Audience member Denis Baudis thought this year’s contest is “more than excellent.” “The movements are very accurate, and the dancers are very conscientious of what they are doing,” he said. “They’re not there just to be there. I notice there’s a genuine feeling of wanting to give something to the public and that’s wonderful.”
NTDTV’s mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture. The dance competition is part of their series of nine competitions series featuring Chinese culinary art, figure painting, photography, violin, piano, vocal, Chinese martial arts, and Han couture design.
Simon Vereshaka developed an interest in Chinese dance after seeing a Shenyun performance in his native Australia during its global tour. Shenyun Performing Arts is a New York-based dance group consisting mainly of Chinese who grew up overseas. Last year, their three dance groups performed over 300 shows in 20 countries.
Vereshaka took the opportunity while in New York to see the dancers compete. “I was really touched by it. When you see the traditional Chinese dance in the show it’s really moving...I could actually pick up on the stories in the dance,” he said. Impressive also were the technical skills presented. “At one point I was like, geez, that person looks like he’s flying; like he defied gravity,” Vereshaka said. “I wasn’t expecting to have my heart touched by seeing a dance competition.”
Contestants come from all over the globe, including Taiwan, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany. Audience member David Yang was glad to see that the dancers come from diverse places. “Some of the overseas dancers were good technically, but it’s the Shenyun dancers who have a strong artistic vision,” he said. “You can see it even in the technical portions (the regulation movements). There’s a flow in their storylines.”
Judges seem to agree. Of the adult division contestants moving on to the final round, nearly all are Shenyun performers.
“They absolutely meet the international standard,” said judge Yungchia Chen of the final contestants. “Their level exceeds that of [dancers] in mainland China, and the broadness of the dances’ content is unlike that in mainland China.”
Colorful Personae
A hallmark of classical Chinese dance is its ability to convey a diverse range of characters, moods, and events. Strong women in Chinese history proved to be popular among this year’s contestants. In their self-selected dances, many of the female participants chose to portray figures such as the warriors Mulan and Zhao Jun, and female scholar Zhu Yingtai. War heroes were a favorite among the male participants as well, though a legendary Taoist, an emperor, and an erhu musician made their appearances as well.
In the adult male division, Alex Chun danced as a wounded soldier who upon seeing the enemy advancing, sets his mind to go back into battle. Ben Chen, an adult division contestant from the United Kingdom, appeared as an erhu musician in his piece “Dancing with a Stringed Instrument.” Chen explains that “the dance depicts an erhu player of ancient times who when short of inspiration, regulates his breathing and meditates, thereby finds his muse.” (An erhu is a traditional two-stringed Chinese instrument.)
Xiya Li from Germany and Chialing Chen from the Feitian Academy of the Arts danced in the junior female division. Li drew inspiration from paintings, films, and music to choreograph her dance titled “Beauty in the Mirror.” To convey the personality of an ancient Chinese lady, Li chose to use slow, sweeping movements, and no flips. “You wouldn’t see a lady do flips,” she said.
While human characters were the subjects of most of the dances, Chen sought to embody the lotus flower, which in Chinese culture symbolizes purity. “It grows out of the mud but isn’t tainted,” Chen explained.
Judge Yungchia Chen spoke about one piece in which the subject was clearly portrayed.
“Cao Cao,” choreographed and performed by Kokuei Chen of Maryland, is named after an Eastern Han Dynasty emperor who went down in history as a cruel and tyrannical ruler who died from a brain tumor. A renowned physician named Hua Tuo suggested surgery for the emperor. Thinking the doctor meant to assassinate him, Cao Cao put Hua Tuo in prison, where he died. The dance captures Cao Cao’s state of mind in his last days, as he remembers the physician and is filled with regret. “The depiction of Cao Cao’s headaches, his regret of Hua Tuo’s death, the expression is very well-developed,” Judge Chen said.
Different Classes, Stringent Requirements
Participants are classified into junior female division, junior male division, adult female division, and adult male division. The annual competition is open to all dance teachers and dancers from professional arts academies. The age range of junior division is 13-17 and the age range for the adult division is 18-40.
Per contest regulations, they must each perform a short piece to self-selected music and another containing a set of required dance techniques, consisting of leaps, turns, flip, and control, plus tumbling techniques.
Finalists:
Junior Female
Angelia Wang (Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Dao-Yong Cheng (Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Alina Wang (Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Faustina Quach (Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Miranda Zhou-Galati (Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Alison Chen (Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Chialing Chen (Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Junior Male
Alvin Song (New Jersey, USA)
Fengnian Liang (Edmonton, Canada)
Chad Chen ((Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Ben Chen (London, UK)
William Li (Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Rocky Liao (Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Tony Xue (Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Rick Li (Feitian Academy of the Arts)
Adult Female
Ting-Jie Huang (Taipei, Taiwan)
Jennifer Su (Shenyun Performing Arts)
Madeleine Lobjois (Shenyun Performing Arts)
Anna Li (Shenyun Performing Arts)
Rachael Bastick (Shenyun Performing Arts)
Chelsea Cai (Shenyun Performing Arts)
Cindy Liu (Shenyun Performing Arts)
Adult Male
Leon Chao (Shenyun Performing Arts)
Kokuei Chen (Maryland, USA)
Alex Chun (Shenyun Performing Arts)
Brian Nieh (Washington DC, USA)
Seongho Cha (Shenyun Performing Arts)
Steve Wang (Shenyun Performing Arts)
Jerry Zhang (Shenyun Performing Arts)
Ming Liu (Los Angeles, USA)
Golden Li (Shenyun Performing Arts)
