SISU’s art troupe performed October 31 at Buenos Aires University in Argentina, in the first leg of a South American tour that is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the world’s Confucius Institutes (CI).
The performance, in the university’s agriculture school, began with “Glory,” a song of Chinese new folk music, in which four Chinese girls in fashionable clothes played four Chinese traditional musical instruments - Chinese zither, erhu, dulcimer and lute - creating a hybrid of tradition and modernity.
That was followed by a graceful Chinese song called “The Jasmine,” in which performers, wearing white embroidered Chi-pao and carrying pink oil-paper umbrellas, displayed the special charms of girls from southern regions of the Yangtze River. The School’s student Glasyela Sales identified the tune and started humming.
Then two strong young men performed Pictographic boxing and asked the audience to guess which animal they were imitating. They even invited several audience members to the stage to teach them moves.
Speaking in fluent Spanish, SISU’s master of ceremonies introduced the background and meaning of the music “Deep Night,” including how dancers express their feelings implicitly by throwing off their long sleeves.
The Argentine audience was then moved by beautiful singing and magnificent traditional costumes of the Chinese traditional opera, “Ode to the Pear Tree,” a sad love story of Emperor Tang and his beauty Yang.
SISU’s 90-minute performance spreads Chinese arts beyond the nation’s borders and furthers the cultural relationship between China and Argentina. As the newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to Argentina, Yang Wanming, said, cultural communication is more like the communication of the mind.
The School’s student Daniel said what impressed him most was the opera “Ode to the Pear Tree,” because he could feel the deep sorrow of the beauty Yang although he didn’t understand the lyrics. He also appreciated the interactivity and the explanations at the end of each program. He said it is important to have the explanation because he wants to understand the Chinese culture behind.
The tour will travel to Chile and other cities in Argentina. It is sponsored by China’s Hanban.
