Impression of Yun Nan

The brand new Shanghai Opera House sets in the center of the city’s People’s Square. Designed by a renowned French architect, the structure resembles a traditional Chinese treasure basin symbolizing the idea of collecting and integrating the world’s arts and talents. For my birthday, my parents and I attended the new “Broadway” show equivalent Chinese dance production titled, “The Impression of Yun Nan” 《云南映象》.
Yun Nan is the southwestern province of China that borders Burma and Vietnam. The literal translation of Yun Nan means south of the clouds. I’m not sure if that is the region’s original name or not. But it is a quite poetic one. There are many unique geological wonders in the area that are quite popular tourist attractions. Several minorities populate the area. Their culture and spirit saturates the impression of the province in the minds of Chinese people. They have no written language of their own and are known to communicate through their dance rituals and songs. The show uses locally recruited dancer and singers led and directed by a seasoned, well known dancer, Yang, Li Ping “杨丽萍”. Ms Yang’s signature dance and her life’s pursuit is a dance that imitates a peacock, the region’s favorite bird. Amazingly at the age of 46, she still look and dance like someone in her 20’s. The peacock dance to her is almost at the spiritual level rather than just an art form.

My mom thought they bought the best seats. But the 3rd row seat became first row due to the expansion of the stage to accommodate the format of the show. Many times, if I stood up, I could literally reach over and touch the performers. We can also feel the breath created by their clothing whenever they ran across the stage. I could see each dancer's face and the excitment in their eyes. There are so much innocence in them. I could tell which member are professional dancers from the national dance institutes and which ones are truly local people from Yun Nan. But the coordination of the dances are well rehersed and orderly. The lighting and stage design all are very creative and modern. Many of the techniques employed reminds of me of some of the Vegas shows. Not anybody or any show can be chosen as the center stage show on the national independence day in the Shanghai Opera House. The fact they chose this show either means they're really the best or that there is definitely a shift in people's appreciation of art form here that I hasn't anticipated.

The dances include the ones they dance during their mating rituals and worship of fire or of the peacock, etc. The drumming was very uplifting. But perhaps the most memorable part was the dance of the women. "女人国“ features a song that really, truly describes the role of a woman. It goes, "Can the sun rest? Yes, it can. Can the moon take a break? Yes, it can. Can the woman relax? No. The woman cannot. If the woman rests, then the fire in the stove will die out... If there is a woman in the family, there everyone is united. If there is a woman for a man, then when the mountain collapses, the man will carry it. If there is no women in this world, then there will be no people. A woman must work hard or there will be no sweetness in her life.... Can the sun rest? Yes, the sun can rest. Can the moon take a break? Yes, the moon can take a break. Can the woman relax? No. She cannot." I cannot say I agree or disagree with the lyric. But I know how hard life must be for women of their culture.... Sigh!

Website for the show:
http://ent.sina.com.cn/f/ynpics/index.shtml

Website for the theater:
http://www.srts.net/shenzhou/Shanghai_dajuyuan.html