Polarized art form
With over 70 years of development in China, dance drama combined with foreign dance forms has formed a polarized situation with some of the works being staged hundreds of times, while others have a negative reputation in the art circle.
In recent years, China has been producing over a hundred dance dramas each year, which makes the country the largest producer of dance drama in the world. However, the quality of these performances varies greatly.
As dance drama is an art form that requires a considerable economic input, a large, stable, and professional staff, as well as a theater with modern equipment, producing a quality one needs a certain amount of time and effort.
But some producers, in a bid to pursue quick economic profits from this art, rushed to make dance dramas and stage them, earning themselves a bad reputation and criticism from the audience.
Yet, other producers spent too much effort on the drama. They installed too many elements in one performance, making it too difficult to understand. Since it is hard to grasp the idea of the drama, many audience members lose interest in it.
In China, most dance dramas that gained a good reputation are those that have been staged for years and have been tested by audiences from generation to generation, like the famous "red ballet," "The Red Detachment of Women."
Closer to the audience
"Dance drama has long been considered a high-level art form, for it is full of body language with no verbal communication," said one art critic. "If the producers and the choreographers only chase the complex movements, but fail to make the drama easier to understand for ordinary people, the dance drama cannot succeed."
In the Western world, dance dramas, especially modern dance and ballet, have been well developed and accepted by ordinary people for years. But in China, they are still developing.
"Over-focusing on the dance movement instead of making the whole drama comprehensible to the audience will make the drama a failure in the market," say some critics.
A recent dance drama named "Marco Polo" was a good example of how the choreographers made it easier to understand, while at the same time impressive to watch. "Since dance drama does not involve any spoken words, the props used in the drama can help to tell the story," said Chen Weiya, the chief choreographer of "Marco Polo."
In order to make it easier for the audience to associate the stage with the historical time, the choreographer used many traditional goods from ancient China, like a brush and compass, in the drama.
"Bringing the audience closer to the drama and making some resonance between the drama and the audience is the first thing to lead a dance drama to success," said Chen.
"If dance dramas hope to attract more attention from the public, the first thing is to think up ways to make themselves easier to be understood," say the critics.
