Reflection On China In Dance Performance

In today's essay, I will be writing about the live performance called China in Dance that I watched on Friday, September 28, 2018, at the Community Center theater located on 1301 L Street Sacramento, CA 94814. The dance company that performed was the Beijing Dance Academy from U. C. Davis and was hosted by the Davis Chinese Film Festival Foundation (DCFFF).

In scene one there were 12 female dancers who performed in a group dance called the Ta Ge which means singing and dancing. The choreographer for this dance was Sun Ying. In this scene, all the girls wore a green top with a white skirt that had a pink and orange ribbon and triangle shaped cuts at the bottom with pink elf shoes. All the dancers had three tall buns in their hair with a flower clip and ribbon. The makeup they wore was a white powdered face with red lipstick and dark eyeliner.

In this performance, it was a Chinese dance style. One thing I noticed was that they were all happy and smiling. The dancer's body movements were slow and graceful. The dancers mostly moved their arms and head. The entire stage was brightly lit up by yellow and white lights that shines from above the stage. Something that I liked was how the movements were so short which made it look pretty and elegant. In scene two it was an all male quartet dance called the Qin Warriors. The choreographer for this dance was Chan Weiya. The performers names were Xue Ziqian, Chen BIngrui, Jiang aidong, and Li Mengshi. The four dancers each wore a different colored armored outfit. The first dancer wore red, the second dancer wore blue, the third dancer wore orange, and the fourth dancer wore green. The men did have makeup on, they wore black eyeliner with a white powdered face. In this performance, they danced two different dance styles which were robotic and Kung Fu moves. The male dancer in the orange outfit did 20 pirouettes in a row. Each dancer had their own solo in the dance. The lighting for this scene was red and yellow that changed when each dancer performed their solo. A few things that I liked in this performance was that every move was precise, on point with the music, and the movements were fast but also very elegant. I also liked the fog because it gave the scene a great special effect. In scene three it was a Duo Dance called the butterfly lovers. The choreographer for this dance was Li Hengda. The performers’ names were Luo Jincheng and Sun Can. In this dance, there was only one man and one woman. The woman was wearing a long sleeved peach colored dress with pink elf shoes. Her makeup was a white powdered face with red lipstick and black eyeliner. She also wore her hair tied up in a bun with pink ribbon. The man was wearing a long silver suit with blue elf shoes. He wore blue eyeshadow and his hair was tied up in a bun with blue ribbon. The stage lighting was three different colors red, yellow, and white. In this dance, they both did over ten pirouettes at a time. In one part of the scene, they both did an arabesque and chasse. One thing that I thought was quite impressive was how the woman jumped and landed on top of the man’s legs.

Another thing that I thought was really remarkable was when the woman did an arm and leg extension. In scene four it was a female dance solo called the flying angel. The choreographer for this dance was Chen Weiya. The name of the solo dancer was Geng Zhenni. She wore a gold jeweled top and glittery pants where the legs were reddish orange, yellow, and green. She wore lots of jewelry such as necklaces and bracelets. Her makeup was a white powdered face with red lipstick and black eyeliner. She had her hair tied up in a bun with a jeweled crown piece sitting on top of her head. In this performance, Geng used an extra long red, orange, and yellow ribbon that was used during the entire scene. She would wave her arms to make geometric shapes with the ribbons while dancing. During the dance, I noticed that she had pointed feet and long extended fingers.

Another thing that I realized was that the lighting there was yellow and white lights coming from the top of the ceiling and white fog was coming out of the fog machines placed near the curtains. I enjoyed this scene because it was entertaining. In scene five it was an all male group dance called the young scholars. The choreographer for this dance was Hu Yan. In this scene the dancers wore a blue and gray robe that had lots of fish designs sewed into the robe. The men did wear makeup they had black eyeliner on with a white powdered face. In the dancer's hair they wore a big bun with gray ribbon tied around it. In the performance, even though they had a white fan as a prop they still showed emotion to their dancing. During the performance, they used three different colored lights yellow, blue and white that shined on a black background. The music was so sad and they expressed their feelings through dance. In this scene I liked how they all connected and worked together.

Something I didn't like was how there wasn't lots of dancing it was mostly just making different shapes with the fans. In scene six it was an all female group dance called thousand- hands guanyin. The choreographer for this dance was Gao Jinrong. The dancers wore gold outfits that had glitter and jewels on them. In this scene they did not wear shoes they danced barefoot. The dancers had a white powdered face with red lipstick, black eyeliner, and black and blue eyeshadow. For their hair, they had a bun that was covered by a golden jeweled crown. The dancers wore two feet long false nails that had golden nail polish with jewels and glitter on them. In this scene, there was only one color of light that came from the ceiling which was yellow. Some of the dance moves that I liked was how they all stood in one spot then did a releve.

Another thing that I liked was how the moves were right on beat with the music. I noticed that they were doing Egyptian moves during the dance. One thing I disliked was the false nails. I felt like it drew too much attention. I also didn't like their music choice in some parts of the song because it sounded like a high pitch scream. In scene seven it was an all male group dance called invincible. The choreographer for this dance was Ou Siwei. The performers names were Wei Shenvang, Li Zunvue, Jin Ziqian, Chen Bingrui, Zhou Zihan, Li Mengshi, Hou Li, Zhang Hua, Sun Ruiqi, Jian Aidong, Liu Zhiqiang, and Huang Liangmin. All the dancers wore gray and green outfits with metal beads on their dresses that made lots of sounds. The dancers had a white powdered face with black eyeliner and had short hair. The lighting changed between red, blue, and yellow. At the beginning of the scene there was a smoke all around the stage. During the dance one of the dancers did 10 pirouettes and another dancer did an allegro. In scene eight it was a female solo dance called dancing as painting. The choreographer for this dance was Tong Ruirui. The name of the performer was Peng Zhiqin. She wore a white dress with long sleeves that had pink and blue paint on it. She had a white powdered face with black eyeliner, red lipstick and dark blue eyeshadow. Her hair was tied up in a bun with a blue ribbon. In this performance the lights altered between blue and yellow. The prop Peng used throughout the performance was a fan that had pink, blue, purple, and yellow marks.

One thing I liked was how the fan made her dancing look so elegant. During the dance Peng seemed very happy. In scene nine the final scene it was a group dance called the yellow river. The choreographers for this dance was Yao Yong and Zhang Yujun. The entire cast performed in this last scene. All the dancers had different colored outfits, some had pink, blue, purple, and green t-shirts and pants. For their make all had a white powdered face with black eyeliner. For the lighting, it was a black background with white lights shining on them. All the dancers would be right on beat with the music while doing releves and pirouettes. One thing I liked was they would all hurdle up and raise their arms up one by one.

In conclusion, I thought that the female solos dance performances were the best. There was a few scenes that I didn't like such as the butterfly lovers and thousand-hands guanyin. I didn’t like the butterfly lovers because the scene was way too long and the thousand-hands guanyin because of the high pitched music. I thought that the Beijing Dance Academy was very professional. I really liked where we sat because I got to see more clearly on how they were dancing and could see their makeup. In my opinion I wasn’t sure if I would like this dance performance, but after seeing it I ended up really enjoying it and actually learned something about my culture and the way they dance. Overall I would say that it was a great show and I learned that it takes lots of hard work and strength to dance.