Pioneer Pastimes » Dance and Movement http://pioneerpastimes.com Traditional Fun made in the USA Tue, 25 May 2010 09:21:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Chinese Ribbon Dance History http://pioneerpastimes.com/chinese-ribbon-dance-history/ http://pioneerpastimes.com/chinese-ribbon-dance-history/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:31:40 +0000 admin http://pioneerpastimes.com/blog/?p=5 Once a Chinese emperor in the tang dynasty dreamed about a palace that was surrounded by a beautiful dancing fairies in colorful flowing dresses. when the Emperor woke up he wanted to see it again So a dance was choreographed where the dancers had a very long sleeves. Later they put them on sticks as ribbons.

butterfly pattern

Sometimes they choreographed dances out of gratitude. Once a man tried to kill the emperor with a sword but a courtesan stopped him with his long sleeve.  The emperor was very grateful so he commanded that a dance be choreographed about the incident.  The Dancers used short ribbons that would look like a long sleeve.

Chinese ribbons have been used since 8th century,when the dance was reserved for the royal court. Only later was it performed and enjoyed by everyone

Traditionally the ribbons were made of silk. Some ribbons are 12 feet long, others can be as short as 5 feet,

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