Lesson 3: International Folk Dance (Chinese Fan Dance)
History
While archaeologists have found pottery depicting Chinese folk dances dating
from about 4000 to 2000 BC, the fan dance is believed to have begun during the
Han dynasty. This dates the fan dance to around 200 AD. Since its beginning,
hundreds of types of fans have developed, including folding, feather and silk. China,
has historically sold its product to Japan, Europe and the Americas. The fans were,
and still are, created using materials such as bamboo, ivory, jade, bird feathers,
plant leaves and various others.
The Chinese character for "fan" is historically derived from a picture of feathers
under a roof. The Chinese fixed fan, pien-mien, means 'to agitate the air'. A
particular status and gender would be associated with a specific type of fan.They
derived from early dances celebrating the distribution of the food gathered from
hunting and fishing; people would dance holding feathered banners. The military
dancing was done with weapons, in coordinated group movements. This evolved
into the movements used in military exercises.
In addition, during the Han dynasty, the first effort was made to collect and
preserve the country's folk dances. Thankfully, this practice became important to
following generations and folk dances of old are still shared today.
Music
Since the Chinese fan dance is considered a traditional folk dance in China,
music accompanied by the dance are generally chinese folk songs played with
traditional musical instruments with ensembles or orchestras.
China has a long and influential musical tradition. Over the centuries, musicians
developed various styles of music and invented or adopted many types of
instruments. The classical traditional music of the elites, the folk and ethnic music,
and the favorite traditional Chinese instruments are “keynotes” for appreciating
Chinese traditional music in general.
Costume
Fan dance costumes can vary from traditional Chinese clothing to colorful lyrical
dresses you can find at any dance supply house. Since fan dancing is used for
storytelling, the costumes are often chosen as part of the tale being told. Some
dancers may be dressed in individual costumes to help the story along, but in most
instances fan dancers are dressed similarly in a matching costume.
The fans are used to accentuate the dancers' movements and costumes. Fans
cause limbs to look longer and more delicate; in addition, the fans bring more
attention to the choreography, and add a beauty that cannot be duplicated by more
modernized forms of dance. The fans can also be used as props to depict everything
from a food basket to a buried treasure. They are also rarely simple paper fans,
rather they are embellished with feathers, jewels, bamboo or other native décor to
add to the overall effect.
References
Kelly, 2021. Traditional Chinese Music, Chinese Classical Music, Chinese Songs.
China Highlights. Retrieved from:
https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/traditional-music.htm
Tolentino, J., 2012, Chinese Fan Dance. Retrieved from:
http://julstolentino.blogspot.com/2012/03/module-29-chinese-fan-dance-
china.html
West, Kezia, 2013, History of Chinese Fan Dance. Retrieved from:
https://prezi.com/nu3ll0rbs5ic/history-of-chinese-fan dance/#:~:text=the
%20Chinese%20fan%20dance%2 0is,with%20consistently%20changing
%20body%20positions.
