November 2010 Guiling Tour, China
Dancing and Dancing every here and there.
Dance in the morning, Dance in the evening.
Dance the old men dance, Dance the old ladies dance.
Dancing in the city square, dancing in the parks and dancing beside the lakes.
Dancing in any open space, dancing under the street light
Dancing under the rising morning sun, dancing under the moon and stars sheltered by thick mist.
Malaysian Dance, Indian Dance and Indonesian Dance! Yes, believe it or not! They dance my country dance - Malaysia.
This is what surprised and amazed me during this 8Days 7 Nights tour of Guiling in China. I completely did not expected to see such activities before I came. Now I saw them and I believe these Chinese ( a third of world population) will eventually pick up all form of dances.
Chinese fitness dancing :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_fitness_dancing
I didn’t realize that could see this myself during this trip to Guilin. And so many of them. Mostly elderly people over 50.
In another park they were in learning dance routines. And group of elderly men and women doing Tai-chi in front an ancient gate. Many of these dancers consider these daily activities in the park as a longstanding hobby and doing it with passion.
They are a group of people whose passion lies in dancing: ranging from the elders to youth. Dancing makes their lives rich and colorful and fills their world with spirit and energy. In China today, dancing can be used to express one's own story as well as bring out life's joy.
The average age of the members of this dance troupe is 53, and none of them are professional dancers. The dance they are rehearsing is Italian so they had ethnic Italian costumes custom made.
The members of the dance troupe all consider dance to be a longstanding hobby and thus throw them into it with great passion.
In the cities of China today, dance has already become a type of exercise. People take advantage of any and every usable space, practicing their favorite kind of dance.
Morning dancing in Beijing parks
23-10-2013 Tuesday : From Zhaoqing City to Hezhou City
Morning
This is my first morning in China, I got up early then the 2 children and went out the hotel for a walk around.
Behind the hotel down the slop an empty concrete space were few people attracted me to go for a look. I saw a small group of elderly men and women doing fan dance very graceful and elegant. (photo above)
I remember reading about early morning activities in parks of Beijing and Shanghai. About Chinese people doing Tai-chi, dancing, and "Practicing English" in groups.
This trip, for the first time I saw such social culture my self in China. Back home in my town Chinese do have small and insignificant activities in such dancing exercises too. For example one of the local church used to have group aerobat exercise dance at car park late afternoon. Another group of grandmothers have weekly dancing exercises using the Chinese Middle School compound.
Evening
In the evening the tour guide brought our group to see "crystal tree" in the city park. I am in no interest in jewelry though the ladies member in the group are. I skip the group and wonder around the park and excited to see two separate lady groups in line dance.
Black cloths are common among the dancers. Why Black I sill unable to understand. Both groups wear clothing similar in style of loose robes and T-shirts.
Two different groups
Each group consist large number of women, dancing in synchronicity to music from CD players.
They do for fitness. I hardly see any fat female during my trip but my town is full of fat ladies my wife is one. Hope they also have such fitness dancing back home too. This is a very appropriate activities for community spirit.
This fitness dances have multi purposes. Other then fitness is also done for community spirit and fun . Most of them I saw are middle age women ranging to seniors.
The groups congregate in the early morning and evening, at parks or public squares. The dancers organize themselves into lines. The front lines are the most proficient dancers, the best being in the center. All the dancers face forward. This allows dancers to learn from those in the rows ahead. The back rank are beginners just learning the moves, while the front rows are well-coordinated.
The music came from CD players.
24th November 2010 Wednesday 3rd Day in China From Hezhou City to Guilin City
夢幻漓江 Dreamlike Lijiang Show
This is a tight scheduled day by tour bus from Heshou City to Guilin City. We ended our day with a night shown 《夢幻漓江》 in Guilin City before retire to the hotel for a good sleep.
