The 11 beautiful girls who are to dance on the Hubei float

A 70-year-old artist works as the art director

On the rehearsal spot in the float village, 70-year-old artist Yang Fengxian climbed up and down with a staff member's assistance, leading the dancers through the rehearsal. The dance to be staged on the float is designed by Yang and is based on the famous large-scale dancing poem: "My home is by the Yangtze River".

During the rehearsal period in Beijing, besides working as the art director, Yang also cares for the 11 girls. On September 15, she suffered from great anxiety when Yi had an outbreak of acute enteritis. "That girl did not eat for the whole day, so I was very worried about that. Fortunately, the doctor diagnosed acute enteritis instead of a fever or cold, and then I felt relieved. If she had contracted H1N1, all of us would lose the chance to perform on National Day." Yang said.

To avoid any problems during the rehearsal period in Beijing, Yang orders all girls must not go out, must go to sleep before 11 pm and get up and have breakfast before 9 am.

One stage costume costs 5,000 yuan

During the interview, the reporter found that with many questions, the girls always gave the same answer. Since they have been living together, they have become familiar with each other, so they can communicate simply with eye contact in rehearsal. "Before, we were strangers or nodding acquaintances, but now we are like sisters." Zeng said.

The girls also told reporters that in the dance, the 6 taller girls will play the role of phoenixes and the other 5 shorter girls will play the role of fish. Costumes for the performance are very expensive. The fish costume is tailor-made in Shanghai, with each cost 5,000 yuan, and each phoenix coronet costs more than 1,000 yuan. So after each rehearsal, the costumes are handed over to the designated staff members.

Because the stage on the float is very small, during each rehearsal, the girls have to be very careful. Yang also repeatedly warns the girls not to get too close to the edge of the stage, lest when the wagon is moving, they fall off the float. To get used to dancing in such a small space, the girls rehearse in a stage-sized square space enclosed by long benches.

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"My home is by the Yangtze River" is a large-scale regional song and dance poem based on the Yangtze culture. It integrates many artistic forms such as song, dance, music, painting and poetry. By taking water as the central theme, it connects the five most influential regional symbols such as Three Gorges, Bashi, Shennongjia, Wudang Mountain and Honghu Lake. Since it has moved to the stage, it has been performed around the country over a hundred times, thus it has become a cultural symbol for Hubei Province.

Translated by LOTO