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Nanxun, a usually quiet river town in northern Zhejiang, became hectic on December 1, 2008 because Yao Zhuzhu Dance Art Museum was unveiled that day. The opening ceremony was attended by many celebrities such as pianist Liu Shikun, dancer Chen Ailian, performing master Jiao Huang, writer Shu Yi, just to name a few.
They came to celebrate the unveiling of Yao Zhuzhu Dance Art Museum. Nanxun Town is most famous for its fortune and culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Writer Xu Chi once used the adjective “crystal” 66 times to paint a verbal picture of his hometown Nanxun. Unlike her fellow celebrities such as business people, writers, revolutionaries, and scholars, Yao Zhuzhu stands out as a dancer. The museum is more than unique in Nanxun. As a matter of fact, it is China’s first museum ever built in honor of a dancer.
The museum is located in a three-story house in Wen Garden in Nanxun Town. The 400-m2 exhibition displays over 300 photographs and 120 other exhibits such as dancing shoes, costumes and documentation. Also on display are paintings and inscriptions in honor of Yao Zhuzhu, created by prominent painters such as Ye Qianyu, Wu Zuoren, Ding Cong, Huang Miaozi, and Zhang Guangyu.
With all these exhibits, the museum portrays and recreates the life of one of the first-generation outstanding dancers cultivated in New China.
Born into a family of performing artists in Nanxun in 1944, Yao Zhuzhu grew up as a wizard dancer. Though she is reluctant to acknowledge that she was born for dancing, she actually lives for dance. Even walking around could be a dance for her. Everyday in her life is a dance, though not necessarily happy.
She signed up for the dance troupe under the Central Experimental Opera Troupe in 1952 when she was only eight years old. She was recruited. Dai Ailian, a celebrated dancer, gave the little girl a green skirt embroidered with olive twigs. It was in this skirt that she practiced with her fellows when she was photographed in 1953. The photograph was printed in People’s Pictorial. The skirt is now in the collection of the museum.
Her happy childhood was abruptly disrupted when her father was prosecuted and died in a political movement in the late 1950s. Her father’s advice to her was that she should pursue nothing but dancing in her life. She pursued dance art relentlessly.
A large photograph in the exhibition hall recaptures a glorious moment of Yao Zhuzhu in 1964. She was a lead dancer in a Uigur dance in “Red is East”, an epic dance and musical creation in 1964 that celebrated the successful Chinese revolution under the leadership of the Communist Party.
What followed after her successful stunt in the epic was her dance at home and abroad. She danced in more than 20 countries and regions and won many prizes for her brilliance and talent.
Probably her most memorable performance was seen in the “Trio Dancers” in the early 1980s. Yao Zhuzhu, Wang Kun and Zi Huayun were probably the best dancers during these years. They were of the first-generation dancers cultivated in New China and they were the best national-level folk dancers. So they combined to stage a performance to highlight the best of Chinese folk dance art. The Trio Dancers evening was a huge success. It was carefully documented. The museum today has photographs of that unforgettable evening.
In 1980 Yao Zhuzhu began to think more about dance as a traditional folk art form. She asked herself such questions: do you know how dance originated in civilization? Where is the soul of dance? To answer her own questions, she began to read and did research work.
One day, she realized what she knew was adequate for a documentary. With all the research down, she was ready to shoot the documentary. She spent the next two years exploring remote areas in Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunan in southern and southwestern China and exchanging views with folk dancers in ethnic regions. As producer and art director, she was able to produce a four-episode documentary called “Dancing Soul”. Experts comment that it is the most important cultural record and research result about dance in the new period after 1979. The documentary was screened on CCTV and is now in collections of many important libraries across the world. □
They came to celebrate the unveiling of Yao Zhuzhu Dance Art Museum. Nanxun Town is most famous for its fortune and culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Writer Xu Chi once used the adjective “crystal” 66 times to paint a verbal picture of his hometown Nanxun. Unlike her fellow celebrities such as business people, writers, revolutionaries, and scholars, Yao Zhuzhu stands out as a dancer. The museum is more than unique in Nanxun. As a matter of fact, it is China’s first museum ever built in honor of a dancer.
The museum is located in a three-story house in Wen Garden in Nanxun Town. The 400-m2 exhibition displays over 300 photographs and 120 other exhibits such as dancing shoes, costumes and documentation. Also on display are paintings and inscriptions in honor of Yao Zhuzhu, created by prominent painters such as Ye Qianyu, Wu Zuoren, Ding Cong, Huang Miaozi, and Zhang Guangyu.
With all these exhibits, the museum portrays and recreates the life of one of the first-generation outstanding dancers cultivated in New China.
Born into a family of performing artists in Nanxun in 1944, Yao Zhuzhu grew up as a wizard dancer. Though she is reluctant to acknowledge that she was born for dancing, she actually lives for dance. Even walking around could be a dance for her. Everyday in her life is a dance, though not necessarily happy.
She signed up for the dance troupe under the Central Experimental Opera Troupe in 1952 when she was only eight years old. She was recruited. Dai Ailian, a celebrated dancer, gave the little girl a green skirt embroidered with olive twigs. It was in this skirt that she practiced with her fellows when she was photographed in 1953. The photograph was printed in People’s Pictorial. The skirt is now in the collection of the museum.
Her happy childhood was abruptly disrupted when her father was prosecuted and died in a political movement in the late 1950s. Her father’s advice to her was that she should pursue nothing but dancing in her life. She pursued dance art relentlessly.
A large photograph in the exhibition hall recaptures a glorious moment of Yao Zhuzhu in 1964. She was a lead dancer in a Uigur dance in “Red is East”, an epic dance and musical creation in 1964 that celebrated the successful Chinese revolution under the leadership of the Communist Party.
What followed after her successful stunt in the epic was her dance at home and abroad. She danced in more than 20 countries and regions and won many prizes for her brilliance and talent.
Probably her most memorable performance was seen in the “Trio Dancers” in the early 1980s. Yao Zhuzhu, Wang Kun and Zi Huayun were probably the best dancers during these years. They were of the first-generation dancers cultivated in New China and they were the best national-level folk dancers. So they combined to stage a performance to highlight the best of Chinese folk dance art. The Trio Dancers evening was a huge success. It was carefully documented. The museum today has photographs of that unforgettable evening.
In 1980 Yao Zhuzhu began to think more about dance as a traditional folk art form. She asked herself such questions: do you know how dance originated in civilization? Where is the soul of dance? To answer her own questions, she began to read and did research work.
One day, she realized what she knew was adequate for a documentary. With all the research down, she was ready to shoot the documentary. She spent the next two years exploring remote areas in Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunan in southern and southwestern China and exchanging views with folk dancers in ethnic regions. As producer and art director, she was able to produce a four-episode documentary called “Dancing Soul”. Experts comment that it is the most important cultural record and research result about dance in the new period after 1979. The documentary was screened on CCTV and is now in collections of many important libraries across the world. □