Chinese Dance
The art of Chinese dance traces its origins to even before the appearance of the first written Chinese characters. The Chinese used choreographed hand and feet movements in dancing to express their veneration of the spirits of heaven and earth, to act out aspects of their everyday life, and to give expression to shared feelings of joy and delight. Therefore, dance was as much symbolism and expression as it was beauty.
We offer expert tuition to all ability levels in two kinds of traditional Chinese dance, the Ribbon Dance and the Fan Dance.
Ribbon Dance
This is a classical Chinese dance which dates back to the Tang dynasty in the early eighth century. It has been attributed to Emperor Hsuan Tsung, as he was said to be extremely talented musically.
The Chinese legend has it that Emperor Hsuan Tsung, who reigned from 713-755, once dreamed that he was in a palace on the moon, surrounded by many fairies singing and dancing in multicoloured cloud-like long robes. The dance with the flowing silk ribbons is accompanied by traditional Chinese instruments, namely the Erhu and Pipa, and is characterized by its refreshing and poetic mood.
Fan Dance
The soft fan dance is a popular traditional Chinese dance. It is a graceful and elegant dance that shows off the beauty of the fluttering fans. The fans are skillfully used to portray illusions of flowers and waves. By stringing together simple moves in complex formations, the soft fan dance is a beautiful and relatively easy dance to learn.
