Yes, this is another installment of an assignment. I type faster than I can write.
Dynamic Yunnan, Kunming.
We were in Kunming for the day. After an interesting noodle meal for dinner, we headed off to a dance performance in the city. Dynamic Yunnan is the brainchild of Yang Liping, dancer and choreographer. Yang Liping is now a household name in China, raising the standards of ethnic dance performances in China. Although this performance was in Yunnan, I have decided to include this in my Beijing journal project as it will put other dance performances in Beijing in perspective.
Dynamic Yunnan features the dance traditions of the different minority groups in Yunnan. The Chinese have been constantly praised for technical excellence in the performing arts, but have also faced constant criticism of their lack of performance and emotive skills. It is also usual to find ethnic performances which are watered down just for entertainment purposes and is not challenging both to the performer and audience. Yang, decided to change all this. The dancers would be required to have expression, expressing motion and emotion through their bodies and faces.
The show included Dai, Tibetan, Miao, and other minority dances. The show also involved live drumming. The music featured was a blend of traditional and modernized forms of minority dance music. The lighting and technical elements of the stage were well-planned. The costumes were nicely designed to include traditional elements but also classy enough for stage. The dancers were very involved in their performance, making it look extremely easy, belying the amount of practice and hard work they have put in. The choreography was intricate, and the motions required of the dancers boggled our minds.
My best experience at the show was the Moon dance and the Peacock Dance, which were both originally danced by Yang Liping herself. Currently the main dancer of this troup is Yang Wei. Her name sounded very familiar to me during the show. For one of the dances, Yang Liping was the singer on the music accompaniment track. The Dai dance required flexibility and suppleness of the entire body. Words will not adequately describe the beauty of this dance. A few weeks before I left for China, I had watched CCTV 9's Centre Stage program featuring a dance extravaganza. The Peacock Dance was featured on the show and I am now almost certain Yang Wei was the dancer. I was thrilled to be able to watch this dance live. I remember watching it on tv and wondering whether it was actually humanly possible to be that flexible.
Pat had warned us that the show is a little dated but it inspired many other similar dance shows in China. Imitation is the best form of flattery. Like we say in China, genuine imitation is good, but imitation can be of extremely poor quality. I hope this explains my comments on the "Cyclone of Gengkhis Khan" and why I found the show to be a little lacking. Currently, Yang Liping has a new dance show out called "Tibetan Riddle". I have decided I will give it a miss as I can't afford to spend USD$100 on a ticket.
(I have posted the links to the Moon & Peacock Dance. Take a look, you won't regret it!)
Yang's Biography
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