On July 13, after two days of intense competition the names of eight dancers were announced to go to New York this August for the second World Chinese Classical Dance Competition.
In this Asia-Pacific preliminary selection, all 34 participants came from Taiwan. Two dancers from each group – male adult, female adult, male junior and female junior – were selected.
There is a golden award for each division worth US$10,000.
It is the first time that New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) held the Asia-Pacific selection of the dance competition in Taiwan. The two day competition attracted numerous Chinese classical dance fans who came to watch on July 12 and 13. On the last day, the performance hall was filled with over 1,000 people.
After the contest, renowned dance educationist Guo Xiu said to the participants, “As Chinese, we all have the responsibility to carry forward this ancient Chinese culture. The Chinese classical dance has 5,000 years of cultural history; unfortunately, many things about the classical dance has been lost over the course of history.”
Guo also mentioned that the purpose of NTDTV to hold the competition is to spread this pure, kind and beautiful aspect of Chinese culture.
Guo mentioned how different Chinese classical dance is compared to Chinese opera and martial arts, even though they share similarities on rhyme (yun) and hand gestures.
Guo also praised how many participants have very good foundation and skills, but it is indeed very difficult to master Chinese classical dance because it is deeply rooted in Chinese culture and history. Its skill includes many aspects such as dance posture. If one leans the head to the side at a certain degree it is considered beautiful, less or more would not be nice.
Renowned dance artist Vina Lee was also at the competition and gave encouraging words to the participants. “There can only be one golden award winner, but the competition is an excellent chance to share experiences about the Chinese classical dance. It has significant meaning.”
