A dancer swirls her long sleeves in dancing of pageantry, during the grand dance show of Oriental Charm, which features serial classic Chinese mythologies and legends including Pangu Separates the Sky from Earth, Goddes Nu Wa Patches Up the Sky, Great Archer Hou Yi Shoots Down the Suns, the determined Bird Filling in Sea, etc, in Nantong, east China's Jiangsu Province, Sept. 23, 2009.
In unison with the rest of the country over the past six decades, Chinese dancers have whirled and soared along a stylish path. Next we take a retrospective look at sixty years of dance in China, and catch a glimpse of the beautiful silhouette that Chinese dancers have left in the minds of their audiences.
Upon the founding of the People's Republic of China, yang-ge dance and waist drums were the popular dance forms among Chinese people.
These dance forms were created in the revolutionary zones and people used them to express their great joy for the army's victory and toward a new life.
Dance heralders like Dai Ailian, Wu Xiaobang and Jia Zuoguo went into towns, villages, and ethnic areas to collect dance traditions and find inspiration to create stage pieces.
Signature works of that era include Dai Ailian's piece "Lotus Flower," Jia Zuoguang's work "Erdos" based on the lives of people in Inner Mongolia, and "Reba Dance in the Grassland" inspired by life and customs of Tibetan people.
Other signature works are: "Harvest," which portrays women living south of the Yangtze River to harvest rice crops.
"Moonlight of Spring River," inspired by ancient poems with postures borrowed from traditional operas.
The dance drama "The Dagger Society," which was the first revolutionary-themed dance drama since the founding of New China.
