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Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.
DANCING WITH TWO LEFT FEET |
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We just got back from our three-week trip through China. I expected a communist rigid and backward regime, where you had to watch every word or step you took. Far from that, all the people we met were open, friendly, and interested in us. I cannot describe how impressed I was with the progress that country has made during the last years. A multitude of high-rise skyscrapers dotted each city we visited. Twelve-story-high malls, full of expensive merchandise boutiques were swarming with shoppers. Where do they get their money?
But that is not what interests all of you folk dancers.
We saw many dance performances, both in the cities we visited, and on the cruise boats we took on the Yangtze River. I am not an expert in Chinese folk dance or music, and I cannot recall one Chinese dance we do. The music is strange to our ears as well; almost the same as the Bulgarian gaida sound we all love is to the untrained ear.
What surprised me, at some of the performances, was the number of steps that were similar to the lesnoto and hasapiko we all do. The music of course was different, but the beat was unmistakably the same. The dances were from the remote northwestern parts of China. It made me wonder if perhaps these steps made their way to Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria, almost in a similar way that Chinese noodles made their way to Italy to become the well-known Italian spaghetti. Ask any Italian and he will tell you that spaghetti is an original Italian food the same way that any Greek will swear that hasapiko is an original Greek dance.
Think about how many countries you have gotten to know over the years.
With China marching at an accelerated speed to join the world community, wouldn't you think it is time our folk dance community should start doing some Chinese dances?
Printed in Folk Dance Scene, "DANCING WITH TWO LEFT FEET (40), December/January 2008/2009.