Down the street from the crumbling Mao-era tower block in which I live, there is an up-class, yellow-painted, high-gated primary school, fancily called ‘Benzhen Bilingual Montessory School of the Arts’. In the mornings – if I didn’t oversleep – I often pause to watch the young kids there rehearsing various kinds of dances, and wish I went to that school instead.
In between my tower block and the one opposite it (the structural integrity of which I have more confidence in), there is an open space for the community, which on weekends is monopolised by the new craze of two-wheel skateboards. Middle-aged ladies often dance there, either to the silent rhythm of tai chi or to the crackling sounds of an old boom box.
What kind of dancing do these generations, from two very different Chinas, indulge in? Here’s a video I took last time I passed by:
Postscript – I’ve just noticed that this is the 100th post on Six. I am now going to treat the above video as a happy birthday dance just for me …
Alec Ash
I studied Mandarin in Beijing, where I began writing this blog in the Olympic summer of 2008