10-04-2007

On the evening of October 3, 2007, the 7th China International Folk Art Festival, hosted by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, moved to Beijing from Suzhou, and gave Beijing audience a marvelous performance at Haidian Theater, which drew the curtain of the 7th China International Folk Art Festival in Beijing. During the performance, folk artists from Hungary, South Africa, Peru, Russia, Ireland, Cook Islands, Lebanon, Cuba and Japan were either vigorous or elegant, either melodious or passionate, receiving warm applauses from the audience.

Long Live Cuba—Finale declared the opening of the performance yesterday evening, and its lyric music, gorgeous costumes and unrestrained dance let the audience fully enjoy Cuban music and the multi-cultural feature of the dance. Four Bamboo Dance performed by the Japanese Ryukyu National Drum Dance Ensemble gave out fragrance of oriental culture. The two girls of RUA Music Band of Ireland were praised as combination of “Enya and Puccini”, and their Summer in Paris and Let’s Dance were natural and sincere, graceful and peaceful, and full of passion. The dance of “Va Chini Va Ngoma” Folk Dance Ensemble of South Africa went with primitive impulse and wild nature, and their movements and pause seemed to be pursuing the history of human beings. The quintet of the Puka Soncco Music Group of Peru sang out the pride of eagles. The performance of the Lebanese Fahed Al Abdallah Dance Ensemble was free, unrestrained and passionate, just like treetops dancing in the sea wind.

Csardas---Oriental Tango performed by the Honved Dance Company of Hungary was passionate and unrestrained. This troupe visited China in 1951 and danced the Bottle Dance, which was widespread in China and became very popular and performed by Chinese artists for extending greetings to armies on the Korean battlefield, now made the old audience feel very affable. The hula-hula dance coming from Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean was like sea waves rolling on and became soul-stirring. The chorus Russian Mother and collective dance Kalinka performed by Russian artists were full of power and grandeur and unique in style and reminded the audience of the beautiful scenery of white birches on the Russian ground. It became the highlight of yesterday evening’s performance and received warm applauses from the audience. The whole performance was filled with the atmosphere of joyful festivals, and all the audience was immersed in the exhilaration of foreign arts.

The international folk art festival, held every three years, was initiated by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles in 1990, and it is the only international and nation-class folk art festival of China. It has become the important channel of international cultural exchange of China. 21 Chinese and foreign art troupes and over 400 artists participated in this art festival. During the six days’ performing activities in Suzhou, these art troupes formed 8 groups and, by performing in theaters and on the squares, and through stage performance and improvise show, they made a tour of over 30 performances on 7 squares in Pingjiang, Canglang and Wuzhong districts in Suzhou as well as in 6 historical towns, such as Tongli, Jinxi and Qiandeng.

It is reported that the festival would have three performances in Beijing. On October 4, the festival walked into Peking University and gave performances in PKU Centennial Lecture Hall. On October 6, the closing-ceremony performance of the festival would be held in the China Grand Theater.