An Introduction to Classical Chinese Dance

International Chinese Classical Dance Competition

Classical Chinese Dance is a unique dance heritage. In its early stages it was mainly passed down among the common people, through members of the imperial court, and as part of ancient theater. Over the years, dancers refined, experimented with, and reworked it to arrive at the extraordinary system of Chinese classical dance known today. It is part of the divinely inspired heritage that is China's five-millennia-old culture, and one means by which that culture lives on.

Classical Chinese dance has as its foundation China's divinely inspired culture of five thousand years. The unique art of Chinese dance that we know today, with its impressive scale and system, is the product of generations of dancers' many years of artistic experience combined with their refining, reorganizing, and reworking of the art form.

Classical Chinese dance has its own complete set of training methods in foundational skills, a strict regimen for perfecting bearing and form, and means of training for skill sets such as jumps, turns, and flips, as well as extremely demanding aerial techniques, culminating in an enormous dance system. The aerial movements of classical Chinese dance contain a wealth of high-flying dives, dexterous leaps, and diverse spins.

It is the deeper resonances of traditional Chinese culture, however, that imbue a dancer's movements with such rich expressive power. The dancer is thus capable of not only portraying a given figure's disposition or mood, but even the vivid expressions unique to a certain age, whatever the land or time.

The NTDTV Competition Provides a Grand Stage for the Artists
The Epoch Times Staff Li Xin

The first International Chinese Classical Dance Competition Adult Division Male Golden Award winner Chen Yungchia. (Photo by Ji Yuan/Epoch Times)

In the popular Divine Performing Arts (DPA) 2008 global tour, the Mongolian dance "Chopstick Zest" has received high marks from audiences.

In the midst of the vast Mongolian prairie, vigorous and healthy nomads, a group of men waving chopsticks in their hands; their terse rhythm, their potent and uniform movements, their flourishing heroic spirits, and their formidable power moved people's heart as if the earth had quaked and the mountains shook.

The choreographer, also the lead dancer of "Chopstick Zest," is the first International Chinese Classical Dance Competition Adult Division Male Golden Award winner¡ªthe DPA dance director and principal dancer¡ªChen Yungchia.

Chen started learning dance when he was 11 years old. Over his nearly 30 years' dancing career, he merged performance, teaching and choreography into one and became a universal dance artist.

Chen was the outstanding student of the Beijing Central University for Nationalities, he graduated as the valedictorian.

He twice won the grand price of the "Taoli Cup" Classic Dance Youth Division in Mainland China. He won the highest honor, the Formosa Award, in the 2004 Creative Dance Competition sponsored by the Taiwan Council for Cultural Affairs. And, he won the first International Chinese Classical Dance Competition Adult Division Male Golden Award in 2007.

In a cool summer afternoon on June 23, in an Epoch Times interview, Chen talked about his experiences this past year. He indicated that the first International Chinese Classical Dance Competition enabled him to ascend to the artistic crest again. The nine competitions held by the New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) provided participating artists a platform to exhibit their abilities. He hoped artists would participate enthusiastically.

The First "International Chinese Classical Dance Competition" Adult Division Champion

"When winning a grand price in Taiwan in 2004, I thought I had reached the peak on stage and had come to a closing point." "As a Chinese dancer, there isn't a lot of opportunity to perform on stage [in the West]. When a friend recommended the NTDTV Chinese dance competition, I entered the competition. I was already 39 at the time and I thought this competition ought to be the final push for me."

In the competition finals held in the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University, Chen exhibited an ancient swordsman's knight-errantry with Chinese classic dancing rhythm and skill, his superb dancing techniques and rich essence won him the golden award in the Adult Division.

A NTDTV appraisal committee member praised Chen's performance being "rather [very] perfect." The media reported that Chen's performance in the competition expressed the contained, prudent, outwardly soft and inwardly hard traditional Chinese temperament and enabled the audience to feel a body-and-soul-in-one kind of artistic state.

A New Turning Point for His Artistic Career

DPA toured 66 cities and performed 215 shows in 2008, attracting more than 600,000 theatergoers with unmatched grandeur.

As an outstanding dancer, Chen finally ascended onto the international stage and had the opportunity to demonstrate his exquisite dancing, bringing honor to Chinese culture. Chen indicated that the International Chinese Classical Dance Competition provided him a brand-new turning point for his artistic career.

