Dance Drama Music

Before the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the country produced no dance drama music in the strict sense. But after 1949, the first steps were made in this direction with the appearance of minor dance dramas such as Zhang Yu Boils the Sea (music by Liu Shixin) and Mr Dongguo (music by Su Xia). In the 1960s and 1970s, the grand classical dance dramas The Precious Lotus Lantern (music by Zhang Xiaohu) and Sword Society (music by Shang Yi) were outstanding among a host of others for their music. In this period, a large number of dance dramas were produced, with real life as their themes, representative of which was Five Red Clouds (music by Yan Ke). The year 1959 saw the birth of China's first ballet, The Mermaid (music by Wu Zuqiang and Du Mingxin), and up until the outbreak of the "cultural revolution", Chinese dance drama music was pushed to new heights by such famous works as Red Detachment of Women ( music by Wu Zuqiang and Du Mingxin) and The White-Haired Girl (music by Yan Jinxuan and Chen Benhong). In the middle and later parts of the "cultural revolution", the medium-length ballets Ode to the Yimeng and Boys and Girls of the Grassland were hailed as "model operas", but the quality of their music came nowhere near the standard of The Red Detachment of Women or The White-Haired Girl.

With the advent of the new era, the creation of dance drama music truly entered a golden age. This was epitomized in the field of national dance drama by Flowers and Rain on the Silk Road (music by Han Zhongcai), and in the field of musical creation by The Phoenix Sings on the Mountain (music by Liu Nianqu). Influential ballet works at the time were Soul (music by Xi Qiming), Home (music by Tian Feng), Benediction (music by Liu Tingyu), Lin Daiyu (music by Shi Fu), Thunderstorm (music by Ye Chunzhi) and The True Story of Ah Q (music by Jin Fucai).

From the mid-1980s, some New Wave composers plunged into the field of dance drama music, bringing about great improvements in every aspect, from concepts to techniques. New and unique interpretations of ideas, methods and themes were presented by such works as Dou E's Plaint (music by Ma Jianping), The King of Qin Sweeps Over the Universe (music by Shi Tie), Yellow Earth (music by Tan Dun) and the symphonic dance drama The Blank Monument (music by Yang Liqing and Lu Pei).

Since the beginning of the 1990s, there has been a notable upsurge in the creation of music for dance dramas, reaching some 50 pieces. To mention only those that won national prizes, these included Ashima (music by Wan Li and Huang Tian), Border Town (music by Yang Tianjie), The Story of Spring Fragrance (music by Piao Ruixing), Flute Music of the Silken Sea (music by Wu Shaoxiong and Lin Rongyuan), Senjidema (music by Wang Zhulin and others), The King of Southern Yue (music by Shi Fu) and Flowers on the Distant Mountain (music by Peng Tao). Exuding a fresh national flavor, these works showed the continued vivacity of musical creation in China.

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