A CHINESE dancer living in Liverpool has revived a 2,000-year-old traditional dance as a centrepiece of a show to welcome the Year of the Horse.
Fenfen Huang, from Linhai in Zhejiang Province, wants a British audience to experience the colourful spectacles that dominate television screens across China.
Ms Huang, director of Liverpool-based arts company China Pearl, has produced an evening of Chinese dance and music on Saturdaay, February 1 to be performed at the Unity Theatre.
The centrepiece will be what she believes is the first ever performance in the UK of a dance devised over 2,000 years ago in China.
Fenfen explained: “The old dance is a traditional Chinese Han Tang dance called Xiang He Ge (Xiang He Ballad). It was choreographed by Professor Sun Yin from the Beijing Dance Academy who has been devoted to developing traditional Han Chinese dance for many years. I reworked the old dance with my dance group in Liverpool.
“The piece is based on Your Collar, a famous ancient poem from Shi Jing, the early collection of Chinese poetry and one of the Five Classics of Confucianism. The girls chant the poem and dance on and off drums creating rhythms with their feet to express their affection for absent loved ones.”
She added: “In China one of the highlights of the Spring Festival and our New Year are the spectacular shows. Seeing them is one of the things I most miss about China, they are so colourful and vibrant and a great way to start a new year.
“China Pearl decided we want to capture some of this magic right here in England so a UK audience can share the same experience.”
for tickets visit www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk or call the box office on 0151 709 4988.
