Blog Post 5

    For my last blog post for my journalism class the country that I will discuss today is China. China has a ballet company called the National Ballet of China, however, it is known as Central Ballet Troupe in its native country. The ballet company was founded in 1959, a few years after the Beijing Dance School was first opened.

    In 1966 the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, also known as the Cultural Revolution, changed the ballet school and troupe. During the revolution the school and troupe fell under the control of Mao Zedong’s wife, Madame Mao (she is also known as Jiang Qing).  She was once a movie actress before marrying Mao Zedong.  For the entirety of the revolution Madame Mao reduced the repertoire of the ballet company to two sanctioned dances. The Red Detachment of Women and The White Haired Girl were the only ballets the company could perform. After the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976, the original director Dai Aillian reinstated to her former position. The ballet company has since then been allowed to perform traditional and modern ballets, western ballets, and perform globally.

    In 2009, the Chinese Ballet came to Huntsville, Alabama, and performed. This particular performance was especially important to the ballet because it was the time of the Chinese New Year. My mother took my cousin, my sister, my brother, and me to see the Chinese New Year Spectacular. Everyone but my brother loved it.  Being the brother of a dancer (me) he failed to see what was so spectacular.  He was saying things like “Forest does this all the time. I have seen it before,” and “There are no dragons, fire, or explosions,” and “Can we go? Now?” At this point my brother was still fairly young and would appreciate the significance of this event for some time. But for me it was profound affect. I realized what this meant culturally.

    It was not so long ago that China and America were not on good terms, partly through their association to Russia and partly because of their political scene. China was also always a sort of secret country. They had weird and mystical medicines, dressed differently, spoke a complex language, and the country itself kept a closed off kind of policy. But how does this all pertain to Chapter 13 of the required reading of The World News Prism: Challenges of Digital Communication? The Chinese Ballet coming to Huntsville, Alabama, was a stark realization that the world is no longer closed off.

    The three major points that coincide with what the Chinese ballet was accomplishing are: 1) Vast Audience for Global Events, 2) Mass Cultural Acceptance, and 3) Diplomacy Change.  While the troupe dancers may not be journalists per se, they are conveying what journalists have been trying to promote for years, which is diversity. Because the troupe travels around the world to entertain people with the best aspects of their culture, the Chinese ballet performers are earning the respect and the trust of ambassadors of goodwill of other nations.

    If you get the chance to see the Chinese Ballet live it worth the time and money. It is culture live and in full Technicolor.