Creating with Roots: Contemporary Chinese National Folk Dance Choreography

Rui Xu

ISBN 10: 0472077155 / ISBN 13: 9780472077151

Published by University of Michigan Press, 2025

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Creating with Roots: Contemporary Chinese National Folk Dance Choreography
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472077155
• ISBN 13: 9780472077151
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 526 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Creating with Roots is a critical introduction to the history, theory, and creative practice of Chinese national folk dance, the Chinese-speaking world’s most popular contemporary dance form. A complex cultural and artistic phenomenon that resists simple categorization, Chinese national folk dance merges folkloric material with contemporary stage aesthetics and blends rural folk dances of the Han majority with dances representing China’s minoritized ethnic communities, bridging cultural differences of geography, economic class, and ethnicity. As such, Chinese national folk dance has become a lightning rod for current debates in the arts worldwide—how to balance local heritage with artistic innovation, how to maintain cultural integrity amid commercialization and Eurocentrism, and the ethics of representation in contemporary multiculturalism. Chinese national folk dance is increasingly a globalized phenomenon: schools, classes, competitions, and performances of professionals and amateurs now exist all across the world. Originally published in Chinese and authored by prominent Chinese dance scholar, Rui Xu, this English translation will be an essential resource for the global conversation about how dancers and choreographers navigate tradition and innovation in contemporary national folk dance choreography. 

Creating with Roots offers a detailed breakdown of key terms and concepts necessary for understanding Chinese national folk dance and analyzes 37 examples of choreography dating from the 1940s to 2000. The author situates these explanations within the longer history of cultural practice and theory in China and in relation to the international dance discourses of the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and North America. 

About the Author

Rui Xu is President of the Beijing Dance Academy and a leading dance scholar, critic, director, and producer in China. 
Emily Wilcox is Margaret Hamilton Professor of Chinese Studies at William & Mary. She is coeditor of Corporeal Politics: Dancing East Asia (University of Michigan Press).