04:30 to 05:30
Level 1, 151 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia
07-12-17
The Chinese word, nan, means male, while dan is the generic term for female roles in jingju (Beijing/Peking “opera”). Taken together, the term nandan refers to the male actors who perform female roles in jingju. The nandan are undoubtedly the most mysterious of jingju actors. Many people have great interest in, and are eager to know more about this kind of cross-gender performance.
Invited by China Cultural Centre (Sydney) and the Australia China Business Summit, Mou Yuandi, the only young nandan in Shanghai, will lift the veil of mystery surrounding nandan by providing a live introduction to the art, presenting nandan in terms of its historical development and the whole process of training, performance, and makeup.
Biography of the Actor:
Mou Yuandi is a teacher in the School of Traditional Chinese Theatre at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. The only young nandan in Shanghai, he is the student of Bi Guyun. In 2014, he was the recipient of the CSUN Distinguished Speaker Award for his successful jingju workshops and the performance of I Am a Nandan in California State University, Northridge.
Program:
A dance of dan roles featuring long water-sleeves
An excerpt from the jingju play, The Favorite ConcubineBecomes Intoxicated (Guifei zuijiu)
An excerpt from the jingju play, Battle of Wan City (Zhan Wancheng) featuring the skills of wearing qiao (stilt-like wooden footwear used to mimic the bound feet of women in ancient China)
An excerpt from the scene, “A Walk in the Garden” (Youyuan) in the kunqu play, The Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting)
An excerpt from the jingju play, Goddess Scatters Flowers(Tiannü sanhua)
