Dai Ailian
2005
4.56 min video Commemorating the legendary Trinidadian Chinese dancer Dai Ai Lian at the Chinese Dance symposium hosted by Little Garden Collective in 2005.
In the 1940s, Dai helped develop folk dance by collecting different ethnic dances in different regions. She produced and performed solo dances such as "Yao Drum" and "The Dumb Shouldering a Lunatic", which exerted a tremendous influence. The former was produced after she investigated the mountain area where the Yao ethnic group lived in compact communities; while the latter was refined from a drama episode (one acted as two characters: the older one shouldering the younger).
During the World Youth and Students Peace and Friendship Festival (hereinafter abbreviated as World Youth Festival) held in Berlin and Warsaw respectively in 1953 and 1955, Dai won awards for her original works "Lotus Dance" and "Flying Apsaras". They were also included in the Dance Classics of the Chinese Nation in the 20th Century in 1994 and continue to flourish.