10-08-2007

The 7th China International Folk Art Festival declared its grand opening in Suzhou. At the opening ceremony, artists from all over the world made magnificent performances, which evoked thunderous applause from the audience. They appraised the festival as a real feast. What surprised them all was that folk art could be so charming. Although being in Suzhou, people seemed to have taken the boat of art and gone out of the city to enjoy boating in the sea of world art.

To be sure, this China International Folk Art Festival manifests its characteristic through its abundant programs.

First of all, the cultural diversity of the festival displays the exquisite taste of the host, attracting people’s attention. The national and folk dances and instrumental performances that were staged at this festival were diverse in kind; moreover, due to the organizer’s careful and insightful selection, it brought the Chinese audience a variety of artistic choices.  All of the performing troupes that participated in the festival gave the priority to their regional features and national features so as to present clearly their artistic characteristics. It is the very artistic characteristics that made the worldwide cultural diversity blossom and present itself on the stage of this Chinese art festival, which not only displayed China’s broad-mindedness but also fully presented the good artistic taste that the organizers pursued, because only by preserving and developing the cultural diversity could we truly protect both the excellent tradition and the future of the cultures of all the countries from the hit of the waves of the world economic integration. 

Secondly, at this art festival, the performances of the outstanding artists from all over the world possessed a very strong artistic appeal, and they received hot welcome from the audience, which strengthened the high-quality brand image of China International Folk Art Festival. To some extent, the high-quality performances corrected people’s former impression that folk art was the simple, plain and crude art. Mary Schneider, the Australian “Queen of Yodelling”, sang songs with great fervor and her songs had a strong penetrating power; the dancers of Cuban Yolena Dance Company, which was famous for its American tropical dances, danced unrestrainedly, and they were quite skilled in techniques: their pair lift was done clearly and quickly, which gave the audience a full feeling of the fiery enthusiasm of South American people; The Lebanese Fahed Al Abdallah Dance Ensemble, which had strong Arabic features, performed their original work The Joyous Festival. The dance showed a wedding ceremony that was held after the turbulence of war. A group of girls dressed in black gowns dance in sorrowful music, which seemed to be recounting the great agony the war had brought to people. However, when music tunes were turned into brightness and warmth, all the girls took off their black gowns and uncovered the redness-taking-the-main-part colorful costumes which set off by contrast their young body, and the moving dance drew clearly the traces of movements in the air. This dance made use of pure body language to convey such truth: war could bring people huge sacrifice, but death could not terminate new life, and women are the real source and power of life continuity. The Csardas Dance performed by the Hungarian Honved Dance Company was dazzling and fickle in dance steps, and what the steps clicked was the very romantic love that was the most ancient and newest topic of human beings. ELena Ponomarova, the Russian accomplished performer who came to China with the State Academic Siberian Russian Folk Choir, had a mellow voice, and feasted the audience’s ears with the folk love song, Two Guitars, which was also a well-known song in Russia. Most of the troupes that came from all over the world were nation-class professional art troupes and enjoyed high prestige in the world. Their arrival not only helped Chinese audience get to know the truly high-quality performance in the international folk art circle but also brought splendid color to this festival.

Thirdly, the organization work of this festival reflected the high requirements of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles for international cultural exchange. This is fully presented not only in the festival’s extensive organization work but also in the idea of “Participate and Enjoy” that the festival adhered to. It was not only an international festival for approximately one month but also a gala held across the country. The organizing committee of the festival asked the artists to walk into Chinese people’s daily life, at the squares, towns and villages. To be truly speaking, it was a real folk art festival. We all know that at the international level, every country’s folk art is a huge treasure and there are a variety of folk art festivals. However, it is quite rare to see performances act as cultural exchange agreements among governments, no matter in quantity or in opportunity. Therefore, folk art communication among countries becomes one of the important forms of cultural exchange in the world. With the promotion of China’s international image, the Government and the Party encourage Chinese culture to walk outside; it is not only necessary but also a great opportunity to take pains to develop multi-channel international cultural exchange. The 7th China International Folk Art Festival sets a good example for the cultural exchange of this kind and offers us a beneficial exploitation.

The international folk art festival held by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles every three years has become the only international and country-level folk art festival of China and it is the important channel of international cultural exchange of the country. As a famous cultural anthropologist once said, “you dance a dance, and I’ll know who you are.” In this regard, we could say, “please come to the China International Folk Art Festival and dance, and let us become friends for ever!”