TAKE IT TO STREET
Hip-hop is finding plenty of enthusiasts in China, who are savoring the power and energy of dance, Chen Nan reports.
When Xia Rui was introduced to hiphop culture as a freshman at Communication University of China in Beijing in 2002, he fell for the dramatically expressive street dancing immediately.
By participating in dance communities of other universities, such as Peking University, and watching music videos of Michael Jackson and Madonna, Xia developed an interest in the dance style.
“At that time, few people knew what street dancing was. It was a Western culture thing, popular among university students,” recalls Xia, now 35, who later founded a hiphop dance community at the CUC in 2003.
“Our teachers and parents considered it as a bad influence then. But hip-hop dance, which is about skills, creativity and displaying individuality, picked up quickly on campus. We had nearly 1,000 students in the community then.”
Over the past decade, hiphop dance, which originated in the United States in the 1970s and includes a variety of styles, such as breaking, locking and popping, has taken root in China.
The first national touring competition of hip-hop dance kicked off on June 3 and will run through December, Xia has announced in his role as deputy-director of the China Hip-Hop Union Committee. That was founded by the Chinese Dancers Association in 2013.
The competition will see group and singles sections of each style under hip-hop dance.
“In the following six months, more than 300,000 competitors from 300 cities across the country will participate in the event,” says Xia.
He also notes that teaching materials about hip-hop dance have been published by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Publishing House in 2015, which enables the dance style to be formal and systemic.
“There’s now a vibrant and fast-developing street dancing scene in China,” Xia adds. “Like any contemporary art form, street dancing is about using art as a platform to have our voices heard.”
As the dance form is becoming more popular, Xia says he hopes awareness grows.
“During the past 10 years, street dance is not a minority taste anymore. It’s a culture embraced by young people. The performances of street dances on television shows and in movies helped the dance form quickly spread in China,” says Feng Shuangbai, president of the China Dancers Association. He says he hopes that “more highly skilled dancers and choreographers will be discovered via this competition”.
Xia, who was born in Xi’an, Shaanxi province and graduated from the CUC with a major of TV and movie directing in 2006, studied further for his master’s degree at the same university in 2011 and worked at China Central Television before devoting himself to promoting hip-hop dance in 2013.
Since the China Hip-Hop Union Committee was founded, he says, over 30 subcommittees have been launched across China during the past four years.
He has just concluded the recording of a variety show, called Dance World, which will be aired by CCTV during the summer vacation and features 80 young Chinese hiphop dancers.
Xia also notes that though hip-hop dance is an imported culture, Chinese dancers have combined it with Chinese culture, including tai chi, martial arts and local operas.
Xiao Jie, a hip-hop dancerchoreographer and a native of Chengdu, Sichuan province, is one of the pioneers.
He collaborated with Peking Opera performer Qiu Jirong on a show, which combined the iconic Peking Opera character Monkey King with street dancing in the Spring Festival gala aired by Beijing Television early this year.
“It was a really fascinating time when I started dancing. I just imitated the dancing steps from music videos. When the music is playing it’s automatic for me to move to it,” Xiao says.
With friends who shared the same passion for street dancing, Xiao danced for hours every day.
“Street dancing is a great platform for young people to mingle and communicate. They love street dancing for its own sake,” he says.
Xiao’s mother didn’t approve of him becoming a hip-hop dancer — a culture often considered unhealthy and seen as linked to drugs and crime — until she realized that he was serious. In 2003, Xiao came to Beijing to study dancing at Capital Normal University for two years.
In 2007, when an annual hip-hop dance competition held in the United Kingdom came to China to recruit Chinese candidates, Xiao applied and won first prize, which enabled him to compete in the UK.
Now, Xiao has his own studio, teaching and choreographing. He says that only when Chinese dancers present their original street dancing choreography works could they be recognized worldwide. Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn
Like any contemporary art form, street dancing is about using art as a platform to have our voices heard.” Xia Rui, deputy-director, China Hip-Hop Union Committee