Bella Fan has participated in the NTD International Classical Chinese Dance Competition several times since she started learning classical Chinese dance.
This time, she was awarded Gold in the female division, capping off her last competition.
“Each year that I joined this competition marked a big breakthrough for me,” Ms. Fan said. “When I look back at each of the times I joined, I feel like I’ve changed so much.”
The NTD competition is one in a series of events that the NTD network holds in its mission to support traditional culture. As such, the competition looks for pure beauty and authenticity in the dancers.
“This competition is different from others,” Ms. Fan said. Rather than viewing each contestant as a competitor, backstage, everyone is supporting each other.
“Though this process of each person helping each other, we all attain our goals of improvement, whether it’s learning the new method of ’shen dai shou, kua dai tui' (the body leads the hands, the hips lead the legs), or bettering our understanding of traditional culture,” Ms. Fan said, referencing the dance method imparted by Shen Yun Performing Arts Artistic Director D.F., which has been said to be the pinnacle of dance skills.
Even in the audience, the dancers cheered their peers on whenever one of their fellow dancers executed a move they had found challenging.
Helping one another was also how Ms. Fan learned the “shen dai shou, kua dai tui” skill, she explained. When the technique was first introduced to Ms. Fan and her class, it was a tremendous challenge to figure out how to use it properly. Hours and hours of work in front of the mirror wasn’t enough; understanding really came after classmates worked together to help direct each other.
But once they understood how to use the new technique, it amplified not only their movements but the dancers’ expressive power.
From Negative to Positive
Ms. Fan performed “Moonlight Mist,” a dance of her own creation. In it, her character mindset changes from negative to positive, as they learn to look past the illusions of the human world.
“For me, I like to immerse myself in the environment of the story as soon as I step on stage. Where am I in the story? I just let my imagination come out,” she said.
She felt her piece conveyed the virtue of temperance, in a way. “The ancients lived by this; you could also call it a principle of ‘just enough,’ with nothing done in excess. There’s a moral standard to this,” she said.
It was important to Ms. Fan that her dance express something virtuous, because classical Chinese dance is an expression of traditional culture, she explained.
“As we say, dance is a reflection of your character. If you’re not positive, righteous, then when you dance, what are you giving to audiences?” she said. “Society is full of every sort of people and no one is perfect. Maybe this person is better than I in this respect and less so in another. But so long as we do well what we should do, the most important thing is your outlook.”
“I feel I have this mission to do this well,” she said of conveying traditional culture through this ancient art form. “Because I know for myself, looking back over my journey of dance, I know that coming to where I am today came by learning, trying day by day, step by step, and piece by piece.”
