Mongolian desert tale inspires dance drama

When the dance drama Kubuqi, which is named after a large desert in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, was staged at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing on Thursday, the audience was introduced to a lesser-known fable of the Mongolian ethnic group through folk music.

The fable is about a magical flower, which can cure diseases among the residents of Kubuqi, a place in Ordos. But after being saved by the flower, a man takes it away out of greed, an act that turns the area’s beautiful land into a desert. His mistake also brings him trouble but no one wants to help him except a girl who helps the man make amends and the flower bloom again.

Performed by the Ordos Singing and Dancing Troupe, the dance drama aims to raise environmental awareness. It has been staged 20 times, attracting nearly 20,000 viewers, since it premiered at the Ordos Grand Theater a year ago. Its recent show in Beijing was to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of autonomous region in August.

“When we decided to make a dance drama to talk about the environment, especially combating desertification, we naturally thought of the fable, which best shows what we wanted to say to the audience,” says composer Cha Gan, who is from Ordos and spent two years finishing the composition for the dance drama.

Growing up in a herder’s family on the grasslands, Cha, in his 50s, recalls he couldn’t see the sheep while they were grazing in his childhood because the grass was tall. But about three decades ago, his hometown was hit by desertification. Efforts were made by the local people and the government to tackle the situation and improve residents’ living standards.

The desert’s harsh environment resulted in poverty. But now ... we have got the grasslands back.”

Cha Gan, composer,

“The desert’s harsh environment resulted in poverty. The loss of grasslands is painful for herders who live by raising livestock. But now that we have got the grasslands back, we should protect them,” says the composer, who has used traditional Mongolian elements, such as the morin khuur (horse-head fiddle) and khoomei (throat-singing), to tell the story in the dance drama.

The actors and actresses from Ordos are connected to the changes of the grasslands, and helped deliver the emotions better, says the dance drama’s director He Yanmin.

She says borrowing the name Kubuqi, which is spread over 18,600 square kilometers, was an attempt to remind the audience that the once-barren area got greener in recent years — more than 6,000 sq km are turning green.

Zeng Han, a senior local government official, says the sixth Kubuqi International Desert Forum, held in Ordos in July, praised the green drive of Kubuqi.

The Conference of the Parties, established by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, will hold its 13th session in Ordos over Sept 6-16, with about 5,000 Chinese and foreign delegates likely to attend.

The dance drama will be performed four times at the convention.