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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Choreographing Postsocialist China: New Experiments in Screendance Since the Early 1990s Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7tq7k5bv Author Guan, Jingqiu Publication Date 2021 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Choreographing Postsocialist China: New Experiments in Screendance Since the Early 1990s A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Culture and Performance by Jingqiu Guan 2021 © Copyright by Jingqiu Guan 2021 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Choreographing Postsocialist China: New Experiments in Screendance since the Early 1990s by Jingqiu Guan Doctor of Philosophy in Culture and Performance University of California, Los Angeles, 2021 Professor Sean Metzger, Co-Chair Professor Victoria Marks, Co-Chair This dissertation project investigates the aesthetics and cultural-political implications of new experiments in screendance carried out by four different generations of dance artists in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since the early 1990s. This rapidly developing and ever diversifying field of kinesthetic and cinematic practices is often referred to in Chinese as wudao yingxiang (舞蹈影像 dance-moving image). Circulating at local or international dance film festivals and exhibitions, in museums and gallery settings, on television, on the Internet, and through social media platforms, these experimental dance-moving image productions take part in the expanding global screendance scene and contribute to shaping imaginaries of Chinese identities and lived experiences in and beyond postsocialist China. ii Through film analysis, choreographic analysis, ethnography and archival research, this study sheds light on the unique role of dance-moving image in engaging with and intervening in China’s social cultural transitions through both filmic representation and corporeal embodiment. This project focuses on three specific modes of dance-moving image productions, namely dance television, experimental dance documentary, and experimental dance shorts, each embodying a diverse range of artistic imagination or conceptual innovation. These case studies complicate the dominant narrative of screendance in English-language literature by delineating different historical processes taking place in mainland China. This dissertation presents three key arguments. First, wudao yingxiang in China is not a monolithic art genre nor should it be seen as merely a Western import. Rather, different modes of dance-moving image practice emerged out of interconnected yet distinct artistic genealogies and respond to different sets of social historical conditions in China. Second, I reveal how the growing dance film practices are not isolated from the global screendance scene but take part in transnational cultural flow. In this exchange, dance filmmakers negotiate with the productive tension between establishing culturally distinct expressions of screendance and adopting Euro- American aesthetics in particular. Third, this project, while presenting both works created by male and female choreographers, highlights the significant contribution of female artists in shaping the field of screendance in the PRC and in constructing the imaginaries of Chinese cultures and memories through screen choreography. iii The dissertation of Jingqiu Guan is approved. Janet O’Shea Emily Wilcox Victoria Marks, Committee Co-Chair Sean Metzger, Committee Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2021 iv Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my late grandmother, Yao Xiuling, and my parents, Suixiong Guan and Xiaoyan Qiu, who have always encouraged me to pursue knowledge. v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ ii Dedication ........................................................................................................................................ v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... viii Vita .................................................................................................................................................. x Preface Turning on the Camera .................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction Setting Up the Site for Dance .......................................................................................................... 4 Chapter One Navigating State Ideologies through Aesthetic Experimentations: Video Dance on Television at the Turn of the Millennium .......................................................... 41 Chapter Two A Corporeal Invitation to Remembering: Wen Hui and Dance with Third Grandmother .............................................................................. 90 Chapter Three Searching for Home in the “Periphery”: Experimental Dance Shorts with Locally Specific Aesthetics .................................................... 136 Epilogue ...................................................................................................................................... 191 References .................................................................................................................................. 210 vi List of Figures Figure 1. Video still from When I Grow Up, I Will Become You (director: Bai Zhiqun) ............. 52 Figure 2. Video still from When I Grow Up, I Will Become You (director: Bai Zhiqun) ............. 52 Figure 3. Video still from Fan Dance Water Ink Painting (director: Bai Zhiqun). ...................... 65 Figure 4. Video still from Dairies of Youth (director: Bai Zhiqun) .............................................. 72 Figure 5. Video still from Dairies of Youth (director: Bai Zhiqun). ............................................. 73 Figure 6. Film still from Listening to Third Grandmother’s Stories (director: Wen Hui) ............ 96 Figure 7. Film still from Dance with Third Grandmother (director: Wen Hui) .......................... 119 Figure 8. Film still from Dance with Third Grandmother (director: Wen Hui) .......................... 119 Figure 9. Film still from Dance with Third Grandmother (director: Wen Hui) .......................... 121 Figure 10. Film still from This Is A Chicken Coop (director: Ergao) .......................................... 147 Figure 11. Film still from This Is A Chicken Coop (director: Ergao) ......................................... 153 Figure 12. Film still from This Is A Chicken Coop (director: Ergao) ......................................... 158 Figure 13. Film still from Gatha (director: Tang Chenglong) ................................................... 166 Figure 14. Film still from Gatha (director: Tang Chenglong) ................................................... 167 Figure 15. Film still from Gatha (director: Tang Chenglong) ................................................... 172 vii Acknowledgments This dissertation project is indebted to the support and contributions of many people. First of all, I would like to give thanks to my co-chair Dr. Sean Metzger for his close reading and detailed comments on each chapter, and to my co-chair Dr. Victoria Marks for always being willing to listen and discuss ideas with me. I am deeply grateful for my committee member Dr. Emily Wilcox whose deep engagement with my research and critical insights have been instrumental to my thinking and writing process. I am also thankful for my committee member Dr. Janet O’Shea for being such a great inspiration and support. Professor Aparna Sharma played an important role in my dissertation process and has shaped my thinking and passion in filmmaking, for which I am very grateful. This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of many dance scholars and artists in mainland China and Hong Kong who were willing to speak with me about their works and share with me their life experiences. These individuals include Bai Zhiqun, Chen Maoyuan, Chen Yujie, Er Gao, Guan Hangyu, Hu Xiaojiao, Li Jiaojiao, Li Ning, Li Qing, Liu Chun, Mao Cui, Meng Meng, Mu Yu, Song Xinxin, Tang Chenglong, Tian Tian, Wang Yabin, Wang Hao, Wang Mei, Wen Hui, Raymond Wong, Wu Zhen, Yuan Yi, Zhang Zhaoxia, and more. I must especially acknowledge Dr. Mao Cui who made many initial introductions to connect me with some of these artists and scholars in China. I am also forever indebted to my encounter with Wen Hui who deeply inspired me both scholarly and artistically, and whose works move me to tears no matter how many times I watch them. The time we shared and the conversations we had constitute some of the most memorable parts of my dissertation fieldwork. I would also like to express my immense gratitude towards my UCLA colleagues, Johanna Kirk, Shweta Saraswat, Archer Porter, Mika Loir, Arushi Singh, Bernard Brown, Triwi viii Harjito, Christina Novakov-Ritchey, Chantal Cherry, Daeun Jung, Dr. Fangfei Miao, Dr. Carmen Cebreros