Dance in China

Beijing Dance Academy also known as Beijing Dance Institute, is the only institute of higher education in dance in China. There are three specialties: performance, choreography and dance studies, which offeres master’s degrees and bachelor’s degrees.
The school was founded on September 6, 1954 and is located in Haidian District, Beijing. There are almost 500 teachers and administrative staff and about 2000 students. Admisssion to the school is competitive; an examination is requited just like all other government-run academies. Some notable alumnis are Li Cunxin, famous male ballet dancer and Zhang Ziyi, world famous actress, just to name a few.
The Qianshou Kaunyin (Bodhisattva with a 1,000 Hands) Dance is a showy dance in which a bunch of dancers stand behind each other, so only the person in front is visible to the audience. The dancers move their arms and hands so that it looks like the person in the front has a multitude moving of arms. In recent years the dance has been performed publically by 21 hearing-impaired Chinese women who move their hands and arms to the rhythm even though they are unable to hear it.
One of the most dramatic forms of Chinese dance is the sleeve or ribbon dance in which a dancer uses long silk sleeves to accentuate her hand and arm movements, whirling then around like banners or ribbons and snapping them like whips. The opening scene of the film House of Daggers features Ziyi Zhang repelling an attack of stones and trying to assassinate a leader with a knife hidden in here long sleeves while doing such a dance.
China's 56 ethnic groups do thousands of folk dances. The Han Chinese alone have 700 different ones. Popular folk dances include the dragon dance, lion dance, yang ge flower-drum dance, rattle stick dance, land boat dance, dragon lantern dance, peace drum dance and stilt dance.
There are many variations of each type of major dance. In the case of the dragon dance, there is the dragon lantern dance, cloth dragon dance, straw dragon dance, section dragon dance, stool dragon dance, paper dragon dance, incense burning dragon dance, carp dragon dance, ox-shaped dragon dance and beheaded dragon dance.
The Lantern Dance, or Flower Lantern Dance, is popular in southern China and is known by a number of other names. It features circular movements of the arms and hands, undulating body motions and accentuated lower back movements linked to the movements of a dragon.
The dragon dance is one of the most well known Han Chinese dances. By one count there are 700 versions performed throughout China, with specific regions often having their own version. The dragon is an important totemic creature to the Han Chinese. According to legend, the great hero Fu Xi and his sister Nu Wa descended from semi-human creatures with snake bodies. Over time these creatures were given animal legs, a horse mane, a rat tail, deer hooves, dog claws and fish scales and they became the dragon were are familiar with today.
According to legend the dragon dance was created to honor a doctor who picked a centipede from a dragon's back. The waving movements of the dance show appreciation by the dragon, who controls natural forces that bring about a good harvest. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the world's longest dancing dragon was 5,550 feet from nose to tail. It was made up of 610 people in May 1995.
The lion dance honors a lion who was ordered by the Jade Emperor to remove evil spirits from the world and was later invited to stay in the world to keep them from coming back. The dance often begins with the placing of a drop of chicken blood on the lion mask.
Swan Lake has always been a popular ballet in China. It was the first full-length ballet performed after the founding of the People Republic of China. Chinese have done very well in international ballet competitions. Chinese classical dance and ballet have many similarities and Chinese dance training is in tune with the training required of ballet dancers.