Painting with ribbons
By Sean Mulhair
The Collegian
Award-winning Bay Area choreographer
Lily Cai returns to Fresno State with a performance of traditional Chinese
dance mixed with her own blend of modern western theater.
Choreographer Cai said her newest piece titled “Silk Cascade”
will feature historical, ornate costumes and traditional Chinese dance
more than 2,500 years old. The performance will be divided into four scenes
or “dynasties” ranging from 500 B.C. to today. The dancers
will paint images in midair with one-hundred 18-foot silk ribbons.
Cai said the Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company consists of six women ages
21-30. Cai founded her dance company in 1988 and later co-founded Chinese
Cultural Productions. The group is famous for its kaleidoscopic ribbon
dancing.
“Our ribbon dancing is a very traditional Chinese performance, but
our kind of ribbon dancing was also inspired by western ballet and American
artist Jackson Pollock,” Cai said.
According to Cai’s Chinese Dance Company Web site, www.ccpsf.org,
Shanghai native Cai was the principal dancer at the Shanghai Opera House
before moving to California in 1983. Cai’s company tours extensively
throughout the United States and Europe. Its most notable performance
was at the United Nations’ 50th anniversary in San Francisco in
1995, and it performed with the band Grateful Dead in 1994.
Reports from Cai’s home page said she received two outstanding achievement
awards in 1996 from the Isadora Duncan Awards Committee for her original
production “Common Ground.”
In 2003 she received two commission works: “Si Ji” (translated:
“four seasons”) for the S
an Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival
and “Madame Mao” the world premiere for the Santa Fe Opera.
Cai was also a panelist for the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Council according
to the Web site.
San Francisco Chronicle writer Joshunda Sanders said when Cai first came
to the U.S. the first thing she noticed was most Americans knew very little
about Chinese culture.
“They know Chinese food, but not much about our dance. They don’t
know a lot about where we’re coming from,” Cai said.
Sanders said Cai has been dancing since she was five years old, when she
danced on her bed in front of her siblings.
“The arts are usually not high on the list of what Asian parents
want their children to become,” said Tatwina Lee, a volunteer with
the Chinese Culture Foundation.
“We have very few role models for successful artists in Chinese
culture, but Cai stands as a good example of why the arts can be a valid
mission in life.”
USU Productions event organizer Josh Edrington said the dance company
will perform Saturday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Satellite Student Union.
Tickets are free for students and $5 for general public.
“Silk Cascade” will feature music from traditional Chinese
opera and western orchestras with large projected environmental backdrops
planned to accentuate each mood of the dynasties.
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