Chinese dance troupe toasts joys of spring

By Mehru Jaffer

JAKARTA (JP): Nine nymphs from the Chinese province of Heilongjiang celebrated the joys of springtime with much song and dance last weekend here in Jakarta.

Performing for the International Festival 2000 at the Gedung Kesenian that is fast emerging as an important cross cultural venue for the appreciation of the performing arts, the Chinese dancers frolicked for nearly two hours in gorgeous costumes and exotic music brought all the way from their home in the northernmost part of China. Bordering Russia, this province is a melting pot of races including the Han, Manchu, Korean, Mongolian, Hui, Daur, Oroqen, Heezhen, the Turkish speaking Kirgiz and the Ewenki.

Here architecture and cobblestones left from Russian and Japanese occupation are found aplenty along with the cranes, storks, swans, geese and herons that have made China's biggest bird sanctuary their home since time out of mind. This is the ancient land of Manchuria where summers do not exist and winters are long. The autumn here is a time of frosts, and there is much flooding during the comparatively warmer days. Meanwhile, the brief visit of springtime brings with it the danger of drought.

The provincial capital of Harbin has a six-month long winter with lowest temperatures of minus 38 degrees. It is little wonder then that the people of this treacherous land have devised such heartwarming dances and music to keep themselves amused. Modern times have seen the emergence of an ice festival that is now the talk of the whole world where ice sculptures of pagodas, bridges, lanterns, human figures and palaces give a fairyland look to the snow-clad landscape.

The people of this province, who obviously learn to sing and dance from a very young age, are definitely influenced in their art by the denizens of the 210,000-hectare Zhalong Nature Preserve which is situated a few hundred km away from Harbin. For these dancers from the provincial art academy, who have filled half of their repertoire with numbers celebrating Springtime, are only between the ages of 14 and 16. They have also incorporated in their dances the movements of birds, animals and fishes.

Looking like beautiful buds about to burst into blossom, the dancers were a delight to watch as they kicked, hopped, swayed and pouted to transport the audience into a magic world of glittering tinsel, brocade, satin and silk.

The heroine in the Peking Opera was full of vanity and pride as the angel-faced dancer with a body as supple as bamboo bark, and dressed in the regal colors of gold and red, regaled the audience with leaps and pirouettes galore.

A favorite was Song of the Boat when dancers wrapped in sarongs the colors of the sea, pretended that they were the net and sometimes the trawler.

The Turkish Muslim influence was evident in abundance in the blood red harem pants and toupees worn in one number that was danced to a sentimentally, soulful song sounding like the serenade of a love-sick Romeo to his coquettish beloved.

Silk Flowers in Spring seemed to bring an entire garden onto stage as the dancers made countless floral patterns with limbs as flexible as latex and simple props like scarfs or sticks. It was the shimmering performance of The World is full of Spring that ended a very ebullient evening and brought everyone back into the real world with a bang.