Attendees at the press conference Photo by WANG Xiaojing
The annual “Chinese Dance for 12 Days” will be held yet again at the NCPA on July 14
th to August 1
st.
The Cursed Portrait - Westward Journey
A press conference was held on June 26
th, attended by among others, NCPA Artistic Director of Dance ZHAO Ruheng, Chairman of Chinese Dancers Association FENG Shuangbai, and Secretary of the Party Branch Committee LUO Bin on behalf of the jury of the Chinese Dance for 12 Days 2018. Keeping to the theme, “a dancer’s original aspiration”, they introduced young choreographers and their works selected this year.
As one of the brand-name dance programmes of the NCPA, the Chinese Dance for 12 Days has, since its launching in 2012, has promoted young Chinese dancers to work on artistic productions and creations based on diversity of styles in a collective way, gradually making itself a platform where young Chinese choreographers and works can be incubated and showcased.
In recent years, the NCPA has brought in the “mentor recommendation” system from Chinese Dancers Association. A number of influential Chinese mentors spare no efforts to recommend young choreographers to the NCPA. FENG Shuangbai said, “the NCPA has a strong brand effect and gives the Chinese Dance for 12 Days a free space. The small theatre’s length and width, as well as the way audience watches performances, are helpful for young choreographers to compose exploratory works. The young choreographer training programme and Chinese Dance for 12 Days have brought into being a ‘one-stop’ organizational structure for young choreographer training. For instance, Chinese choreographers and dancers WANG Yabin and XIE Xin grew up this way.”
Under the theme, “a dancer’s original aspiration”, experts ZHAO Ruheng, FENG Shuangbai, LUO Bin, ZHAO Tiechun, YANG Wei and DING Wei are invited to give a comprehensive review of selected contemporary dances before selecting six pieces recommended by young choreographers themselves.
Reviewer LUO Bin said, “The new pattern adopted this year looks the same as the way we teach postgraduate students. The opening report, data acquired and first draft will be evaluated by industry experts, who will give a guiding opinion and suggestion. Then, the choreographers concerned will make an adjustment based on their own ideas, to finally make the works mature and successful.” For this year’s theme, ZHAO Ruheng emphasized, “A dancer’s original aspiration promotes him to know whom he should dance for. Dancers ought to stay true to their original aspiration, or they cannot come up with touching works.”
This time, WANG Zhenbing attended the Chinese Dance for 12 Days 2018 with his work Distant South Water, and he is a lead dancer in The Railway to Tibet, a dance drama commissioned by the NCPA. Feeling very honoured, he said, “I’ve been keeping an eye on the Chinese Dance for 12 Days. I submitted a work before, but it failed to be chosen. However, I encourage myself to constantly perfect my creations. Now, I’m going to mount the NCPA stage as a dancer and choreographer. I feel very happy that I should be able to show my love for dance on the stage and stay true to my original aspiration.”
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