Of Buddhism, murals and tea

To celebrate the 66th anniversary of the founding of People’s Republic of China and to strengthen bilateral relations, the national capital hosted a Chinese Dance Festival which showcased the rich cultural heritage of the country.

Organised by the Chinese embassy, in association with India China Economic and Cultural Council at the FICCI K. K. Birla Auditorium in central Delhi, the Dunhuang Melody-Charm of the Silk show was fully-packed.

The show was presented by the Gansu Opera House and depicted heritage to Buddhism to murals, and even tea, which plays an important role in both countries’ cultures.
The dance titled Covered-cup-tea, featured the performers holding Chinese teapots. A significant aspect of the performance was the vivid facial expressions while tasting the tea.

The performance bore a meta aspect as a section of the audience was actually served tea by the artists as they watched-adding to the auditorium’s fragrance.

“The performance depicting tea has been chosen to be performed here particularly because we understand the cultural heritage India and China share for tea. We hope cultural exchanges like these strengthen the relations between the countries, “Wang Yuechun, the art director of the show, told IANS on the sidelines of the event.

Art and music are some of the things which transcend language barriers, and have commonalities between the two nations, Wang added.

The traditional Chinese dances, like the ‘Thousand-hand Bodhisattva Guanyin’ depicting performers, all in a row, bearing golden hands with glittering formations were a pure
visual treat.

When the Chinese perform, its very rare that there is no martial art. But the performance of the traditional sword act was also accompanied by music, played on the Guzheng (21 or 25 string plucked instrument) — completely altering the way one experienced these acts.
To woo the Indian audiences, who were already mesmerised even further, the performers also learnt and performed a Bollywood number — Aankhe Khuli Ho Ya Ho Band (Mohabbatein) — albiet heavily accented but much to the surprise of everyone.