Do not know for what reason, or perhaps this member knew something special about this theater's toilet, one of our group member asked the Chinese tour guide on the way to the theatre "Is there any toilet in the theatre?". The guide was amused by this sudden question but seem ready with an answer to give. She told every one tried to visit the toilet to be surprised with their special facility in the toilet. She told us an incident that a year ago a elderly tourist went to the show. In the mid of the show he needed to visit the toilet but determined not to go because the show was so capturing he did not want to miss any part of it. By the end of the show he had by then over constrain his urinating system that he had to see a doctor. This news reached the theater management and the managers made an extraordinary creative changed in toilet facilities. The theater toilet was then renovated that each and every bowl unit has a small TV screen simultaneous showing what is going on the stage so that no visitor would miss any part of the show even in the toilet.
I did not find a chance to see the special toilet during or after the show.
This nightly theatrical spectacle present on stage the rich natural and cultural heritage of Guilin.
A show of Ballet, Acrobatics and Circus
"Dreamlike Lijiang Show "《夢幻漓江》pushing the boundaries of dance form with its wildly inventive acrobatics, creative scenery setups, blending the highest artistic concentration and local legends into a stage show.
The show present an irreplaceable theatrical experience. The incredible evening show acrobatics, modern circus and ballet dances. The many performers in the show ranging from children, teenagers and adults.
Produced by China Heaven Creation 天創國際演藝製作交流有限公司, Dreamlike Lijiang (Li River) premiered in Guilin in April, 2002 and continued its daily run since. By 2010, over million people have seen the show. Its success has made it one of the most influential shows, a brand show, in Guilin tourist performing arts.
No photography is allowed inside the theatre. I managed to snap a couple images at the ending part when the group say farewell (above image) . The official website is here for images of the show.
Below are few images from Google Images:
25th November 2010 Thursday 4th Day in China
Today a full day in Guilin City
After a rich breakfast in the hotel, our first destination is Rong Lake. 8:00am in the morning and a working day but the lake park is not short of people.
Attracted by music a few including us detour from the group to the other end of the street where a big group of ladies rehearsal their dances in front the Library main entrance ground.
A Guilin Amateur Dancing Group 裊裊舞群(圖書館晨練隊) are having their rehearsal in front the Guilin Yong Lake Branch Library. These are adult amateur dancers practicing 9 different set of dances for performance scheduled on 27 November Saturday (3 days later) at a theater.
On their item number 2 is a "Asian Parade" which compose of 3 dances Malaysian+India+Indonesia. Amazing!
Our tour guide and rest of the group are waiting impatiently at the other end of the street. We got to catch up with them, other wise I like to spend more time in watching the Chinese people. Tourist are "strictly" guided to their tour destinations, but the real every day life in China is more interesting then the assigned tourist spots.
8:33 AM The Amateur Dancing Group 裊裊舞群(圖書館晨練隊)
8:42 AM Elderly practicing Tai-Chi
9:07 AM Young group of women and some man doing aerobic dance
27th November 2010 Saturday 6th Day in China
from YangShuo Town to WuZhou City
The Happy Big Square
After returning from Guilin Tour, one day I asked Yin, the daughter, which was you most happiest event in China, she pause for a moment and answered "The big square".
That was Wozhou City Square. We being to only one square and this is the one. The answer was a bit surprised to me because I also felt the same... I was most happy and free when I visit Woshou City Square.
Why this ordinary big square and is merely an empty space turn out to be a happiest place for us? This trip was not short of beautiful location and eventful functions? I couldn't explain, but one thing I can tell is "Freedom".
As tourist from Malaysia joining a guided tour, our whole group were closely "guarded" by the Chinese Tour Guide. Out Malaysian tour leader also closely cooperate with them in keeping supervision on us such as scolding the local souvenir sellers away when these old women approached me to sell some local handicraft. (So that we could keep our money to buy from their "tourist trap" shops which they brought us to without warning.)
Another reason is every where we went were crowd, crowd and crowded and crowded.
Now suddenly we unintentionally ventured on our own to discovered a huge empty space all to our own free will to room around, we felt a different excitement, a happy feeling. "Freedom" is the most happy moment a person can experience.
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Wuzhou City
Square 梧州市政廣場 |
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Wuzhou City
Square at night
梧州市政廣場 |
