancing Troupe, the dance drama aims to raise environmental awareness. It has been staged 20 times, attracting nearly 20,000 viewers, since it premiered at the Ordos Grand Theater a year ago. Itsrecent show in Beijing was tomark the 70th anniversary ofthe founding of autonomous region in August.
“When we decided tomake a dance drama to talk about the environment, especially combating desertification, we naturally thought of the fable, which best shows what we wanted to say to the audience,” says composer Cha Gan, who is from Ordos and spent two years finishing the composition for the dance drama.
Growing up in a herder’sfamily on the grasslands,Cha, in his 50s, recalls hecouldn’t see the sheep whilethey were grazing in hischildhood because the grasswas tall. But about threedecades ago, his hometownwas hit by desertification.Efforts were made by thelocal people and the government to tackle the situationand improve residents’ living standards.
“The desert’s harsh environment resulted in poverty. The loss of grasslands is painful for herders who live by raising livestock. But now that we have got the grasslands back, we should protect them,” says the composer, who has used traditional Mongolian elements, such as the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle) and khoomei (throatsinging), to tell the story in the dance drama.
The actors and actressesfrom Ordos are connected to the changes of the grasslands, and helped deliver theemotions better, says the dance drama’s director He Yanmin.
She says borrowing thename Kubuqi, which is spread over 18,600 square kilometers, was an attempt to remind the audience that the oncebarren area got greener in recent years — more than 6,000 sq km are turning green.
Zeng Han, a senior localgovernment official, says the sixth Kubuqi International Desert Forum, held in Ordos in July, praised the green drive of Kubuqi.
The Conference of the Parties, established by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, will hold its 13th session in Ordos over Sept 616, with about 5,000 Chinese and foreign delegates likely to attend.
The dance drama will beperformed four times at the convention.
Although folk songs vary among regions, music is a universal language.”
Susan Nation, the doublebass player of the ChuckNation Band from the USsays she finds similaritiesbetween the ethnic culture ofQiandongnan and her homeland.
“I am from a part of Americathat is in the mountains and inthe middle of the country. There is a very old mountain tradition. We have a similar history like the Miao and Dong (groups),” she says of theshared tradition of teaching songs from generation to generation.
With a history of more than2,000 years, the “grand song”of the Dong people wasderived from the sounds ofnature, such as the chirpingof birds or the flowing of rivers.
The song that eulogizesnature, labor and love was listed by UNESCO as an
intangible cultural heritage ofhumanity in 2009.
“We Dong girls start to learnthe chorus from around 5 years of age. People from different villages gather under the drum tower (a building) and practice singing after working in the fields. The chorus also bonds us,” says Qiu
Miao and Dong songs in limelight at unique choral festival By CHINA DAILY in Kaili, Guizhou
Two young women of theMiao ethnic group, clad in traditional dresses, sing on a boatthat passes under an arched bridge over the Qingshui River in Southwest China’s Guizhou province, raising the curtain for an international festival in the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture.
The 2017 China (Qiandongnan) International Folk Song Choral Festival that ended on Saturday was held in Kaili, theprefecture’s capital.
The festival’s “world voicesconference” drew 69 choirs from more than 20 countries and regions, including the United States, Mexico, Hungary and Russia.
It was perhaps the first timethat traditional Miao and Dong songs were heard at an international event, according to Emily Kuo Vong, president
of the International Federation for Choral Music, one of the organizers of the festival.
“It is a great chance for cultural exchanges as the festival also brings the most beautiful voices of the world to Qiandongnan,” she says.
At the opening ceremony onAug 10, local choirs, such as the Congjiang County Dong Choir and the Kaili Choir, performed songs with features of the two ethnic groups in Qiandongnan.
“Now I have a better ideaabout traditional Chinese songs,” says Paulo Lourenco, the conductor of the ECCE Ensemble from Portugal.
Regarding differences infolk songs of Portugal and China, he explains: “These Chinese folk songs are based on the pentatonic scale, which is typical in Asian countries, while we use more harmonic and diatonic scales. And the instruments we use are also different from each other.
Xian, a local choir member.Fan Ying, 50, a music lover
from North China’s Shanxi province, who was at the festival, says: “It was amazing to see the spectacular Dong chorus live. And the wonderful performances of foreign singers also broadened my horizon.”
Many local choirs debutedat the festival.
Gan Wenhua, a singer fromthe Majiang County Choir, says his group had been gearing up for a performance by practicing more than five hours a day for the past month.
Sergio Quiroz, a singer fromMexico, says: “I was touched by the local voices. I hope our singing made them feel the same way.”
The festival was held at theKaili Cultural Palace of Nationalities.
Contact the writer at [email protected]
7:30 pm, SaturdaySunday. Tianqiao Theater, 30 Beiwei Road, Xicheng district, Beijing. 4006806215.
If you go
Choirs from more than 20 countries and regions take part in the international choral festival in Kaili, Guizhou province. Singers from the Miao ethnic group (left) and Kentucky Harmony from the United States perform at the festival. PHOTOS BY XING WEN / CHINA DAILY
Gao Yanjinzi performs in her 2004 production, Jue Aware. ZHANG HEPING / FOR CHINA DAILY
The dance show The Twelve Souls of Time is inspired by the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
The dance drama Kubuqi focuses on the theme of environment protection. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
The desert’s harsh environment resulted in poverty. But now ... we have got the grasslands back.” Cha Gan, composer, Kubuqi
