Strictly ballroom in Shanghai
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E-mail China Daily, June 3, 2017
Ma Yi'ao, 25, a dancer, choreographer and actor who graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy, is working with dancers to choreograph the performance in June.
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| Wu Husheng, a principal dancer with Shanghai Ballet, leads a public class. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily] |
"You cannot expect these women to have the same technique as a young dancer who has professional training," he said. "What I aspire to achieve is for them to present the beauty of their age and maturity. Dancing is also a way for them to preserve their youthfulness."
Ma said his experience with helping the program participants has been fulfilling because he finds great joy in helping ordinary people who know little about dance to take to the stage in just a few months. He emphasized that one does not have to dance like Yang Liping, one of the most acclaimed dancers in China, to feel the pleasure it induces.
This year the acclaimed Shanghai Ballet Troupe also started to provide free classes to the public. These classes are held every two months and only 50 slots are available each time. The first class was held in February. The next will be in June.
Xin Lili, director of the company, says the goal of the initiative is to introduce the art of ballet to the wider public.
The class has been popular with the public. "It was so hard to enroll in this class," says Ye Shuping, 63, a retiree who was among the participants of the second class in April. "I had to continuously dial the hotline using three mobile phones."
Ye, a fitness enthusiast, says he practices yoga, enjoys swimming and has always been interested in ballet. During his class, he and other dance enthusiasts were coached by the company's principle dancer Wu Husheng.
"The class helped me realize how difficult the ballet dancers' movement is," says a former schoolteacher surnamed Zeng.
"Now I understand what hardship dancers have to go through and I have developed a respect for them."
The dancing economy
You can find a wide range of dance styles being performed in public areas in downtown Shanghai. For example, people dancing to ballroom styles such as the waltz and the cha-cha can be found at the crossing between Xiangyang Road and Huaihai Road, while a simpler marching-style dance is performed almost every evening in Xujiahui Park.
The dancers are predominantly middle-aged and elderly women who have redefined the meaning of square dancing, which originated in 16th century England and refers to a dance comprising eight dancers in a square. In China, square dancing generally means dancing as a means of exercise and is often accompanied by music played on a loudspeaker.
China Central Television's finance channel says more than 100 million people in the country have taken up dancing as an exercise. This phenomenon has in turn been a boon to consumption.
Yang Renwen, an analyst with Founder Securities, estimated that people in China have spent more than 50 billion yuan ($7.25 billion) on dancing-related products and activities.
Tapping in the phrase square dance on China's largest e-commerce site Taobao.com generates more than 100 pages of search results. A typical bodysuit complete with a flare skirt is priced at about 60 yuan. According to the sales figures displayed on the site, the outfit sells by the thousands every month.
The best-selling portable loudspeaker on Taobao has garnered more than 19,000 reviews. The 30 centimeter hi-fi amplifier is priced between 279 yuan and 579 yuan. The higher-end versions include accessories such as a wireless headset with microphones that allow the user to issue dance instructions.
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