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Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

Chinese dance troupe enthral audience with amazing show |26 January 2012

Chinese dance troupe enthral audience with amazing show

The Splendid Ningxia song and dance troupe gave a performance that was nothing short of amazing, where Chinese culture was predominant at the event.

Performing to a full house, the Splendid Ningxia group is part of the Ningxia Dance and Song Theatre Co. Ltd founded in 1958. Over the years, the theatre company has given performances in several countries and regions such as Canada, the United States, Austria, Hong Kong and Macao SAR.

Opening the event on Thursday night, the Minister for Social Development and Culture Bernard Shamlaye said the performance is a fitting activity to welcome in the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon.

“The celebration of 150 years of Chinese presence in Seychelles will be a celebration for all Seychellois. As we know, the Seychellois nation has created itself from the mixing of people from various ethnicities and cultures and is all the stronger for its diverse ethnic and cultural origins, which woven together in a unique natural environment have formed the Seychellois people and culture. Today, all Seychellois, irrespective of personal origins, share a common heritage and a common destiny,” he said.

The Red Lantern – a popular artefact in Chinese culture – was also the name of the first dance, which featured – you guessed it – red lanterns. With red being a predominant colour in the show, the lantern were swayed to the sounds of traditional Chinese music.

Next, acrobatics with feet was a sight to behold, as the performers juggled enormous pots and also tables using only their feet and went as far as tossing the objects back and forth to one another.

One had to indeed be there watching it live to be able to really appreciate such a sight and be blown away by it.

There were also a number of dances, such as the foot dance, golden kettle, wolf totem and the charm of umbrellas. The latter again saw the predominance of the colour red, which was the hue of the umbrellas and also many of the outfits for the event.

Performer Jia Yang then interpreted local artist Thomas Alexis’ O mon pei cheri with a vigour that had the whole audience clapping and singing along.

A sega dance was also on the programme, a dance not unlike Seychelles very own dance, but yet heavily influenced by mainland African moves and flavour.

Another crowd-pleaser was the playing with bowls, where a number of performers had plastic bowls – which although as easy as it sounds, yet mind-boggling to witness – threw to one another, juggled with their feet and caught on their heads, all of which were done while maintaining their balance and dancing on a unicycle each.

At the end of the performance, a last song was done patriotically entitled ‘My love for China’ as a tribute to their country.

The guests were able to take souvenir photos with the performers after the show.
Accompanying the article are some highlights of the show captured on film by our photographer Louis Toussaint.

I.H.


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