Gold Winner Lillian Parker: ‘Art Is Endless’

Lillian Parker participated in the junior female division of the 9th NTD International Classical Chinese Dance Competition in New York state on Sept. 4, 2021. Larry Dye/The Epoch Times

Shen Yun Performing Arts’ Lillian Parker won the Gold Award in the 9th NTD International Classical Chinese Dance Competition, which took place Sept. 2–5 in New York state.

“I’m pretty surprised! This time I tried to make progress with how my movements look and getting more flavor in my dancing—that’s something different than before, and I feel like I’m just starting. I want to keep working on that, as well as my technique,” Parker said.

The classical Chinese dance competition is one in a series of international cultural and arts events aimed at promoting traditional culture. In China, this culture has been all but destroyed by the Chinese Communist Party over the past several decades. The events are hosted by NTD.

Parker has danced all her life, and says things like technique and flexibility and muscle strength are important, but being able to express inner meaning is what makes a dancer an artist.

“There’s so much [content] behind [the dances] and I feel like the more you get into it, the more interesting it gets,” she said. “And it just adds so much to your dance that it’s like a whole world.”

Having just won her award, foremost on Parker’s mind was her responsibility as an artist: “I think it’s preserving the tradition. Once you’ve got here, you’ve got to keep going and preserving and showing what [it can do] because art is endless,” she said.

“There’s no end to this [art form]. It can only keep getting better and show people how deep this is.”

With reporting by NTDTV.