ANCIENT DANCE TO BE PREMIERIED IN UK TO CELEBRATE CHINESE NEW YEAR
A Chinese dancer living in the UK has revived a 2,000-year-old traditional dance as a centrepiece of a feast of entertainment to welcome the Year of the Horse.
Fenfen Huang from Linhai in Zhejiang Province wants a British audience to experience the colourful spectacles that dominate television screens across China.
Ms Huang, director of a Liverpool-based arts and culture company, China Pearl, has produced an evening of Chinese dance and music on February 1 to be performed at the Unity Theatre in her adopted city.
The centrepiece will be what Fenfen Huang believes is the first ever performance in the UK of a dance devised over 2,000 years ago in China.
Ms Huang explained: “The old dance is a traditional Chinese Han Tang dance called Xiang He Ge (Xiang He Ballad). It was choreographed by Professor Sun Yin from the Beijing Dance Academy who has been devoted to developing traditional Han Chinese dance for many years. I reworked the old dance with my dance group in Liverpool.
“The piece is based on Your Collar, a famous ancient poem from Shi Jing, the early collection of Chinese poetry and one of the Five Classics of Confucianism. The girls chant the poem and dance on and off drums creating rhythms with their feet to express their affection for absent loved ones.
“I want to present this piece to share with a British audience the traditional dance, music, literature and costumes over 2000 years ago in China, which reflects the diversity and depth of Chinese culture.”
The show also includes a range of Chinese dance and music.
Added Ms Huang: “In China one of the highlights of the Spring Festival and our New Year are the spectacular shows. Seeing them is one of the things I most miss about China, they are so colourful and vibrant and a great way to start a new year.
“China Pearl decided we want to capture some of this magic right here in England so a UK audience can share the same experience.
“We will bring the spirit of horse to the Unity Theatre with an exciting Chinese cultural show of exquisite and electrifying dance and music featuring traditional, contemporary and fusion styles.”
The show will include solo dances by Susie Lu, who has performed on China’s state television station CCTV. Yuxuan Su will play the memorising Chinese harp while Qiqi will perform both classical and pop music with a beautiful Chinese flute. Local break dance group Funkymentals will bring audience's favourite piece about a Kungfu story in a fusion style back to Unity. Fenfen will also perform a couple of Chinese dance solos. "
“The show will be very eclectic with traditional Chinese dance, Chinese national & folk dance, Chinese classical and pop music, , plus a fusion of street dance and Chinese martial arts. Our audience will learn about Chinese arts, history,tradition, literature, ethnicity and the integration of Chinese culture in British society,” said Fenfen Huang.
Hoof-note: Chinese New Year falls on Friday, January 31, entering
the Year of the Horse. The Chinese Sign Horse is energetic, warm-hearted,
intelligent and able, which reflects a famous Chinese phrase 'Long Ma Jing Shen
/ 龙马精神’ which literally
means 'energetic as a dragon and a horse and full of vigor’. Chinese
people hope the spirit of the horse will bring a lot of luck and prosperity in
the new year.
For tickets please visit http://www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
Snippet of the rehearsal for a new traditional Chinese dance piece
we will premier at the show
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