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The June sunshine dapples on the slate at the Temple of Heaven, the Water Cube and Bird’s Nest sit still as two audacious beacons of a sprawling Beijing beaming across the globe. In a city where the East meets the West, the modern meets the ancient, individuality meets conformity, China’s cultural hub and political capital has emerged from a traditional culture to become the metropolis of the future. The opening of a nation has allowed for the blossoming of a new and possibly unexpected art form – modern dance. As the Eastern behemoth entrances the world with its economic boom, modern dance in China has transformed from a fusion of the Eastern traditions and the Western experiments to form a unique art lexicon. Among the few key figures who have dedicated themselves to the development of modern dance in China, Jin Xing is one of the brightest stars.
Since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, the post-Mao era has witnessed the rejuvenation of Chinese society and the reawakening of Chinese artistic expression. The reciprocal relationship between changes in modern China and their reflection in Chinese modern dance is immediately evident. Until 1980 modern dance was banned in China. In June 2005, the Chinese government endorsed a new policy that allows a private sector or an individual to run a performing arts institute and register the institute as a business enterprise.
Prior to this, all performing arts companies in China were established and supported financially by the government. Artistic direction was under government control. Even now, before a production can go on stage it will need to be reviewed and approved by the government. Modern dance companies remain few in proportion to the nation’s size. The limited funding available is offered to state-sponsored companies only. Limitations aside, Chinese dancers and choreographers have presented to the world a unique vocabulary of body movement, channelling Chinese culture and introducing elements of traditional tai chi, Chinese opera and even acrobatics to their works.
China’s history of modern dance is, not surprisingly, relatively brief. The art form is still very much in its nascent stages, and can be charted by the groundbreaking work of a handful of bold artists. China’s “father of modern dance”, artistic director of BeijingDance/LDTX (Lei Dong Tian Xia, which literally means “thunder rumbles under heaven”) Willy Tsao, played an instrumental role in its development of Chinese modern dance.
Born and educated in Hong Kong, Tsao’s variety of choreographic works has been widely recognised and received by the international audience. In 1979 he returned to Hong Kong after receiving modern dance training in the U.S. and founded Hong Kong’s first modern dance group, the City Contemporary Dance Company. He later contributed to the establishment of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company (GMDC) and took the position as the artistic director of the Beijing Modern Dance Company (BMDC) before forming BeijingDance/LDTX which he still runs today.
Besides Tsao, one equally key founding father of modern dance in China was Wu Xiaobang. When the War of Resistance against Japan broke out in 1937, Wu joined the national salvation performing team and found his art in accord with Mao Zedong’s proclamation, “Literature and art are weapons for uniting the people and attacking the enemy.” At the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, Wu set up the Tianma Dance Art Studio in Shanghai and produced works that “dance to the rhythm of the times”.
With the closing of the studio during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), development of modern dance in China slowed down for a period of time but nearing the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, picked up its pace as “modernisation” seemed to have supplanted “revolution” as the dominating principle in Chinese society. In 1991, the Beijing Dance Institute launched the office of modern dance teaching. In Guangzhou, the southernmost of China’s major cities and a pioneer of Chinese reform, a home-grown style of modern dance was nurtured.
Founded in June 1992 by dance educator Yang Mei-qui, Guangdong Modern Dance Company (GMDC) was the first professional modern dance company in China,and was established under the auspices of the Guangdong Provincial Cultural Bureau. Dancers such as Sang Ji-jia, Qiao Yang and Shen Wei from the Company acquired international recognition by performing works of stellar skill and quality choreography and bringing home prizes from prestigious world dance competitions.
In 1992, after completing her four-year training in Guangdong, choreographer Wong Mei established the first choreography programme at the Beijing Dance Academy. Later, in 1995, she helped found the Beijing Modern Dance Company, where Jin Xing was appointed the first artistic director of the Company. Among the selected few exceptional individuals who have contributed to and pioneered in the course of Chinese modern dance, Jin Xing forms a key role in its development. A renowned French critic said after watching one of Jin Xing’s most acclaimed works Shanghai Tango, “At a time when modern dance in the West encounters a stumbling block, a choreographer from the East points out a clear direction for us.”
