Chinese ethnic dance of the Dai people – Peacock dance
Who
Chinese Red Fan Dance Company
What
Red Fan Chinese Dance Society was founded in Manchester in 2005. It became one of the most representative Chines Art Troupes in the UK and has won many awards in Chinese National, Hong Kong and International Dance Competitions.www.redfandance.co.uk
Chinese ethnic dance of the Dai people – Peacock dance
The dance is of Dai ethic group. Dai people live in the southern part of Yunnan Province, where forest is dense and rivers are beautiful. They love water very much. The folk dances of the Dai Ethnic Group enjoy not only wide popularity but great diversity. Most of them glorify the water or forest and imitate the movements of subtropical creatures.
As the most famous traditional folk dance of the Dai Minority in China, peacock dance is prevalent in the Dai minority.
In the mind of the Dai people, the "Holy Bird" peacock is a symbol of happiness and auspiciousness.
In the dance, the dancer is featured by ductile and undulate knees, swift and agile motion of lower legs, and flexible eye expressions. Through arms, wrists and fingers, a range of motions of a peacock are imitated in virtue of plentiful hand postures. Moreover, sylphlike postures of a peacock are reproduced by the dancer's elegant "Three curves" formed by downward bending and stretching all arthrosises of limbs and body and evenly vibrating the entire body. In the workshop, we are going to learn an improved peacock dance which is obviously different from the common peacock dances of the Dai ethnic minority. The dance imitates the peacock's image of "standing erect against the wind", "jumping and spinning "and" flying with wings fully open", but far exceeding these basic images. The piece demonstrates the integration of the soul and body of a dancing "peacock". The aim of this workshop is to provide an opportunity for a broader audience to experience and understand the contemporary China through folk and ethnic dance. The duration of the workshop is roughly two hours. It will start with an overview and a brief description of dance in modern China with slides (approximately 10-20 minutes). And then, dancers will demonstrate the significant movement patterns.
Please prepare yourself a long skirt.
Level
ALL
When
Sunday 27/06/2010 11:20 - 13:20
How Much
£23
