少数民族 | 舞蹈课程

"ethnic minority"

The category of ethnic minority in China is a direct result of twentieth century nation building.  Before 1949, ethnic categories in China were more fluid and groups defined themselves in relation to others depending on location and context. In 1954, the CCP led Ethnic Classification project set out to create a taxonomy of the people of new China and established (often through arbitrary measures) the categories of 54 and then 56 ethnicities. 

Thus, the concept of ethnicity circulates differently in China than it does in the United States and it cannot be stressed enough that ethnicity as it is conceived of in the United States is not commensurable to ethnicity in China (See: Xiaoyuan Luo, Frontier Passages). Consequently, American notions of ethnic dance often conflict directly with Chinese notions of ethnic dance.

To give a better idea of exactly how different ideas of ethnicity in relation to dance can be, the term "民族" (minzu) is translated in various ways. It can be translated as "ethnicity," "race," "nationality" and "nation." So what we translate as "ethnic dance" can alternately be translated as "nation dance," which, has a much different English connotation. 

"dance curriculum" 

The idea of a dance curriculum for ethnic dance often comes as a surprise to dancers in the United States. Yet, the idea that ballet has a curriculum is a completely straightforward idea for many (Note: Ballet is also an "ethnic" dance, see Joann Kealinohomoku's pathbreaking work) This is likely due to entrenched and reductive ideas of "folk" versus "concert" dance forms and "creative" versus "traditional" dance forms. Within these paradigms, folk and traditional are assigned the "ethnic" and static positions and concert and creative are released of the duties discursively connected to tradition and ethnicity. The Chinese dance model unseats these categorizations as it places ethnic dance within a highly professionalized setting and emphasizes the creative spirit within ethnic dance choreographies. 

An "improved" ( 美化）and more professional demonstration of the Tibetan Guoxie.