presented

Back to the Roots

***click above for program synopsis***

on

Saturday, April 1, 2006 at 7:30 PM

Sunday, April 2, 2006 at 3:00 PM

at

Performing Arts Center at Gwinnett Center

Duluth, Georgia

Staged and Directed by:

Hwee-Eng Y. Lee

Guest Artists:

Tara Lee, Atlanta Ballet
Tamila, Atlanta Ballet
Hangdong Xu, Dance China NY

Additional Artists:

Kerry Lee
Hui-Ju Young

Photographers:
Michael Merritt
Lander Stoddard

***click on a dance to see its description***
ACT 1	ACT 2
Expecting From China to America A Glimpse of Mother's Past Red Ribbon Dance Northeast Yang Ge Jiaozhou Fan Dance Panda Dance Mongolian Dance: Chopsticks Dance Yi Dance: Sai-lo-sai Dai Dance: Water Sprinkling Festival Dai Dance: Fish Dance Chinese Opera Girls	Chime of the Bells Dunhuang Dance: Flying Celestials Woman Warrior Butterfly Lovers' Concerto Rebellion In Mourning Shanxi Drum Dance Drunken Spring Cymbal Dance Drunken Drum  Solo  Yellow Earth

EXPECTING

This Tao Li Cup dance competition award-winning folk dance, of the Han majority ethnic group (92% of the total population) in China, depicts a young lady who is pregnant with her first child.  She is restless, anxiously counting down the days as she laughs to herself about the thought of being a mother.  The dancer utilizes the fan as a metaphor for both the child and for the clothes she is sewing for her child.  This dance is in the style of "Yang Ge," which originated from the movements of farmers.

Choreography: Beijing Dance Academy

Mother: Eugenie Ooi (Saturday), Hoyi Chan (Sunday)

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FROM CHINA TO AMERICA
 

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A GLIMPSE OF MOTHER'S PAST

The daughter is now a young child, and the mother begins to pass on her Chinese heritage to her daughter in America.  She gives her daughter her toy drum, her only materialistic possesion from her motherland.  The daughter happily plays with her new toy as she listens to her mother's stories of China.

Choreographer for Mother-Daughter Sections: Hwee-Eng Y. Lee
Choreographer for Mother in Flashback: Beijing Dance Academy
Mother: Eugenie Ooi (Saturday), Hoyi Chan (Sunday)
Daughter: Sophie Archer (Saturday), Kate Zahniser-Word (Sunday)
Mother in Flashback: Kateri Goodwin (Saturday), Anna Meyer (Sunday)

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RED RIBBON DANCE
 

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NORTHEAST YANG GE
 

Choreography: Hwee-Eng Y. Lee
Dancers: June Brenner, Carolyn Butler, Freda Chen, Katherine Do, Andrew Ellis, Monica Ho, Claire Liu, Anna Marianchuk, Jade Phillips, Anna Rappaport

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JIAOZHOU FAN DANCE
 

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PANDA DANCE

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MONGOLIAN DANCE: CHOPSTICKS DANCE

Inner Mongolians live on the vast prairies in northern China.  Many of the people live as shepherds.  Their traditional culture has a close relationship with sheep, horses, and eagles.  In this Tao Li Cup dance competition award-winning piece, the dancer beats bundles of chopsticks, a typical prop of traditional Mongolian dance, in intricate patterns across her body.

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YI DANCE: SAI-LO-SAI

The Yi people is one of the 56 minority who mostly live in the southwestern part of China in provinces such as Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guangxi.  Yi women wear laced or embroidered jackets and pleated long skirts hemmed with colorful multi-layer laces.  They worship fire, and the torch festival is one of the important customs.  The ancestors of the Yi ethnic group can be traced back to the Qiang people in northwest China.  They have since migrated south and joined the local southwest aborigines to form the Yi ethnic group as it is known today.

