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FESTIVAL DANCERSCPAA Youth Performing GroupDANCE ORIGIN: Dongbei, China 2010 PERFORMANCEIn 1790, four Anhui theater companies brought a fresh style of music and
theater to Beijing. The style merged with folk and opera forms, and it became
the stylized Beijing Opera. Beijing Opera's mostly historical and military
tales included song, poetry, music, dance, and gesture, with fixed character
types and a sparse set. Communist China at first restricted the Opera to
portrayal of common workers in plain dress, but the traditional style has since
revived. Dan—female roles—include the young and middle-aged, innocent and dissolute,
martial artists and elders. Until the 1930s, a woman's presence onstage was
considered indecent. Female
impersonators (male) became the great opera stars (including Mei Lanfang, who
influenced Brecht and Stanislavsky). Today,
girls set on joining the Opera begin extensive training around age eight. They
study singing, martial arts, acrobatic stunts, speech, and
scripted movements that express specific emotion and meaning. (Trembling means
anger; flicking a sleeve signals disgust; circling the stage is a journey.) Mr. Bing Wang and Ms. Xue-Bing
Kitty Xu created the choreography in 2008, based on Beijing Opera forms.
The contemporary music is also based on tradition. 2008 PERFORMANCE
![]() CHOREOGRAPHERS: Xue Bing Xu, Bing Wang DANCERS: Ariel Chu, Stella Ge, Anna Liu, Claire Liu, Selynna Sun, Jamie Tsai, Jasmine Tsai, Gianna Wu, Jocelyn Yeh, Chelsea Young COMPOSER/CONDUCTOR: Guan Gu Ren VOCALS: Silicon Valley Chorus INTERNATIONAL GUEST MUSICIANS: China Central Conservatory of Music - Professor Xili Gui (concert dulcimer), Professor Yue Li (Chinese flute), Professor Jianhua Wang (percussion), Professor Qiang Zhang (pipa) The Lunar New Year is the most important and joyous festival of the Chinese calendar. Usually falling on the second new moon after the winter solstice, the celebration symbolizes a new beginning of everything—a good harvest, better luck, higher achievement, harmony and peace, and in general, hope to the people. The young dancers on today's stage are portraying the children of Dongbei, celebrating their happiness for the New Year and for the future. Their costumes symbolize good fortune, as the color red is linked to a famous Chinese legend. Thousands of years ago, Nian, a terrible beast, threatened to devour communities. It was discovered that Nian feared the color red, the light of fire, and loud noises—so firecrackers and red became the hallmark of Chinese Year. If celebrants can keep Nian away for another year, they are to be congratulated. The CPAA Arts Center dancers will no doubt succeed—as they dance with the traditional silk banner and whirling handkerchiefs, demonstrate special ribbon techniques, perform cartwheels and handsprings, and shout with happiness, "Let's play! It's the New Year!" CPAA Arts Center is accompanied by four international guest musicians, all professors from the Central Music Conservatory in Beijing: Qiang Zhang on pipa, Xili Gui on dulcimer; Jianhua Wang on percussion, and Yue Li on Chinese flute. Professor Qiang Zhang is a concert pipa musician, and a leading proponent of pipa research and performance. Professor Xili Gui is a well-known concert dulcimer (or yangqin) artist and has published many articles on performance. Professor Jianhua Wang is an award-winning master of percussion and serves as the Vice-Chair of National Percussion Association. On Chinese flute, Yue Li was golden award winner of many national competitions, and is a rising star of Chinese folk music. |
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