Booey Lehoo
The Booey Lehoo Concert + Arts Week is a celebration of cultural exchange and collaboration. From Dec. 10 - 17, 2011, join a week of athletic and artistic events that showcase the talents of Chinese and American athletes and artists in support of the 100,000 Strong Initiative.
Ping Pong curated an exclusive dance anthology of different styles of Western and Chinese dance forms, performed by the Beijing Dance Academy and Beijing Contemporary Music Academy students and professionals. Solo performance by U.S. hip-hop sensation Marquese "Nonstop" Scott of Remote Kontrol. Surprise Chinese special guest.
About the Program
Booey Lehoo Arts and Culture Week: DANCE!
December 13, 2011
8:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Performances by students and professors from the Beijing Dance Academy, Beijing Contemporary Music Academy, and Marquese "Nonstop" Scott, as well as surprise guests!
At the Western Academy Beijing (WAB), Founder’s Theater
Very Special Thanks:
Beijing Dance Academy Foreign Affairs Office
Beijing Dance Academy Chinese Folk Dance Department
Beijing Dance Academy Chinese Classical Dance Department
Wang Tao, Li Mei, Tian Jing, and all of the outstanding performers!
Chinese Classical Dance:
The late dance professors Li Zhengyi and Tang Mancheng are credited with codifying this dance form soon after the Beijing Dance Academy was founded in the 1950s. Initially intended for training rather than performance, Chinese classical dance drew on ballet technique/vocabulary and overlaid movements from traditional Chinese opera and martial arts. Source material also included classical literary texts that referred to dance such as the poetry of Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai (701-762AD) as well as cave drawings that depicted figures believed to be dancing. Within the Classical dance category itself, there are many different styles and subdivisions, such as Dunhuang, Classical sword dance, and Shui Xiu (water sleeves), to name a few.
Chinese Folk Dance:
China has 56 officially-recognized ethnic-groups, with the Han ethnic group making up the majority of the population. The Folk Dance Department at the Beijing Dance Academy teaches dances from five main ethnic folk dance traditions: Han; Tibetan; Mongolian; Uyghur (from China’s north-western Xinjiang Province); and Chaoxian (Korean). Recently they have added Dai folk dance to the curriculum. These are highly codified, performance-versions of folk idioms.
Program
- 1. "Dolan People" (Uyghur Folk Dance Quartet)
- 2. “Sound Portraits of Silk and Bamboo” (Classical Dance Female Solo)
- 3. “Swan” (Mongolian Folk Dance, Male solo, 3 minutes)
- 4. “Xiao Pu Shao” (Dai Folk Dance for three women)
- 5. “Jian Dan Qin Xin” (Classical Dance Male Solo)
- 6. “Push-Knock” (Classical Dance Male Solo)
- 7. “Leisure Dance” (Korean trio)
- 8. Special Guest Artist: Dennis Zhu
- 9. “Sonorous Dance” (Korean Folk Dance)
- 10. “Ancient Song” (Miao Ethnic Folk Dance, Female solo)
- 11. Special Guest Artist: Marques Scott (US)
- 12. “Dream of Spring’s Return” (Classical Dance Female Solo)
- 13. “Monk” (Classical Dance Male Solo)
- 14. “Clouds of Xiao Xiang” (Classical Dance Female Solo)
- 15. Special Guest Artist: Dennis Zhu
- 16. Special Guest Artist: Marques Scott (US)
Choreographer: Jin Miaomiao
Dancers: Gulimire Tuerhong, Saerbiya Alimu, Dilimulati Wubu, Adili Abula
These four dancers all come from the northwest province of Xinjiang. Today they are sharing the culture of the Dolan people. This dance is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Uyghur culture. During the fallow period of farming, men and women, young and old, come together to dance to the elegant rhythms of percussion music.
Dancer: Cai Mengna Choreographer: Zhang Yunfeng
Dance is a euphemism, expressing slender, elegant dynamic characteristics. This performance expresses Chinese women's unique southern charm, like stepping out of a deep bamboo forest, lost in the misty southern rain…
Choreographer and Performer: Zhang Wei
Choreographer: Yuan Yuan, Zhang Xiaomei
Dancers: Mou Shimeng, Yun Kejiao, Ma Ruijun
“Xiao Pu Shao” means “young girl” in Dai language. The Dai people live along riverbanks; images and sounds of water permeate all aspects of their culture. Please enjoy this melodious scene by the banks of a river.
Choreographer and Performer: Liu Xuegang
Dancer: Gong Zhonghui Choreography: Zhang Yunfeng
Inspiration for this dance comes from a line written by the ancient poet Jia Dao while riding his donkey en route to the capital: "Birds reside in the poolside trees, monk knocks on the moonlit door.” We used the poet’s “push” and “knock” to develop the dancer’s expression of “push” and “knock” to create a piece that is a reflection on our fate.
Traditional dance adapted by: Han Xianjie Dancers: Zhang Wei, Yang Hao, Li Mei
Dean of Tap Dance Department, International Dancing School, Beijing Contemporary Music Academy
“Singin’ in the Rain” (Tap Solo)
Choreographer: Traditional North Korean Folk Dance
Dancers: Yun Kejiao, Wang Weinan, and others
Through a fast and bright melody, the dancers express a light attitude and the joys and strength of coming together as female friends.
Choreographer and Performer: Yang Hao
Choreographer: Tong Ruirui Dancer: Jia Yuzhao
Choreographer: Li Xin Dancer: Li Shilei
Dancer: Cai Mengna Choreographer: Cai Mengna
Choreographed to a guqin (zither) adaptation of the same name by Mr. Guo Mian, this piece expresses scholarly emotions and literary reflections on natural scenery, both virtual and real. Yin and Yang turn inside out, consciousness expands beyond the beyond!
Dean of Tap Dance Department, International Dancing School, Beijing Contemporary Music Academy
“Free Jazz” (Tap Solo)