After watching the five different dances, I find that the setting and the lighting design of the stage, the kind of music chosen, the costume design of the dancers, the accessories used and the way they are handled, the movement of the dancers and the facial expression of the dances all contributes to the quality of a dance.
Firstly, good lighting and stage set design is a very important key for a good dance performance. The lighting and stage set design create a sense of visibility and the atmosphere, affecting the overall pictorial aspect of the stage. The bright lightings used in the dances, Vibrance in Nature, Fervent Beat of my Homeland and 舞春风 create an atmosphere that allows the audience to feel the vitality, liveliness and dynamism of the dances. Together with the appropriate use of music with strong beats, the dances have created a cheerful and dynamic mood, which have roused my spirits. On the other hand, in Simple Gifts which is a combination of modern ballet and modern dance, blue, soft even lighting is used, revealing everything on the stage equally and clearly. This, accompanied by sweet light music, brings out the gracefulness of the dance. As for 太阳鸟, lightings are changed from red to blue and back to red to show the time progression. The stage scene is illuminated by highly localized lighting on the male soloist, in the way such that the dark and misty background created by the dry ice act as a contrast, showing his movements clearly. Therefore, there must be good lighting and stage set design to have a good dance. On the stage of a good dance, things are not what they are; things are what they appear to be.
Next, the costume design and accessories used by the dancers are also essential to put up a good dance performance. As the Fervent Beat of my Homeland is a dance that has strong cultural sense, its rhythm is strong and dynamic. Therefore, the male dancers have a small drum in their hands for beating to blend in well with the strong beats of the music. The female dancers also have scarf to lengthen their movements. In Simple Gifts, the dancers wear simple costumes to show the simplicity of the dance. The female dances also had a headband on their heads to make them look angel-like and graceful. The dancers in舞春风 used floral handkerchiefs and umbrellas as a tool for their dance. When the female dancers hide behind their umbrellas, it shows the natural shyness of girls, bringing out the taste of the traditional dance. However, the male soloist in太阳鸟 has a different approach. He made use of the flexibility of his body to present the agile movements of the bird, and his arms to act as a pair of wings, fully expressing the idea of a bird being hatched from an egg. He used his body masterfully and showed clearly how a young bird had grown out of its awkward movements into a full-fledged bird.
Lastly, the facial expression and body movements of the dancers affect the quality of the dance. In Vibrance in Nature, there is a lot of floor work involved, eg. stamping of feet, kneeling, squatting, due to the culture of the dance. There is a good coordination of the dancers’ hands, legs, eyes and finger movements. In addition, the whole dance resembles a river, continuous, unbroken, fast at places and slow at others. The dancers also always had a smile plastered on their faces, which together with the liveliness in their eyes, make the dance pleasing. As for Simple Gifts, the dancers had nice coordination of their actions with music as they move quickly with the music. Their swirling, skipping and balancing illustrate the elegance and liveliness of the dnace. In 太阳鸟, the male soloist has a very flexible body and good body gesture. He used his flexibility of his body to express the body language of birds very well and the dance portrays a very clear picture of the process of a bird hatching and growing up. As a professional dancer, he always dance with a pointed toe and when he spins his body, his legs do not move at all.
All in all, I feel that the five dances are very well presented. In the group dances, the dancers’ movement are all very neat and united while in the solo dance, the male dance can dance really well although solely with himself.