STRICTLY BALLROOM
Dancing is a highly popular pastime for many middle-aged and elderly people, and now in Shanghai many are spending large sums of money on classes that give them the chance to perform before a live audience
Dancing is one of the most popular public leisure activities in China. Be it dawn or dusk, along the Bund or on the pedestrian walkway of Nanjing Road in Shanghai, one can always find groups of middle-aged and elderly people moving their bodies to the sound of music.
While most public square dancers in Shanghai spend conservative amounts of money to buy items such as shoes, costumes, props and makeup, a small group of them have been shelling out tens of thousands of yuan to take their hobby to the next level: professional training and performing on stage.
There are now more than 300 dancing clubs in the city that cater to wealthy enthusiasts who would prefer to stay out of the public eye. At these clubs, participants learn proper techniques from professional dancers who also help to design a choreographed routine for their stage performances.
Yarose Dance & Art Studios, in the heart of the Gubei residential community, opened its 37 Days program in 2015. Participants pay 37,000 yuan ($5,370) to enter the program, the fee including dance classes, personal tutoring, makeup, costumes and rental of the theater space, which makes up the bulk of the costs.
In contrast, a survey by The Paper found that those who dance regularly in public squares spend between 300 yuan and 500 yuan a year on their hobby.
Those who sign up for the 37 Days program attend 36 training sessions — four times a week for nine weeks — before taking part in a final rehearsal in the 37 th session. Following this rehearsal, participants get to showcase what they have learned in a theater. The performance is open to the public.
Yarose Dance & Art Studios, founded by Jenny Yao in 2006, held the first 37 Days gala performance at the Shanghai Grand Theatre last year. Those who took to the stage to perform included grandmothers, housewives and business people.
Yao, who learned to dance when she was 4, studied international accounting when she was in college. After graduating from university she went on to work for a series of international companies such as KPMG and the LVMH group before quitting the corporate world in 2006 to pursue dancing.
She has since developed “legend dancing”, an original method of dance that she said combines movements of Chinese classical dance with a spiritual element. Dance can transform a person, both inside and out, and allow them to find balance and serenity in life, she says.
“People say it takes 28 days for a The dancing economy new habit to take root. It usually takes two to three months before people start to realize how dance is transforming their lives,” she saysk, referring to the rationale behind the duration of the program.
The performance for the third and latest edition of the 37 Days project will be held on June 8 at the Mixing Room at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Among the participants is Connie Pan, a business woman who has two companies in Guangzhou and Shanghai that sell the Chinese liquor brand Moutai.
Pan said it was fate that brought dance into her life, pointing out that she was only interested to find out more after chancing upon the dance studio one day. After just four sessions she fell in love with the beauty behind dance, she says.
With a fellow member of the studio, Pan will perform a Broadwaystyle dance to the music of the Academy Award-winning film La La Land. Pan said she is now focused on putting up a good performance and has been going to the gym for up to three hours every day.
“I like dances that have a strong rhythm and sense of power. I have always identified myself as a weightlifting tomboy.
“Learning to dance has helped me discover a new side of myself which I was never aware of. I am very much immersed in the beauty of dance and music.”
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.
“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.”
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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.