Grand champions of dance! The final round of the 10th NTD International Classical Chinese Dance Competition is complete. Let’s take a look at some of the winners and their journeys to their winning performance.
Grace Rubacek won the gold award in the junior female division. What piece did she perform?
“It’s just called Spring,” Grace said. “And I was inspired by the feeling I get when I walk around outside in nature—it feels very free and just very calm, at least when I go outside. And I really like that feeling so I decided to put that into a story piece.”
Grace relies on an ancient technique to make her dance come to life.
“If you just use your arms, or just your head, to do the action, it’s not as clear as if you use your body to because then the audience can see your whole … what you’re feeling is more clear because your whole body has the same feeling, not just one part. Your whole body is expressing what you’re feeling.”
Lucas Browde won gold for the junior male division. He chose a piece about the famous Chinese general Yue Fei.
“The story is he’s claiming back last land, you know, he’s undefeated in battle and he’s almost there, back to the old capital … And so, right as he’s about to achieve his goal, he gets 12 imperial edicts. You can’t you can’t ignore those.
“There’s a saying in Chinese. He’s said, ‘Shi nian zhi li, fei yu yi dan,’ which means, ‘Ten years of hard work, gone in an instant.'”
Adult division silver award winner David Xiao said this about his piece.
“My dance this year is about, in Chinese it’s called, ‘Ren jian guo ke’ (which translates as a passer-by in the human world). What I’m trying to portray in this dance is basically, on earth, you should try to be light hearted because, in the end, no matter what you go through, you’re gonna go towards … if you’re a good person, then you’re gonna go higher, you’re gonna go towards the heavens.”
He also said the competition held a special purpose and meaning in his heart. “Our goal from this dance is to show everyone the traditional values of Chinese culture, and that humans and heavens [are] connected.”
Ryan Zhou, the bronze award winner from the junior male division, also shared about his journey.
“Through dance, I’ve learned to … [expand] my worldview: to be able to let go of myself, when to you think about others, when to be able to take more pain, when to be able to be more responsible.”
This concludes our coverage of the 2023 10th NTD International Classical Chinese Dance Competition.