Henan TV has once again succeeded in promoting traditional culture across the Chinese web with the Dragon Boat Festival Gala. More performances from the night can be viewed here.
Dance: Pray
Dancer: He Yinghao as Luoshen, best known for being the epitome of beauty in Cao Zhi’s poem Ode to the Nymph of the Luo River 洛神赋.
Director: Chen Jia
Executive / creative Director: Xiao Mada (also the brains behind Henan’s Spring Festival gala dance)
Henan TV’s Spring Festival Gala has been making waves online for its creative dance performance that showcased the best of Chinese culture. Titled Tang Dynasty Banquet 唐宫夜宴, it showcases 14 female musicians passing several renowned artefacts as they make their way to the palace.
(Clicking on the third icon from the right turns off the danmaku)
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We’re finally blessed with a recorded version of dancer-choreographer Yang Liping’s dance drama Under Siege: Farewell, My Concubine 霸王别姬：十面埋伏 . The experimental dance drama, using Peking Opera and martial arts elements to tell the tale of the suicide of Xiang Yu and his concubine Lady Yu after a bitter defeat is absolutely stunning. The dancers for this shortened TV version are Li Xiang, Liu Jia, and Zhu Feiweng.
Timetravelling series Tang Dynasty Tour 唐砖 is the first time I’ve seen an ancient drama directly lift an already popular dance to be performed in the show. The dance, An Outing with Beauties 丽人行, is adapted from award-winning dance drama Du Fu, is based off a poem that uses descriptions of the nonchalance and beauty of the women picnicking in the spring to criticize the lives of the rich in the Tang dynasty.
No… I don’t drink coffee… but I do have to have a daily dose of period pretty or things do not go well…
Clips of the China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater’s production of Confucius has been released. My favorites so far include Cai Wei (the lyrics are based on an ancient poem) and Incense.. Watch the whole thing here (can’t complain too much but hoping for a better quality release later).
It seems they may still be touring so maybe you will be lucky enough to catch a performance if they visit your city. On the whole, there’s dance, music, pretty costumes, and bits people versed in Chinese history and literature will enjoy. Something for everybody.
By the way, we don’t do posts like this often. What do you think? Should we continue if the opportunity presents itself?
More stills below the cut… with captions for good fun… Continue reading