Created: August 3, 2012 Last Updated: August 3, 2012
Angelia Wang, who performed 'The Heroine,' was crowned the Gold Award winner in the Junior Female Division of the NTD Third Annual International Classical Chinese Dance Competition in 2009. (Edward Dai/The Epoch Times)
The finals of the 5th International Classical Chinese Dance Competition, hosted by New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television, will be held in New York this October. The figure gracing the competition poster is Angelia Wang, Gold Award winner of the competition for the last two years.
From Xi?an City where she was born, to New York, and then to the world, Ms. Wang has journeyed from the embarrassment of a beginner, to back-to-back championships in the dance competitions, and to the status of an international classical Chinese dance star in the celebrated Shen Yun company.
Such an extraordinary achievement by a girl younger than 18 is unparalleled. Golden opportunities and excellent teachers, coupled with her own efforts, have paved the way for Ms. Wang?s success.
In 2010, when she was only 15 years old, Ms. Wang won the Gold Award for the Junior Female Division in the NTD International Classical Chinese Dance Competition.
Her dance, called Awakening in Spring, was based on a poem of the same name by Tang Dynasty poet Meng Haoran.
Ms. Wang won the Gold Award the previous year with her dance, The Heroine. A heroine is one of the most representative figures in Tang Dynasty legends.
?My personality is more like a heroine [or swords woman],? Ms. Wang said. ?I?m upright and straightforward. I like to help people but I also have a gentle aspect; soft, along with being upright,? she said.
Angelia Wang started professional dance training at the age of 11. She participated in NTD?s First International Classical Chinese Dance Competition in 2007 when she was just 13. She was not at all familiar with international competition at that point, and didn?t even know that musical accompaniment was required for the compulsory movement combination, so she had to perform the movements without music.
Although she did not make the semi-finals, her physical condition and flexibility caught the eyes of the teachers from Fei Tian Academy of the Arts. After the competition, she was admitted to Fei Tian, which provided her a new environment for growth. A few years later, she is one of the principal dance performers in the world-renowned Shen Yun Performing Arts based in New York.
About Classical Chinese Dance
Shen Yun Peforming Arts is reviving traditional Chinese culture through the profound vehicle of classical Chinese dance. The company requires its dancers to have the most traditional and authentic training, and understanding of key concepts.
\>");Important to classical Chinese dance is the concept of ?form.? It helps a dancer to communicate the meaning of the dance. Deviation from the form would mean that the dance movements are not in line with traditional criterion for the form.
Angelia Wang explained that her teacher always required students to have ?the most authentic form? while dancing classical Chinese dance.
In modern China, traditional dance has deviated from these forms and is often mixed with movements from modern dance.
Classical Chinese dance also includes many tumbling and jumping techniques. Ms. Wang practices the techniques hundreds of times every day. ?Every movement contains its own unique message. Maybe today I can do it well and correctly, but tomorrow, my form has become deviated again, so practice is essential,? Ms. Wang said.
This kind of ?authentic form? hinges not only on the elegance and precision of the dancing stances but also on the purity and the sublimation of the dancer?s mind.
Ms. Wang has learned that the ?kind of attitude you have in your daily practice will show up on the stage; thus, we normally practice with the purest and most splendid mind; [we try] not to overdo, not to hurry, nor to please others, [but] simply keep a happy attitude. By doing so, we can make the purest and the most magnificent manifestation on stage, and the message the audience receives is the best,? she said.
Angelia Wang, winner of the Junior Female Division of the 2010 NTD International Classical Chinese Dance Competition, with her dance 'Awakening in Spring.' (Dai Bing/The Epoch Times)
Ms. Wang has just described the secret of Shen Yun?s success. It is this kind, purest, and most elegant performance that gains whole-hearted praise from audiences the world over.
Referring to the NTD International Classical Chinese Dance Competitions, Ms. Wang said: ?Taking part in the competition is neither for prizes nor for fame. The whole process is to sublimate oneself, not only in the dancing skill but also in presenting authentic culture to the world.?
Like others, when she was young, Ms. Wang dreamt of traveling around the world. And she has lived her dream, as Shen Yun Performing Arts has toured everywhere except for Antarctica, the Arctic and Africa.
?The presentation of Chinese traditional culture to every corner of the world is very significant to me,? she said.
How does Ms. Wang balance modern life and the tranquil heart required by Shen Yun?s high standards? ?The current society is very messy and full of temptation; it is very difficult to preserve traditional points of view, but we should not follow trend unwittingly,? she says.
She tells herself, ?The road ahead is still very long, and I have to keep humility so that I can sublimate myself even higher.?
Ms. Wang?s teachers have commented joyfully on her progress. They have witnessed Angelia Wang grow on the stage and mature in her artistic life, as if seeing her as an extension of their own artist lives, and as if seeing the eternity of the art, and witnessing the magnificent and elegant Chinese dance bringing hope and illumination to the world, and to the future.
Read the original Chinese article.
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