Born and raised in Shenyang in Liaoning Province, Jin Xing is not just a choreographer. An occasional jazz singer and leading actress in theatre plays and movies, Jin Xing’s manners are refined; her figure has an air of youthfulness. A frequent guest artist at festivals such as The Venice Biennale, Dance Umbrella London, Impulstanz Vienna and Steps in Switzerland, Jin Xing has made a lasting mark on the global stage. Her art is a symbiosis of Western ideas and Chinese national character.
In Made in China – Return of the Soul she combines classical elements with old folktales, creating a modern interpretation of one of China’s best-loved classical Kunqu operas, The Peony Pavilion. “I don’t deliberately label myself and my works as ‘Made in China’. I just convey to the audience what I experience in life and what interests me. When my dancers and I perform on stage, the national characteristics of China are more than obvious. The way we breathe and our body movements differ distinctly from other Asians. I don’t mould myself into a certain label of race. I’m an artist, and my productions should reflect my thoughts and feelings only.”
In 1988, Jin Xing was funded by the Asian Cultural Council of America and the American Dance Festival to study modern dance in New York. In 1991 she won the “Best Choreographer” award at the American Dance Festival for her creation Half Dream. Then she moved to Rome and Brussels to teach and work as a choreographer. “Every stage of one’s life is crucial to her personal growth. As a young person, American culture opened a whole new world to me. It allowed me to physically break out from my own cocoon and return to the purest state and freedom of mind. Europe enabled me to explore more of its rich history and culture. Then I came to position myself among America, Europe and the East and realised that I must go back to where I came from. I’m a Chinese. I must come back to gain more energy and artistic fuel from my roots.”
In 1993 Jin Xing returned to China to teach for the National Choreography and Modern Dance Training workshops commissioned by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and resigned as colonel from the Chinese military dance company. In 1996 she set up the first modern dance troupe in Beijing. Her own ensemble Jin Xing Dance Theatre was then relocated from Beijing to Shanghai in 2000. “The art and culture force in Beijing is more powerful. Beijing is like the man of China, and Shanghai is like the woman of China. Beijing belongs to China, whereas Shanghai belongs to the world. That’s why I decided to move to Shanghai.”
In March 2006 Jin Xing initiated the first independent Chinese dance festival in Shanghai. Her vision is to further develop the cultural scene in China by “reinforcing the exchange with other cultures and creating a sense of appreciation for the strong cultural tradition in China.” According to Jin Xing, Shanghai Dance Festival’s mission is to present high class performing groups from different countries and thus open the Chinese audience’s mind to discover the richness of other cultures. The festival also helps to foster the exchange between international and Chinese performing artists by holding performances and workshops.
Through conversing with local artists from her recent trip to North Korea, Jin Xing feels they deserve more respect from the international audience. “In the foreseeable future I would like to introduce modern dance to North Korea. Political prejudices aside, artists in North Korea have shown a collective world-class level of artistry. Of course, most of their works may still carry a strong political message or serve as political propaganda. However, their art is unquestionably of world-class standard.”
When asked what stumbling blocks she sees Western modern dance encounter Jin Xing replies, “I have participated in a great many art festivals in the world and taken the position of judge in a number of art events. I have always told others that my art is for the ordinary people, not only limited to industry professionals. We can do intensive research on modern dance within the industry, but sometimes it tends to become ‘over-intellectual’. What’s shown on stage has to be a frank and sincere communication with the audience. Otherwise the production possesses no value. If you don’t care about the real audience and the real people, you may as well just dance in your own kitchen.”
Nowadays, as the Chinese market opens to the world, almost all the major fashion brands have stepped into the competition. Collaboration between modern art and fashion has taken on a new wave in China. Having cooperated with such brands as Marimekko, L’Oréal and Estée Lauder, Jin Xing is currently working on a new project with Cartier. “As long as I can stick to my own aesthetics, I welcome commercial collaboration. I don’t think art can make a tremendous change in society, but art can change people’s mindset, and mindset will determine people’s behaviour.”
However successful her commercial productions are, lack of budget and government funding remains a major concern within her dance theatre. Optimistic, in a way she is renowned for, Jin Xing proclaims, “Giving up is just as simple as it is to say. Determination is for a lifetime.”
by Yolanda Chen
Photographs by Tang Ting
From the Glass Archive – Issue Six – Passion
Posted: 12 October 2012