Choreography: Nanjing "Xiao Hong Hua" Arts Troupe
Dancers: Emily Backer, Mei-Jing Bernard, Laura Brockmann, Marjorie Peace Huan Chamberlain, Claire Chang, Sabrina Chin, Ruby Freeman, Lacey Krakowiak, Rachel Leong, Alice Y. McCurley, Penny Young

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DAI DANCE: WATER SPRINKLING FESTIVAL

The Dai, one of the fifty-six minority ethnic groups in China, live mostly in the Yunnan province, located in southwestern China.  Since they live in close proximity to Myanmar, the style of the Dai dance is influenced by the Burmese.  Bouncy knees and angular arms are special characteristics of this type of dance.  The water sprinkling festival is unique to Dai culture.  During the festival, people carry buckets or basins to splash water on each other.  It is an event that is attended by a large number of people.  It is believed that the more water one is splashed with, the happier one will be.  This dance was originally choreographed for ACDC by a Dai woman Tang Yebi

Staged by Hwee-Eng Y. Lee after Yang Yebi
Dancers: Stephanie Chi, Catherine Chu, Karen Ho, Stephanie Hu, Allison Kwan, Tiffany Liu, Lindsey Lue, Michelle McIntire, Julia Shyu, Tanya Su, Alice Yee, Amy Yee

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DAI DANCE: FISH DANCE

The Dai depend on the river, where they wash their clothes and bathe.  This leads to their passion for fish.  This dance was orginally choreographed for ACDC by a Dai woman Tang Yebi.

Staged by Hwee-Eng Y. Lee after Tang Yebi

Dancers: Madeleine Morgan Lan Harris (lead), Sophie Archer, Christy Chang, Vera Chang, Kateri Goodwin, Molly Herman-Gallow, Leslie Lue, Cynthia McIntire, Anna Meyer, Christie Sui, Kate Zahniser-Word

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CHINESE OPERA GIRLS

This Tao Li Cup award-winning Han dance depicts the beauty of young traditional Chinese opera ladies.  In Chinese opera terminology, "hua dan" represents a feisty, flirtatious young woman.  This dance, in which dancers wear only one long feather on their heads, is a parody of the long-standing tradition that female warriors wear two long feathers on their heads   

Choreography:  Sichuan Arts School

Dancers: Penny Wang (lead), Hoyi Chan, Emery Chang, Tzu-Wei Hsu, Queena Kou, Eugenie Ooi, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, Tiffany Soo, Joann Wang, Sandy Sun

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CHIME OF THE BELLS
 

This classical Chinese dance was inspired by the archaeologists who discovered a tomb that dates back to the Warring States period some 2,400 years ago.  This palace banquet music is based on the folk melodies of Hubei.  It shows the grand entertainment in the palace with flowing, graceful long sleeves.

Choreography: Hubei Province Song and Dance Troupe
Lead Dancers: Grace Ho (Saturday and Sunday), Catherine Stoddard and Cindy Ye (Saturday), Deanna Joe and Kimberly Wu (Sunday)
Group Dancers: April Huang, Deanna Joe (Saturday), Dana Lee, Catherine Stoddard (Sunday), Melissa Ting, Ginger Tsai, Jennifer Wang, Lacey Wen, Kimberly Wu (Saturday), Cindy Ye (Sunday)

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DUNHUANG DANCE: FLYING CELESTIALS

Dunhuang music and dance developed during the Tang dynasty, one of the richest periods in Chinese art history.  The classical Dunhuang dance style developed during the introduction of Buddhism into China and shows an Indian influence.  This dance depicts fairies flying in the heavens, watching the people on earth below.

Choreography: Chen Ailian
Dancers: Queena Kou and Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya

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WOMAN WARRIOR

Part of classical Chinese dance technique comes from traditional Chinese opera.  This dance portrays a traditional heroic Chinese woman.  In Chinese opera, this character typically wears full armor and long feathers in her hat.  Practicing control of the weapon shows her determination to defend her country.

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BUTTERFLY LOVERS' CONCERTO

Butterfly Lovers' Concerto is often nicknamed the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet.  In the story, Zhu Yingtai disguised herself as a boy to study in Hangzhou, where she met Liang Shanbo.  They fell in love, but Zhu's father already arranged for her to marry another man.  Liang died of a broken heart, and when Zhu mourned at Liang's tomb, the tomb burst open due to thunder.  Zhu threw herself into the grave, and the young couple transformed into butterflies in heaven.

Choreography: Zhang Jianming

Dancers: Tara Lee and Tamila (Guest Artists, Atlanta Ballet)

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REBELLION

Now that the daughter is a teenager, she longs to fit in with her American counterparts.  Trading her traditional Chinese outfit for her latest fashions and her mother's stories for American hip hop music, the girl renounces her Chinese heritage as an oddity that she wishes to shut out of her mind.  She kicks the toy drum in anger.

