CCDC UCLA Explores Chinese Poetry with Dance Drama Li Bai
The dressing rooms of Royce Hall are filled with the excited chattering of dancers as they prepare for a showcase they have been practicing the whole year: makeup is carefully checked, costumes secured, and words of encouragement are passed from one member to the other.
This year, the Chinese Cultural Dance Club took a step away from the traditional approach to their annual dance showcase, “Lotus Steps.” Instead of performing a miscellaneous mix of Chinese dances, they welcomed the production of the first ever Chinese dance drama in the club’s nineteen years of history, with hopes to express classical Chinese poetry through the movements of classical Chinese dance.
The club chose to portray the story of Li Bai for Lotus Steps 2019 this past Saturday, May 25th. The story revolves around Li Bai, a remarkable Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty who has a deep love for drinking. Li Bai’s fondness for wine eventually reveals not only his romanticism and genius nature, but also his curiosity and playful attitude for the world and beyond. Throughout the dance drama, Li Bai finds himself in different situations he must deal with, while upholding his title of “Shi Xian” — the “immortal poet.”
“Through the dance drama Li Bai, we want to break the stereotype that Chinese dances are just colorful and joyful dances with fans and umbrellas — they are much, much more than that,” said co-artistic directors Jingyuan Fu, a third-year computational and systems biology major and Helen Han, a second-year math/econ student. “Chinese dances are dances with spirits and quintessence of broad Chinese history. They depict emotions, nature, society, and stories, as lively and touching as the most beautiful languages could do.”
With the collective effort and dedication of the club’s sixty members, the Chinese Cultural Dance Club was able to hold a successful first-ever dance drama at Royce Hall to 600 audiences this past weekend, recreating elegant Tang Dynasty scenes through carefully designed costumes, eye-catching choreography, and harmonious music.
Chinese Cultural Dance Club at UCLA (CCDC) was founded in 2000 with the vision of sharing Chinese and Chinese American culture through dance. They provide free Chinese dance lessons to the UCLA community, including students, alumni, and juniors from the Families with Children from China Program. We perform in outreach events in the UCLA community and the greater Los Angeles area, e.g. CACN Cultural Night, CSSA Chinese Cultural Night, and USC CSA Chinese New Year Show. People join CCDC to find their cultural roots, to seek a sense of belonging, or simply to make friends and have fun.
Article written by Shirley Tang (English) and Steven Ye (Chinese)
Jaclyn Yuan, Guoran Ye, Jessie Zhu, Nan Wang (from left to right) as villagers. Classical Chinese Dance is viewed as high art, but its object also includes life of the ordinary people.
Li Bai and Gao LIshi played by Ouxun Jiang and Guoran Ye. The conflict between the two characters add more drama to the performance.
Li Bai played by Emily Hou in the dance Ode to Solitude. The poet’s spiritual elevation was expressed by bold, expressive choreography.
Li Bai played by Xiaoshuang Li. Silhouette techniques are applied to the last scene of the entire drama. Li Bai raises his hand towards the sky, finally returning home.
Nan Wang, Rachel Floyd, Joanne Huang, Yuqing Xie, Jingyuan Fu (from left to right) in Goddess of the Luo, a dance inspired by the ancient prose Luo Shen Fu.
Tanya Xu as Lady Yang and Yanji Li as the Emperor. Tanya Xu, a first-year dance major serves as the primary choreographer of CCDC’s adaption of the dance drama from its original production.
Yeli Zong, Queena Xu, Jingyuan Fu, Xunyi Gao, and Chelsea Jang in White Linens. The country girls in beautiful fabrics represents the harmony between human and nature.
***Photos in courtesy of Xuxin Zhang
