In Young China Shines, Beijing’s No. 4 High School has put together a cultural showcase which, while very interesting at times, often becomes awkward and uncomfortable.
No. 4 High School’s dance club is brimming with talent, and their synchronicity and precision are to be admired. Their opening number, The Sound of Shoots, is a superb interpretation of early spring plant growth. Its inventive choreography is consistently appropriate for purpose, effectively evoking the subject matter. Unfortunately this standard is not revisited, and other dances are less interesting in spite of their highly technical nature - often due to their choreography being inappropriate for the subject matter it handles. Soaring To The Sky, for example, which is a dance about wild swans, looked like a sequence of pretty movements with no purpose.
The street dance group are also very well-rehearsed, and it is clear that their pieces are thoroughly drilled to ensure total neatness. However, their choreography is obviously tailored to their less experienced dancers, and is neither complex nor particularly inspired. Their final piece, Dancing With The Soul, does feature some more complex and exciting choreography and the dancers do seem to enjoy themselves, but this piece dips in the middle and never returns to its initial high energy.
Also present are the art club, who share their work with us in between dance performances. Although the work is very impressive in places there was a palpable sense of awkwardness at the way in which artworks were introduced. In particular, a section in which a young dancer with a fan served as accompaniment to a calligrapher was slightly bizarre, especially when nobody could correctly answer the question of what was depicted.
The main thing I found unsettling about this performance was its highly nationalist and almost propagandist undertones. Each performance piece built on the theme of China as a great nation: its rich cultural history, its development into a modern nation and so on. Perhaps to some this is no stranger than an Olympic opening ceremony, however the focus on growth from struggle seemed innately Maoist. In addition, the standing ovation from some audience members received by the Chinese flag was quite alienating for me.
In spite of its pitfalls, this performance was frequently very interesting and probably worth seeing. Young China certainly does shine as a beacon of talent, if not as the pinnacle of quality dance.