Choreographer: Hwee-Eng Y. Lee

Mother: Eugenie Ooi (Saturday), Hoyi Chan (Sunday)

Daughter: Allison Kwan (Saturday), Catherine Chu (Sunday)

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IN MOURNING

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SHANXI DRUM DANCE

Drums are a very popular prop in Chinese dance.  The rhythmical drum sound and graceful dance show the uninhibited character of villagers in the northern Shanxi province and is an expression of their happy and passionate feelings.  In this piece from the Shou-La-Shou Arts Troupe, the children of the Yellow River Basin hit two drums, one on their chests and the other on top of their heads, in intricate patterns.

Choreographer: Huang Ying and Wang Rui Fen
Dancers: Kateri Goodwin, Anna Meyer, Christie Sui (leads); Sophie Archer, Christy Chang, Vera Chang, Madeleine Morgan Lan Harris, Molly Herman-Gallow, Leslie Lue, Cynthia McIntire, Kate Zahniser-Word

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DRUNKEN SPRING

A group of Chinese Han girls celebrating Chinese New Year use their braids to beat the drum.  They dance cheerfully while drinking wine.

Choreography: Jiang Xi Arts and Vocational Academy

Lead Dancer: Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya

Group Dancers: Hoyi Chan, Emery Chang, Grace Ho, Tzu-Wei Hsu, April Huang, Deanna Joe, Queena Kou, Dana Lee, Eugenie Ooi, Tiffany Soo, Catherine Stoddard, Sandy Sun, Melissa Ting, Ginger Tsai, Jennifer Wang, Joann Wang, Penny Wang, Lacey Wen, Kimberly Wu, Cindy Ye

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CYMBAL DANCE

Cymbals are percussion instruments that Chinese dancers have used traditionally for celebration dances.  Carefully coordinating the cymbal with the music strengthens the spirit of the celebration.

Choreographer: Hwee-Eng Y. Lee

Dancers: Catherine Chu (lead), Stephanie Chi, Karen Ho, Stephanie Hu, Jessica Kouch, Katie Ku, Allison Kwan, Tiffany Liu, Lindsey Lue, Michelle McIntire, Julia Shyu, Tanya Su, Alice Yee, Amy Yee

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DRUNKEN DRUM SOLO

In ancient times, drums were used to offer sacrifices, fight the enemy, sound alarms, and give the time.  Later, beating drums, along with other percussion instruments, gradually became a recreational activity for villagers to pray for favorable crops and a happy life.  In this piece, the dancer is intoxicated with joy.

Choreographer: Zheng Lin
Dancer: Hangdong Xu (Guest Artist, Dance China NY)

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YELLOW EARTH

Based on the choreography of Zhang Jigang, well-known for "1000 Hand Guanyin," performed by the China Disabled Person's Performing Arts Troupe, "Yellow Earth" depicts peasants who have worked on China's yellow land for generations.  While they are very poor, they believe that as long as they have a plot of yellow earth, they can continue to live on in happiness.  By endless drum sounds, they show their love for their yellow land, their strong desire for life, and their hopes for the future.  The daughter joins these Chinese villagers as she finally comes to terms with where she came from--where her roots were planted more than 5,000 years ago.

Staged by Hwee-Eng Y. Lee after Zhang Jigang
Daughter: Kerry Lee

Group Dancers: Hoyi Chan, Emery Chang, Grace Ho, April Huang, Tzu-Wei Hsu, Deanna Joe, Queena Kou, Dana Lee, Eugenie Ooi, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, Tiffany Soo, Catherine Stoddard, Sandy Sun, Melissa Ting, Ginger Tsai, Jennifer Wang, Joann Wang, Penny Wang, Lacey Wen, Kimberly Wu, Cindy Ye, Hui-Ju Young

Additional Dancers: Sophie Archer, Christy Chang, Vera Chang, Catherine Chu, Kateri Goodwin, Madeleine Morgan Lan Harris, Molly Herman-Gallow, Karen Ho, Stephanie Hu, Jessica Kouch, Katie Ku, Allison Kwan, Tiffany Liu, Leslie Lue, Lindsey Lue, Cynthia McIntire, Michelle McIntire, Anna Meyer, Julia Shyu, Tanya Su, Christie Sui, Alice Yee, Amy Yee, Kate Zahniser-Word

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