Woman performs classical dancing in the water. Her beautiful moves and flowing dress draw to mind Luoshen, a mythical Chinese water goddess. Photo: screenshot on Sina Weibo

 

A traditional Chinese dance performed underwater in Luoyang, Central China's Henan Province, recently went viral on social media during the Dragon Boat Festival. The unorthodox show led to renewed passion among audiences for traditional Chinese art and culture, said observers.

The stunning dance is named The Prayer, and was the opening performance of the gala entitled The Wonderful Tour on Dragon Boat Festival broadcast by Henan Television Station (HNTV) on Saturday. 

The dance featured a character from the famous ancient Chinese painting Ode to Goddess Luo, the daughter of a heavenly sovereign character Fu Xi(or Fu His) in Chinese mythology who drowned and then became a goddess, according to the legend.

"The moves were captured underwater at 4.5 meters from the ground," Chen Jia, director of the HNTV gala, said to local media.

In the video on social media, the underwater actress is seen dancing in colorful traditional Chinese costume. The short dance, which lasted less than two minutes, was seen by observers as an ingenious combination of contemporary art and traditional Chinese culture. "The water made the costume even more gorgeous and the moves more graceful!" said one observer online.

Related topics have been trending on Sina Weibo for the past few days, with one topic The Wonderful Tour on Dragon Boat Festival registering more than 550 million views and nearly 300,000 comments as of press time. 

Netizens were left stunned by both the beauty of the dancer and the creativity involved in putting on the dance underwater. "I'm just so proud of being a Chinese and our traditional culture. I cried a little bit after watching the show," said one netizen on Weibo.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying also posted the video on Twitter on Sunday, saying that the dance was "unbelievably beautiful!" and the actress "danced gracefully like a swan and agilely like a Chinese dragon."

He Haohao, the show's solo dancer, told local media that the entire piece was shot over three consecutive days in Shanghai. 

"The team and I spent a total of 26 hours under water just to complete the shooting," He explained on Sina Weibo, "Each time, I would hold my breath for 50 seconds to do a dance segment."

"The film crew had to soak themselves in the water for at least two hours for each shooting session," He's agent told the report, "they suffered from ruptured capillaries and nosebleeds after staying too long in water. And the dancer shivered in cold water and could only go on after a cup of hot tea."

He trained in synchronized swimming for 10 years and once worked as a stuntwoman in Stephen Chow's movie The Mermaid in 2016.

In its provincial Spring Festival Gala earlier in 2021, HNTV won over audiences by presenting a group dance telling a Tang Dynasty(618-907) era story of girls having fun at a dinner party in the palace.

HNTV said that similar works will be planned in advance for the following traditional festivals such as the Qixi Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Double Ninth Festival respectively.

Global Times