Last Thursday Xiao Ke invited me to watch the Ti Yu University dance teams practice for their Saturday competition. It was my first taste of competitive dancing in China, because usually these types of events and activities have very little publicity in mainstream society. Chinese dancing seems to break down into three main categories: street dancing (hip hop), cheerleading, and this. . . ambiguous hybrid between cheerleading and gymnastics. Pictures speak more words than I ever could, so:
Ti Yu University dance practice room
The face of modern Chinese dance
Xiao Ke doing her street moves
Some of the girls competing were almost scarily young
I also went to the competition on Saturday to cheer on Xiao Ke, and it was a good opportunity to check out university level & style of dancing here in China. And I must say: one, China loves its cheerleading; two, the music for every category except hip hop was techno; three, China also loves its. . . glitter; four, Chinese street dancing not. . . quite. . . up to universal standards. Xiao Ke's hip hop team was by far the best; some of the others were a little painful to watch. One all-boy group from Shi Gong University did a robot popping number that was incredibly entertaining & crowd pleasing; popping is pretty popular in Asia right now.
Most adorable girl in China y/y
Picture this with a techno beat
This gym had no air-conditioning; imagine the humidity
I was mesmorized by this guy's manbag and had to sneak a picture
The dance competition was seriously a paradise for peaple-watching, because the students there were mostly the kind of students I never get a chance to see on a regular basis. The only downside was the absolute sea of Mei Yuan (an art school) students, who wouldn't stop screaming and squeezing whenever one of their teams took the floor. One of them elbowed me in the face as I was recording a video, but at least, one, I managed to capture the priceless gymnastics/cheerling. . . style. . . for future posterity and, two, I verified that pretentious hipsters are the same on every continent.
10 comments:
whoa, i swear we're leading parallel lives! we've made friends with a couple street dance kids. problem is that most are guy and, though they've agreed to teach us (the main guy is the pop and lock champion of hanoi!), pop and lock is so mainly a guy's form of dance. :(
Wooow, the men's costumes... so tight and... gaudy. o___o oh China, some things never change. XD;;
I remember once reading an article on how cheerleading is spreading from the U.S. to other countries, especially China. The only problem was that when China came to compete in competitions, they killed the rest by adding a lot of gymnastics moves in there - moves that many other teams felt weren't "cheerleading" moves. I kinda lol-ed at that and wondered what exactly "cheerleading moves" are and how one's supposed to improve on that.
so amazing how despite the heat and humidity, everyone must be hip and wear pants and multiple layers!
that manpurse bears a scary resemblance to my very girly totebag. <3
One, seriously jealous of the manbag! I've been on the search for one forever and can't find one I love yet.....Two, I MISS YOU PLEASE MESSAGE/EMAIL/WALLPOST ME!
<3
P.S. You look like you're having a blast and I'm happy for you!
P.P.S. Can I just say that the boys in that second picture with the EXTREMELY tight outfits are quite attractive!!! *muah*
<3333
Matt, I still have no internet at home, so I can't use Skype :( I miss you so much, it's kind of ridiculous. I bought you a dorm-warming gift last weekend; I can't wait until September. :(
P.S. I took the picture of the boys just for you >:)
i thought hong kong boys carried manbags that want to make my bags look bad. then i came to japan and omg, all the boys (BEAUTIFUL BOYSjfkdskld) carry manbags like it was their accessory first. these androgynous beings really do make my bags look bad. now i have a manbag, too. AND I LOVE IT even if it isn`t as effective on me.
also, why do i have a sinking feeling that your booked ticket is to...hong kong? tell me that`s paranoia.
Hilariously enough, my cousin used to do that, and even placed like, in the top 100 in the country...The gymnastics/cheerleading thing, not the street dance.
happy belated birthday, bing. ilu. xoxoxoxoxoxoxo,
s.
Keep up the good work.
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