KEY POINTS:
There is more to classical Chinese dance than the fan dance, says Amanda (Yimei) Wang, dynamic founder of dance troupe Chinasty.
With 36 different ethnic groups within that vast country, each with their own form of dance, Glimpsing China, which opens tonight, offers a kaleidoscope of cultural dance styles.
The Uygurian Dance from the west of China, near Turkestan, features seven dancers in exotic Middle Eastern-style costume, midriffs bare, in a choreographed welcome, with rapid footwork and lots of spinning. From the Day, in the southeast, Chinasty presents the splendid Peacock Dance, starring Wang, who creates the postures and gesturing of a young peacock with expressive arm movements and supple back bending. The Spirit of the Terracotta Warriors is recreated by a solo male dancer Jack (Yi Ching) Zhang, with athletic and highly technical leaps and spins.
Twelve young girls perform Dancing With My Song, from the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD25), in which costumes and movements echo those of the figures painted in wall friezes from that time.
The Yellow River is a contemporary traditional Chinese dance honouring the "mother river". Tun Huang Flying Apsaras, danced with metres of twirling ribbon, is inspired by Buddhist representations of these feminine deities and symbols of enlightenment. In the Imperial Dance of the Chu Dynasty (545-528BC), the extreme swaying from the waist, beloved by the dynasty's Emperor, is exaggerated by the dancers wearing 1.5m-high feathers on their heads.
And that is just a selection from the many works presented, including a contemporary piece Here, performed by Unitec student dancers, and a piece created by Wang for some of her most junior pupils.
Wang began her dance training in China at the age of four.
At 10, she was selected to attend a professional dance school in Beijing, her home for the next seven years. Then disaster struck when she injured a knee in a dance competition.
Her parents, concerned about future injuries, were determined to change her career path and sent her to New Zealand to study business. Wang founded Chinasty three years ago to continue her interest in dance.
"There are quite a few good dancers here who have trained in China," she says. "And I felt that New Zealand didn't really know about Chinese traditional dance - apart from the fan dance, which is beautiful, but just one form among many."
Wang believes New Zealanders are interested in Chinese culture.
"It is good for us too," she says. "We are Chinese living in New Zealand as new Kiwis. We are already different from Chinese in China. We assimilate - but we need to keep our own culture alive as well."
