New Dance Show Features Animals in Chinese Zodiac
One by one, the five dancers emerge from the shadow of a 20-meter-tall desk, toward the center of the stage.
They leap into the air and swirl around a red chair, accompanied by gongs, cymbals and other traditional Chinese instruments playing in the background.
The quintet, dressed in red, yellow, green, blue and purple T-shirts, are mimicking mice, as part of a scene from Dance & Music Chinese Stories－Twelve Chinese Zodiacs.
The new dance drama, performed by the China Oriental Performing Arts Group, is being staged at Tianqiao Theater in Beijing through Sunday. It revolves around the 12 animal signs of the Chinese zodiac, which begins with the Mouse or Rat.
The act gathers 44 dancers and eight percussionists, playing instruments from around the world, including the djembe, a hand drum from Africa, and the conga, a drum from Cuba.
The Chinese zodiac categorizes years under a specific animal sign, which bestows its individual characteristics to those people born in its corresponding year. Those born under the Year of the Rooster, for example, which falls this year, display traits such as confidence and trustworthiness.
In the dance drama, director and choreographer Shen Chen has the dancers imitating the movements of the animals and tells stories through them.
"The 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac represent the most important and symbolic part of traditional Chinese culture," says Shen, who graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy in 1997 majoring in choreography.
"I want to show the circle of life, the circle of the four seasons and the circle of nature through the dance drama."
The performance took almost a year of preparation, according to Song Guanlin, the general manager of the China Oriental Performing Arts Group.
The drama itself is part of the ongoing National Art Troupes Festival organized by the Ministry of Culture.
The festival lasts for two months till mid-October and boasts 10 national art troupes. It also includes the National Ballet of China and China National Symphony Orchestra, altogether showcasing 42 performances at competitive ticket prices.
The event is also regarded as a significant celebration of original Chinese performing arts on the occasion of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
Besides Dance & Music Chinese Stories－Twelve Chinese Zodiacs, the China Oriental Performing Arts Group will stage a concert, titled Our Love Story, featuring more than 40 classic love songs from across the world.
From Sept 22 to 30, the China National Peking Opera Company will present a traditional Peking Opera piece, Xumu Zhuan, or the Story of Xu's Mother, and a contemporary Peking Opera work, Heng Kong Chu Shi, or Roaring Across the Horizon, which follows the story of China's first successful major atomic test in the 1960s.
Commemorating the 190th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven's death, the China National Symphony Orchestra will perform pieces by the German composer, including Choral Fantasy for piano, vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op 80. The concert will feature conductor Tang Muhai and pianist Chen Sa.
"Besides Western classical pieces, the orchestra also focuses on original Chinese symphonic works," says renowned conductor and composer Guan Xia, who is the head of the China National Symphony Orchestra.
Since the orchestra established the Chinese Symphony Research and Development Center in 2014, young composers have traveled around the country collecting folk music material.
In a concert on Oct 8, the China National Symphony Orchestra will perform original pieces inspired by the Hani ethnic folk music of Yunnan province and Nanyin, a musical style from Fujian province listed as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2009.
Other highlights of the festival include Dunhuang, a ballet piece by the National Ballet of China inspired by Gansu province's Mogao Caves or Thousand Buddha Grottoes, which contain some of the richest repositories of Buddhist art.
