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With the full bright moon, pretty peacocks and colorful umbrellas forming a backdrop, the sound of exotic elephant-foot drums herald the arrival of sprightly young men and women on a mission to thrill.
The dreamlike world conjured in the award-winning song-and-dance show Dynamic Yunnan (Yun Nan Ying Xiang) will be recreated on the capital stage.
Yunnan native Yang Liping certainly needs plenty of energy: she's art supervisor, chief choreographer and leading dancer.
The show she has created combines primitive movement with modern aesthetic conceptions. Since its premiere in Kunming last August, the show has been staged more than 120 times in cities including Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, Wenzhou and Shaoxing. Last month, Dynamic Yunnan won five prizes in the Fourth China Lotus Flower Dance Festival in Shanghai.
The dance collection consists of seven parts: Genesis (prelude), The Sun, The Earth, Homeland, Fire Worship, Pilgrimage, and Ode to Peacock (epilogue).
Using vivid "muscle language," it eulogizes nature, life and eternal love. Audiences have been thrilled by some superb folk dancing which lives up to the show's name and expresses the harmony of man and nature.
Critics have suggested the dances are amongst both the most primitive and modern they have ever seen.
Yunnan is a multi-nationality province in southwestern China. Many of Yunnan's 25 minority nationalities excel at singing and dancing. Yang Liping has tapped into a profound love of the people and their folk dances.
She devoted three years to collecting original dances throughout Yunnan before creating her masterpiece. Most of the performers come from Yunnan and the costumes and musical instruments are locally made.
The inspiration for the folk dances comes from sources as diverse as work, religious activities and man's natural impulses. As reflected in this show, once a person's impulse is aroused, nothing will restrain or suppress it. He will sing and dance with joy until it is exhausted.
In Yunnan, most dances are associated with love, itself an irresistible impulse.
Folk dances are usually performed outdoors on the grassland, at the temple fair or on the threshing ground. After a season's labor, the farmers join together singing and dancing. They are performers as well as audience. The atmosphere is so exciting that they forget all their troubles and sufferings.
Since China is an agricultural country, farmers usually dance in traditional festivals to beseech heaven for favorable weather for the crops. The Spring Festival is in fact a dance festival of the Han nationality. Some minority nationalities have their own dance festivals, for example, the Yi's Torch Festival, the Bai's March Festival and the Dai's Water-Splashing Festival.
The drum is most often used to lay down the rhythm of the dance. People dance with drums to worship the gods, assert resolution before going to war, express love or simply to enjoy themselves.
In Dynamic Yunnan, the audience sees and hears various types of Yunnan drums being played to create different beats and atmospheres for the colorful dances.
Tickets: 100-680 yuan (US$12-82)
Time/date: 7:30 pm, April 10-16
Location: Poly Theatre, Dongsishitiao
Tel: 86-10-64068888, 86-10-65065345
(Beijing Weekend April 2, 2004)
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