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Sino-Dutch Dancing Seminar

2005/03/20
China Cultural Center in Den Hang

The Sino-Dutch dance seminar in China Cultural Center on March 20th was a great success. Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Federation of Literature and Art, Chairman of the Jiangsu Association of Dancers Liu Zhongbao, Director of the China Cultural Center Sun Bei, Deputy Director Huang Hongchang, Famous Ballet Dancer Zhang Yashu, Founder and Artistic Director of the ' Dance company Groundbreakers' Xu Cunsong, Dutch dancers, famous choreographer Karin Post, dramaturge and critic Fransien van der Putt, Chinese artist in the Netherlands Zhang Die, dancers, and students of the singing and dance theater in Wuxi were presented. 


The seminar was hosted by the deputy director Huang Hongchang and famous Dutch choreographer Karin Post. Director Sun Bei gave the opening speech. She opened with a short general introduction of the center and activities organized recently. She said: “ the center has organized various events and initiated quite a lot projects since officially operating from June 2017. In addition, we have received recognition and full support from the Netherlands. This seminar on the theme of modern dance is a follow-up to the Netherlands-China workshop on ballet last November. Here again a meeting of dance specialists in the Chinese and Dutch dance world, I sincerely hope that many ideas and possibilities for the future could generated in today’s seminar, and together we can enhance the knowledge exchange between China and the Netherlands in the field of dance ". 

During the seminar,  two dancers performed the passionate modern dance "Kraaiman". Kathrin Gramelsberger in the role of crow queen and Maarten Krielen in the role of crow man, brought the audience in one blow to an old, mystical environment far from here. "The crow man" is a classic story from the Qing dynasty, written by Pu Songling. It is a love story between the young man Yu who has turned into a crow and the crow queen. Xu Cunsong explained that the dance was jointly overhauled and choreographed by Chinese and Dutch artists. Both Chinese and Dutch young dancers play the leading roles. When this dance came about, an attempt was made to bring a classical story from the Far East to life based on Western modern dance style.


After the first dance, Kathrin asked Liu Zhongbao, head of the Wuxi dance and dance theater: “ I heard this piece is also performed in China, what was the audience's reaction there? "She added seriously:" I would like to hear how the dance was actually perceived by audicence. " Liu Zhongbao replied: "The feedback of this dance was positive. However, also arose a fierce discussion. Most of audience could understand what the dance express, but there were certainly some who could not. That it was exactly how it went. " Kathrin was happy with the answer. She said: "What we are trying to do is to familiarize people from the West with classical stories from distant China through the familiar art form of modern dance. It is a dialogue between tradition and modernization and a mixture of two cultures. The cultural differences that exist between different countries or population groups often entail discussion and disagreement. That is precisely why it is so important to increase mutual understanding and knowledge. This benefits cultural exchange. " 


It was the turn of the famous dancer Zhang Yashu of the Wuxi dance company. She enchanted those participants with the traditional Chinese dance "Jasmine", dancing to a well-known melody, full of feminine elegance. Zhang Yiyi danced "A walk in the spring", a story about a woman from Jiangnan taking a trip in the spring. Gracefully and expressively, she brought the indescribably beautiful world of Jiangnan, warmed by the first spring rays. Jiang Yuhao warmly received applause after his natural, free and elegant solo dance "Sound of the wind". The dance combined traditional Chinese art elements such as classical Chinese dance, Chinese martial arts and Tai Chi. 

During the seminar, subjects were discussed such as what kinds of classical styles influence the experts in the field of modern ballet, what are the differences in how dancers from different cultural backgrounds express themselves about Eastern and Western dance styles, dance storylines, the development trends of modern theater and modern dance, the topics of conversation that arise when modern theater clashes with traditional theater and how a classical piece is created. During the discussion, the young Chinese and Dutch dancers did not say goodbye and were only too happy to share their own ideas about art.

 Photography: Xiao Zheng

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