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Chinese Dance
Most people use sound to communicate in their everyday life,
but a dancer on stage uses his limbs and body to do the same
thing. Just like the Chinese language, Chinese dance has its
own unique vocabulary, semantics, and syntactic structure
that enable a dancer on stage to fully express his thoughts
and feelings with ease and grace.
The art of Chinese dance traces its origins to even before
the appearance of the first written Chinese characters. Ceramic
pots have been unearthed in the Sun Chia Chai excavation site
in Tatung County of the western Chinese province of Chinghai
that depict colorful dancing figures. A study of these archaeological
artifacts reveals that people of the Neolithic Yangshao culture
of around the fourth millennium B.C. already had choreo graphed
group dances in which the participants locked arms and stamped
their feet while singing to instrumental accompaniment.
Chinese dance was divided into two types, civilian and military,
during the Shang and Chou periods of the first millennium
B.C. In civilian dance, dancers held feather banners in their
hands, symbolizing the distrbution of the fruits of the day's
hunting or fishing. This gradually developed into the dance
used in the emperor's periodic sacrificial rituals held outside
the city, and other religious rituals.
In the large group military dance, on the other hand, the
dancers carried weapons in their hands, and moved forward
and backward in coordinated group motion. This later evolved
into the movements used in military exercises. Chinese used
choreographic movements of the hands and feet to express their
veneration of the spirits of heaven and earth, to act out
aspects of their everyday life, and to give expression to
shared feelings of joy and delight. Dance was also a performing
art that brought pleasure to both the performers and the audience.
After the establishment of the Music Bureau in the Han Dynasty
(206 B.C.-220 A.D.), an active effort was made to collect
folk songs and dances. By the third century A.D., northern
China was subjugated by the Hsiungnu, Sienpi, and Western
Chiang peoples. In this way, folk dance forms of the various
peoples of Central Asia were introduced into China, and merged
with the original dances of the Han people. This pattern continued
well into the T'ang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). Due to the more
stable political situation during the T'ang Dynasty, dance
in China entered into a period of unprecedented brilliance.
The T'ang Dynasty imperial court founded the Pear Garden Academy,
the lmperial Academy, and the T'ai-ch'ang Temple, gathering
the top dancing talent of the country to perform the magnificent,
stately and incomparably lavish "Ten Movement Music" dance.
This dance incorporated elements from dance forms of the peoples
of China, Korea, Sinkiang, India, Persia, and Central Asia
into one colossal dance. It featured intricate body movement
techniques, and made full use of colorful, gala stage costumes
and props to set off the refined dance movements. Poetry,
songs, a dramatic plot, and background music were incorporated
to create a comprehensive multimedia production rich in content
and fanfare. This was a predecessor of modern Chinese opera.
Each minority people or aboriginal group(700K mpeg file)
of China has its own folk dance forms. The Miao (also known
as Hmong) people of southwestern China, for example, developed
a lively form of antiphonal singing and competitive dance;
the aborigines of Taiwan, influenced by their island life
and environment, created hand-holding line dances as part
of a harvest ritual. Folk dances directly reflect the lifestyles
and customs of a people, and in addition to their artistic
value as dances, they are a precious part of China's cultural
heritage.
In the Republic of China on Taiwan, the development of Chinese
dance has taken on a dynamic and multifaceted personality.
Young people going into dance usually first study ballet and
modern dance, then go back to take a fresh look at the syntax
of traditional Chinese dance. From there they seek out new
directions for Chinese style body expression with an open
mind and spirit of experimentation. Since about 1970, their
original and unique compositions have occasioned a renaissance
in Chinese dance.
The Cloud Gate Dance Troupe of Lin Hwai-min began by building
on a foundation of the Martha Graham school of modern dance,
and gradually absorbed elements from traditional Chinese operatic
performance, along with responses to modern life. It is the
most active and dynamic modern dance group in Taiwan. The
Cloud Gate Dance Troupe performed abroad on a number of occasions,
and is viewed internationally as the most representative of
modern Chinese dance groups.
The New Classical Dance Troupe of Liu Feng-hsueh also takes
modern dance as its starting point. Liu has conducted thorough
research on traditional ethical and sacrificial dance and
Taiwan aborigine folk dance. A deep level of logical thought
is reflected in her dances, along with an emphasis on the
human aspect. She was the first to study, import, and use
dance scores.
The aim of the Hsu Hui-mei Dance Society is to collect and
systematize traditional folk dances. The new dances she has
created have not only the external characteristics of classical
dance, but have also flawlessly incorporated the yen of modern
Chinese for past grandeur.
www.gio.gov.tw
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