Shaman dance comes to Chinese stage for the first time

Shaman Dance was identified as a national level Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010. [File Photo]

Aoluguya, a stage play about the life and culture of the Ewenki nationality, kicked off at the Hulun Buir Grand Theater recently. In the show, Shaman dance appeared on the stage for the first time, offering people a glimpse of the ancient and mysterious culture from the primary forest in northeast of China.

The two-hour show took Maria Suo, the last female chief of an Ewenki tribe, as its protagonist. It drew materials from her dream as well as love story, and the main cultural elements of the Ewenki people.

Famous Chinese artists Buren Bayaer and Uzyna combined music, dance, drama and formative arts together into the show, and presented the endangered Ewenki culture to the audience. With a sensitivity to the market for cultural performances, they balanced artistic quality with riveting entertainment.

For more than two years, the two artists visited Ewenki tribes in the forest several times, working and living with the local people. They even talked with Maria Suo who was around 90 years old at that time, and collected lots of information on local folk songs, dances, instrumental music, and body arts.

Through the show, audiences can learn the Ewenki traditional custom such as the worship of bears as well as the domestication of deer, and enjoy the unique traditional dance imitating the movements of deer, grouses and red-crowned cranes.

The most striking part of the show is the Shaman Dance, which was identified as a national level Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010.