Chinese Elements in Dance – Spring Festival Gala Story (4)

Chinese Elements in Dance – Spring Festival Gala Story (4) Contributed by New Oriental Art School Written by Qiu Xiang During the large-scale performance of the 2014 Alberta Year of the Horse Spring Festival Gala...

> Contributed by New Oriental Art School Written by Qiu Xiang In the large-scale performance of the 2014 Alberta Year of the Horse Spring Festival Gala, several dance programs of the New Oriental Art School left a deep impression on the audience. The most important reason why the audience likes these dance shows is that, in addition to the children's superb performances and the gorgeous scenes presented by the live music and lighting, the dances themselves also contain rich and numerous Chinese elements. While enjoying the program, people also appreciated and recalled the charm of Chinese civilization and culture. Among the many dances, the most representative is the Han dance "Hundred Family Surnames". "One Hundred Family Surnames" is an enlightenment book for children in ancient China. Almost every Chinese can read a few sentences. In this dance, in addition to music, rhythmic lyrics and dialogue, there are also traditional Han costumes, Chinese red fans, Chinese characters, surnames, etc. All of this conveys the connotation and charm of traditional Chinese culture to the audience through the children's body language. Children learning dance at New Oriental is actually a process of learning Chinese culture and understanding Chinese civilization. The story of the little white rabbit and the big bad wolf has been interpreted in countless versions since ancient times. Every one of us Chinese can sing the lyrics "Little rabbit, be good, open the door." This year, it was put on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala by New Oriental Art School. The children's dance "Rabbit Spirit Raising Eyebrows" was performed by more than 20 children. It is more like a small children's dance drama, with singing and dialogue. Not only did the young audiences like it, but even adults couldn't resist. The children's cute performances reminded the audience of the time when they listened to adults telling stories. This dance won the love of young and old alike as soon as it appeared. Several boys aged five or six played the role of rabbit brothers in the dance. They and the girls played the role of rabbit sisters fighting wits and courage against the big bad wolf. The performance was very cute. What is particularly worth mentioning is that there are three children from a family performing on the same stage in this dance. The eldest sister plays the big bad wolf, the second sister is the rabbit sister, and the five-year-old brother plays the little rabbit brother. There are 56 ethnic groups in China. Different ethnic groups have their own culture, art and charming style. Of course, watching ethnic songs and dances can provide the most intuitive understanding of ethnic minority customs. Therefore, the dances of ethnic minorities are always indispensable on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala. The dance "Wa Village" performed in this year's Spring Festival Gala uses dance to describe the life and work scenes of the Wa people in central and southern China. The most distinctive thing is that the girls wear waistcoat-style collarless and sleeveless tops, short skirts, and silver headbands, necklaces, necklaces, waist hoops, bracelets and other jewelry. They are very beautiful. . There is also a solo dance "Image of Dunhuang" which is a Chinese classical dance with beautiful music. The solo dancer is very skilled and performs well, giving the audience a strong sense of presence, as if the flying fairies in the Dunhuang murals have walked into the world from the paintings. Children of Chinese families who grow up in the United States have many ways to understand China and Chinese culture, and learning Chinese dance is a good choice. Because the children learned not only the dance itself, but also the rich and colorful Chinese elements contained in the dance.

Children's dance drama "Raising Eyebrows in Rabbit Spirit"

Dance "Hundred Family Surnames"

Tibetan Dance "In That Faraway Place"

Chinese Classical Dance "Impression of Dunhuang"