The Cultural Department of Guangdong Province, China Information Office, and the People’s Government of Guangdong Province, in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands, presented one of the most outstanding spectacles of the year at Diligentia Theatre.
For a photo album on the show by Hester Dijkstra, please click here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121611753@N07/albums/72157658144062663
The performance showcased the dancers of Guangdong to an almost full theatre, regaling us with magnificent music and dances and the way tea is part of every Chinese person’s life.
From September 21 to October 9, the city of Den Haag hosted the First China Cultural Festival. That Pot of Tea in Chaoshan is a collective dance that shows the traditional daily life in Chaoshan, an area of Guangdong province.
It was not a story about the tea ceremony, as the name suggests, but above all assimilating the old life and customs of Chaoshan people to the profound implication of the tea. The dance invites the audience to taste the sweetness and bitterness of our life through the tea.
Always reflecting about our existence in the pot of tea, the first part of the show was dedicated to life: “No matter how big or tiny happiness that life has brought us, how anguished or desperate our fates are, life always gives us endless aftertaste.” Several other chapters of the first act were titled “Memories at the well” and “Female embroiderers”.
The second part was dedicated to the hometown and how the pot of tea represents affection and our souvenirs of the homeland: “Wherever we are, we will be surrounded by affection when we hold the tea in hands.
We will raise limitless courage and wisdom to go forward with the scent that always comes into our dreams.”
Second act pieces included: “Songs of overseas Chaoshan people”, “Fragrance of ladies with flowers” and “Sending Gods away”.
All in all, a brilliant performance, great dancers, and a magnificent production. What a prime way to promote Guangdong!
