Revolutionary Bodies offers a historical narrative of Chinese dance from the 1930s to the 2010s. Taking an ethnographic approach, Emily Wilcox frames this history as an examination of the cultural, aesthetic, and political multiplicities of China's socialist red legacy. The main body of the study consists of six chapters organized chronologically.
Chapter 1 identifies significant developmental elements of Chinese dance during the first half of the twentieth century. This multiplicity of influences highlights early leading figures’ transnational training and performance, features local sources across the country, and encompasses performance practices of various ethnic groups. Wilcox discusses Dai Ailian as the most inspiring founder who spearheaded the aesthetic development of Chinese dance.
Chapter 2 focuses on the exciting period from the end of the 1940s to the mid-1950s, during which Chinese dance took its shape from choreographic experiments in government-sponsored projects, debates over dance form, the recruitment of minority dancers as teachers and creators, and the birth of Chinese classical dance based on movements in xiqu (Chinese traditional theater). Wilcox identifies the Beijing Dance School's Chinese dance curriculum, a national training curriculum, as the strongest evidence of the emergence of Chinese dance.
Chapter 3 examines the blossoming of Chinese dance during its golden age from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, when Chinese dance was regularly presented at the World Festival of Youth and Students (1949–62) and Chinese dancers toured internationally. During this time, comprehensive choreography experimentation occurred as national dance dramas were created, a national network of Chinese dance performance was established, a national dance periodical was published, and large-scale dance drama was circulated and gained popularity in the format of dance drama films.
Chapter 4 contextualizes revolutionary ballet during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) within the longer history of Chinese dance, including the pre–Cultural Revolution era, when constantly competing voices advocated different media/forms for socialist cultural development. Challenging the view that Western ballet was always a privileged dance form in the People's Republic of China (PRC), Wilcox argues that it was partly because of the unwavering support of Chinese dance during the pre–Cultural Revolution era that the Cultural Revolution policy was reversed and supported ballet.
Chapter 5 focuses on the intricate connections between Chinese dance in the late 1970s and early 1980s and those in the pre–Cultural Revolution era. Yang Liping's dance and Dunhuang dance are the primary case studies, illustrating post–Cultural Revolution dance as a continuation but not a departure, albeit with divergences, from the high socialist culture.
Chapter 6 sheds light on how twenty-first-century dancers have inherited China's socialist dance legacies by examining the institutional approach of pedagogies at the Beijing Dance Academy, the government-sponsored large-scale dance drama productions, and individually initiated experiments. Wilcox relates artists’ continuous efforts to renew and redefine Chinese dance to the overarching theme of dealing with the past, present, and future for Chinese dance since the first half of the twentieth century.
Revolutionary Bodies offers foundational scholarship on Chinese dance, a critical component of the PRC's cultural landscape that has, thus far, been a fascinating yet obscure picture. It is an exemplary study with sharp analyses, solid sources, and engaging composition. It is a must-read for students, researchers, and general readers who are interested in dance studies, Chinese culture, and art and politics in the PRC, as well as a model of history and historiography for the performing arts.
In both Anglophone and Sinophone scholarship, the tendency to treat the PRC's socialist legacy in cultural production with a monolithic approach often leads to interpretations of cultural phenomena as direct consequences of immediately preceding political campaigns, viewed from dichotomized perspectives such as censorship and freedom, oppression and resistivity, and China and the world. Wilcox challenges these interpretations by convincingly presenting Chinese dance in the heterogeneity of its original sources and developing paths, by sharply arguing that the United States is not the world, and by skillfully analyzing the continuities and connections—albeit with divergences—of Chinese dance in the different phases of this history. This broad vision nurtures an in-depth understanding of Chinese dance and its socialist legacy.
This complex and inspiring study is constructed from a wealth of sources, including autobiographies and biographies, memoirs, school registration records, customs immigration records, performance reviews, artistic criticism, production photos and recordings, documentary films, curricular records, and Wilcox's personal training, observations, and interviews. Interwoven into Wilcox's narrative, these sources illustrate the intriguing history of Chinese dance institutions, training schools and curricular, repertoires, choreography, and personal stories and career trajectory.
Last but not least, Wilcox's meticulous descriptions and analyses of body language and movement convention and vocabulary constitute a major asset of this book. With her own understanding of Chinese dance based on conservatory training at the Beijing Dance Academy, Wilcox captures the nuances in details, rhythms, dynamics, and poetics of movements and vividly brings some significant case studies to our eyes: a dance professor offering training in water sleeves skills, Dai Ailian's signature piece “The Mute Carries the Cripple,” Qemberxanim's “Plate Dance,” the groundbreaking dance drama Magic Lotus Lantern, Yang Liping's “Spirit of the Peacock,” Maritime Silk Road, and “Rouge.” As we cast our gaze on the performances through Wilcox's descriptions and analyses, we learn not only what and how to watch, but also the aesthetics and joy of watching Chinese dance.
