March 27, 2001 Summary Facts:
Lily Cai Chinese Dance, a ravishing all-female company founded by Cai, a former principal dancer with the Shanghai Opera, makes its Santa Barbara debut on Tuesday, May 1 at 8 p.m. in UCSB Campbell Hall. Cai choreographs works for the company that blend modern dance idioms and logic with Chinese folk, traditional and classical dance movement and aesthetics. Set to music from Chinese opera to Mahler, the works evoke female icons of Asia and Asian theatrical traditions with elaborate theatricality, ornate costuming, colorful ribbons, fans and dramatic lighting. Tickets to this concert are currently on hold for students who are required to attend the performance. On Monday, April 16 at 10 a.m. remaining tickets will again become available for purchase by the general public. The company will open its Santa Barbara performance with Dynasty Suite, set to music by Shanghai native Gang Situ and Gary Schwantes. An interpretation of four classical Chinese dances from dynasties dating from 770 B.C. to the 20th century, the dance features the dramatic use of red silk ribbons, a traditional basket dance in which the dancers in blue dresses make visual designs and patterns across the stage with baskets they hold on long poles, a row of dancers dressed in richly embroidered Chinese attire and headdresses wearing high-platformed sandals, and a mysterious, sensual solo in the modern Dai dance style. Begin from Here follows, creating a landscape of dancers in red pants suits standing on high platforms who generate a splendor of swirling color with long green scarves while a trio walk playfully through with bright orange fans. A soloist flings herself with anguished abandon through this maze of color increasing her energy and momentum to an explosive finish. This work is danced to music by Situ and Schwantes. The program closes with Candelas, a feast of light set to the fourth movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, that features six dancers in an intimate encounter with beauty and fire. Each dancer performs with lit candles (an important symbol in Chinese poetry as well as a recurring element in folk dances worldwide). A native of Shanghai and a former principal dancer with the Shanghai Opera, Lily Cai, in addition to being founder and artistic director of the San Francisco-based Lily Cai Chinese Dance, is co-founder of Chinese Cultural Productions. Cai founded the company in 1988; it has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. The company received two Isadora Duncan Dance Awards in 1996 for its collaborative work with Oakland’s Dimensions Dance Theater titled Common Ground. That year, the company also premiered the Chinese Myths Cantata, a collaboration with The Women’s Philharmonic and Chanticleer. Presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, this residency is sponsored by the UCSB Graduate School of Education’s School University Partnerships. The School University Partnerships program works collaboratively with designated schools in the region to improve the educational experience of all students and to increase university eligibility. This tour by Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company is supported in part with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the California Arts Council, a state agency. For tickets or more information, Editor: For photos, please call |