An army of buried warriors, lion dances, dancing shadows and a tornado of fire... experience the vibrant diversity of the arts across China.
Explore the history and diversity of China’s performing arts, including highlights from the Beijing Traditional Music Ensemble, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, a shadow puppet performance from Shaanxi Folk Art Theater, a look at the exhibition of Terra Cotta Warriors, and an excerpt from Cai Guo-Qiang’s Tornado: Explosion Project for the Kennedy Center.
Chinese music dates back thousands of years and sounds different from Western music thanks to important differences in tone, musical scale, pitch, instrumentation, and individual instruments.
In this 3-5 lesson, students will research and create Chinese instruments. Students will plan performances with Chinese music to tell a story, as often done in Chinese culture.
In this 3-5 lesson, students will explore the art and culture of Chinese calligraphy and ink painting. They will learn basic calligraphy strokes and paint traditional landscapes with ink and watercolors.
Go behind the scenes and learn about the technicians and their extensive preparation and coordination to execute pyrotechnic artist Cai Guo-Qiang's "Tornado: Explosion Project for the Festival of China," a towering "explosion installation" above the Potomac River that involves nine boats, three dragons and a "tornado" of flame.
In this K-2 lesson, students will learn the history of the Chinese Lion Dance and create lion head puppets to perform in a parade. Students will learn about the traditional dance, the costumes that are worn, and the music that accompanies the dance performance.
In this 6-8 lesson, students will learn how light interacts with matter through the creation of puppets in shadow plays. Students will examine how light travels and how an object's shadow is affected by the intensity and position of the light in relation to both the object and the surface on which a shadow is cast. This is the first lesson designed to accompany the Shadow Puppet Plays lesson.
Shen Wei Dance Arts fuses the art forms of dance, theater, Chinese opera, painting, sculpture, and Western and Eastern cultures.
Experience the history and culture of Tibet, Cambodia, and China through the choreography of Shen Wei.
Go beyond the page with Gene Yang, author of American Born Chinese (the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and Printz Award winner) as he discusses childhood, his Chinese influences, and comic books.
Award-winning author Laurence Yep talks about his personal experiences growing up as a Chinese-American and explores how the history of a country and different cultures intertwine with one's own history.
Drawing from various traditional Chinese genres, artistic director Doudou Huang seeks to reinvent Chinese dance, skillfully weaving East and West, old and new, and interpreting history through a modern filter.
