put your left foot in china
Dance has a long history in China. On 5000-year-old pottery there are paintings of people dancing and nearly 1000 distinctive folk dances are performed throughout the country. But it was dance of a more unrehearsed kind when Rachel Wasser’s Intrepid group took to the floor…
“Visiting the Longji Rice Terraces is an experience in itself. The stunning views, gorgeous people and invigorating hiking are enough to send you home with a smile on your face. One of the highlights is also when the Ping’An cultural show coincides with our trip.
After a five-hour hike through the terraces and a massive meal, our group sat down to enjoy the guesthouse show. The local women wore their traditional Zhuang minority dress and performed one song and dance, and then they opened the floor up to us.
My group decided on doing the Hokey Pokey as an impromptu expression of a popular childhood song. Then four of our Swedish group members got a chance to show us their skills with a song about frogs!
The Zhuang women were very excited to see us so involved in the show. After a few more numbers from them – some with bamboo poles and masks – we were called up once again to participate. One of our men was blindfolded and had to grab a girl to be his future wife. The new couple then had to perform together – the chicken dance was an obvious choice and needless to say they had us all in fits of laughter. Their reward for such a performance was some local rice wine and then we all continued to enjoy the wonderful evening of entertainment with our new friends.”
Tour China with Intrepid on trips like this great small group adventure:
Roam China – 20 days
* photo by Lucy Dawson – Intrepid Photography Competition
