 The story of Dai Ailian.
Author: Glasstone, Richard Published: 2007 An enormously respected and influential figure in China, both for her wide research into Chinese folk dance and her pivotal role in the establishment of ballet in China, the achievements of the teacher and choreographer Dai Ailian are not well known in the west. Richard Glasstone's biography now sets them in a wide social and historical context. Glasstone charts the story from Dai's birth and childhood in Trinidad through her studies in England, her journey to China and resistance to the Japanese invasion, and her travels to the remote Chinese Borderlands, collecting and recording the dances of the Minority populations. In 1954, Dai was appointed Principal of the Beijing Dance School, a post she held for over a decade, but in 1966 her work was interrupted by the notorious Cultural Revolution. Sent to work in the fields, she was rehabilitated in 1975, and the next year was made Artistic Adviser to the National Ballet of China, where she devoted the rest of her life to re-establishing the company's artistic and technical standards. |
