Recently, the finals of the 2024 Zhejiang Provincial Mass Square Dance Competition hosted by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism came to an end in Huzhou. “Hetiantian Sweet”, which was coached and selected by the Municipal Cultural Center and created and performed by the Jindong District Cultural Center, won the gold medal. This is also the only work in our city that entered the finals.
Zhou Xiaoyun, the main creator of “Hetiantian Sweet” and director of the Jindong District Cultural Center, introduced that “Hetiantian Sweet” incorporates many Wu Opera elements. Its music is based on the six major tunes of Wu Opera, combined with the characteristics of opera rap, and re-created in the rhythm of square dance. It is a new method to promote innovative attempts in traditional culture. In addition, the dance also adds the “stepping” element of opera, retaining the traditional charm, adding new dance language and stage tension to the work.
In this square dance, 16 men hold lotus leaves and 16 women wear lotus flowers. The fabrics of men’s and women’s clothing are light and elastic. They dance gently with the steps of the couple, showing youthful vitality. After half a year of careful preparation, “Hetiantiantian” stood out from 25 dance teams with its excellent performance and positive spirit, winning unanimous recognition from judges and audiences.
Positive square dance is conducive to enriching the spiritual and cultural life of the masses and showing the good spirit of the masses. In recent years, the Municipal Cultural Center has been committed to promoting the popularization and development of mass square dance. By setting up mass cultural activity carriers such as square dance teacher improvement classes and square dance competitions, it has directly trained more than 20,000 square dance backbones, and about 250,000 people participated in square dance activities. It has organized more than 100 teams to participate in provincial square dance competitions and achieved excellent results.