Traditional values prove to be a winning combination

A new show, titled Dancing Through the Millennium, which is coproduced by Henan TV and Chinese video platform Bilibili, premiered on Bilibili on Nov 6.

Thirteen dance groups from top troupes are featured in the show, including the China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater, the National Ballet of China, and Beijing Dance Academy. Each episode displays one classic dance piece performed by dancers from different troupes. Those dance pieces have been produced and presented with cinematography techniques. Chinese history and culture related to each dance piece is narrated in the show.

In the first episode, a group of female dancers of the Beijing Dance Academy performed Xiang He Ge, choreographed by Sun Ying from Beijing Dance Academy. The female dancers, wearing costumes of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), chant poems and dance on and off drums, creating rhythms with their feet. Premiered in 2009, the dance piece is an excerpt of Sun's dance drama, titled Dancing Girl of Tongque Platform.

In the show, the dance piece was presented through cinematography techniques, which allows audiences to enjoy the dance movements with a close distance, says Zhang Xing, a professor of Beijing Dance Academy.

"Poem, dance and music are three important elements of traditional Chinese culture, which are all featured in one dance piece," Zhang adds.

The first episode of the new show was viewed more than 8 million times within 24 hours.