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Is there any difference between classical Chinese dance and ballet?

By
Real Estate Agent with Be Basic CEO

Most of you are familiar with ballet and performances such as the White Nights, but few know that in the East, classical Chinese dance is more appreciated than ballet. Why? Because it’s sophisticated, with a long history and unique. Both ballet and traditional Chinese dance are comprehensive dance systems that only talented people can perform.
Until recently, only a few people outside China had heard about their classical dance because when Chinese companies organized events abroad, they combined it with modern, jazz, and contemporary dance. So often, the audience didn’t know what they witnessed.

But the Shen Yun Performing Arts organization has revived this traditional form of dance and promoted the classical Chinese dance through their shows. Their spectacles captivate through dance that portrays legends, loud drums, and dancers who leap through the air. Classical Chinese dance opens people’s hearts and draws tears from their eyes with the magical stories they present.

However, classical Chinese dance and ballet are different in many aspects.

They come from different hemispheres

Ballet bears the same features as the masterpieces created during the Renaissance. It’s athletic, precise, and in continuous pursuit of perfection. Classical Chinese dance reveals the performer’s inner nature because Chinese arts convey divinity through creation.

You can trace ballet’s beginnings to the Renaissance, but King Louis XIV (the quintessential patron of arts) systematized its principles in the 16th century. Classical Chinese dance has its origins in ancient imperial palace dances and kung fu. You can say that Chinese dance and martial arts are brothers who parted ways thousands of years ago.

Distinct fundamental moves

If you want to compare these two dance systems, check how ballerinas and Chinese dancers move across the stage. Ballerinas use a pointe (a perfectly straight leg) while Chinese dancers glide across the stage with a rapid heel-to-toe mini-step. Both forms of footwork are challenging to execute because of their unique characteristics, so only people who train extensively can perform them.

When children learn ballet, first, they train their footwork and strengthen their core and legs. They slowly learn pointe and high-level techniques.

Classical Chinese dance includes three main components, form, bearing, and technical skills, different from ballet.

Chinese dancers transmit strong emotions because bearing (a quality classical Chinese dance features) teaches them to share their inner feelings through movements. Their source for expression and movement is internal, and they need to master a symbiosis between their mind and body.

Form refers to the different movements, and postures dancers perform during shows. Placement of the fingers and rotation of the body may seem individual movements when analyzed, but they are so excellently coordinated they flow together in unison. The body of the dancer functions like the universe in perfect harmony.

Both ballet and Chinese dance share a common end life goal, returning to the celestial home. But because the philosophies behind the goal are different, so are the movements. Ballet movements are linear and straight because they show the western belief of life, a journey with a definite end (death). On the other hand, classical Chinese dance has circular, round movements that suggest reincarnation.

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