He said that the DPA performances worldwide had promoted and brought honor to Chinese culture, had enabled people to understand real Chinese culture and the traditional art of pure truthfulness, compassion, and beauty¡ªit is very meaningful.

"I came to DPA last year with the thought of bringing honor to Chinese culture with everyone. I was doing it before, but the scale was small without a complete plan. But now, there are more artists in DPA to make plans, and all work diligently together."

The DPA Performance Is a Different Experience

Chen's wife, Yang Siya is a dance teacher. She said that it was a professional habit to be demanding on all dance performers. But DPA was different; there were no faults at all. One is touched by the program at first glance and feel their soul being purified.

Chen said, "The experience from the DPA performance is different. For example, in the dancing program 'Seeking the Tao,' I was moved every time I danced the scene of meeting my master. In the program 'The Fruits of Goodness,' I was moved every time I danced to worship the Buddha statue, very moved."

Yang said, "I feel the Divine Performing Arts is outstanding, they have achieved what others cannot. Actually, it is a belief. They are all very devoted, peaceful and content. Therefore they are able to deliver very precious and important messages."

A Mission to Resurrect Righteous Authentic Arts

As a choreographer for the DPA Company, Chen Yungchia talked about his realization, "It was not until I joined DPA that I understood what righteous authentic things are. Every day we talked about how to synchronize dance movements, yet the road to returning [to tradition] is a very tough one." Mr. Chen said, "Resurrection of righteous authentic [arts] is not something you talk about; instead, it is the true resurrection originating from one's thoughts and understandings, gearing toward this direction little by little. All arts are for purifying people's minds and for presenting beautiful things. In Chinese culture, many things have demonstrated the inner meaning of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance."

"The inner meaning of Chinese dance is more important than skills or movements," added Mr. Chen. "In fact, veteran dancers in the past all said that skills are to serve the inner meaning of art, and everyone agreed. Nowadays people have taken the route of showing off skills and ignoring the inner meaning and realm a dance performance should convey."

"Skills dazzle the eyes, yet the inner meaning of the arts touches the heart. A great skill can only be displayed momentarily, and is something external. However, an artistic dance performance with good inner meaning can touch people and make people reminisce about it."

A Change of Mind After Practicing Falun Gong

Mr. Chen stated that he experienced a huge change in life and frame of mind since he joined the DPA Company.

"This past year, I've been more concerned with the spiritual aspect. When there's a conflict between spiritual and physical needs, I have been able to quickly determine what my heart truly wanted and did what my heart wanted to do. I feel more grounded in my heart because that's something I truly want."

"In the past, this is something I didn't really seriously consider. Now I'm more concerned with my spiritual needs, and I go ahead and do it once I'm aware of it."

NTDTV's Nine Competitions Offer a Great Stage for Artists

NTDTV's series of nine grand competitions for 2008 is about to be unveiled. The nine competitions are: the Chinese International Violin Competition, the Chinese International Piano Competition, the Global Han Couture Design Competition, the Chinese International Vocal Competition, International Chinese Classical Dance Competition, International Chinese Traditional Martial Arts Competition, Chinese International Figure Painting Competition, the International Chinese Photography Competition, and the International Chinese Culinary Competition.

Mr. Chen was able to reach a new high in artistic performance by participating in the first International Chinese Classical Dance Competition.

He said, "The competitions are opportunities for learning and sharing. These competitions hosted by NTDTV are fair and just. Participants are all professionals. Being in the same line of work, people can tell whose performance is better. It also depends if your performance on the date of the competition complies with the competition rules, and it depends on your live performance on the spot¡ªthat's the concept of the competitions. At the present time there are many competitions [around the world]. In particular, there have been many insider reports regarding the dance competitions held in China, yet they have failed to pick the best performers."

Mr. Chen added, "The nine competitions offer a great stage for participating artists and a platform for them to display their talents. The nine competitions also represent different aspects of Chinese culture. The competitions enable more people to understand different aspects and different directions of Chinese culture. Chinese artists share this same responsibility of promoting traditional culture."

As for the CCP's interference with the competitions hosted by NTDTV in the past, Mr. Chen said, "The CCP has been consistently using political means to attack and threaten [the competitions]. "What meaning does threatening have? There is no need to be scared. Displaying your talents on the international stage and in your own line of the profession, and making efforts to open up more space [for yourself]¡ªthat is more important. I hope more Chinese artists can participate in these competitions in the future."

Please visit NTDTVs' web page about the nine competitions.

Special to The Epoch Times