【推荐1】Dance drama is a kind of stage art which fuses (融合) dance, drama and music. There are many excellent original Chinese dance dramas, bringing audience visual feasts. Here are four representatives.

The Red Detachment of Women

Premiered (首映): in 1964

The National Ballet of Chin

The dance drama of a story is adapted from the movie of the same name. I narrates the tale of a servant girl growing into a female soldier with firm Communist faith. Combining the Western ballet with Chinese ethnic dances, it is a milestone in the history of Chinese ballet.

Dunhuang Dream

Premiered: in 2000

Lanzhou Song and Dance Theater

Dunhuang Dream is a legendary four act dance drama which sets the thousands of years’ creation history of Dunuang art treasure as the background. It follow the storyline of the emotional journey of a poor young painter (Mogao) and the daughter of a senior general (Yueya).

Confucius

Premiered: in 2013

China National Opera Dance Drama Theater

The dance drama Confucius is directed by Kong Dexing, a direct descendent (后裔) of Confucius. The six-part dance drama describes Confucius’ journey of spreading his philosophy and his efforts to preserve traditional culture and history. The dance drama has been staged in a number of countries including the United States, Japan, Italy and Australia.

Princess Zhaojun

Premiered: in 2016

China National Opera Dance Drama Theater

Princess Zhaojun is an epic stage production that is adapted from a true historical event, bringing to life a household story of one of China’s “Four Great Beauties”, Wang Zhaojun. She helped bring peace to the northern border over 2,000 years ago in the Han Dynasty.

【推荐2】There's nothing difficult about how to act at a concert. It' s mostly just common sense: the music needs silence, so the audience keeps silence; both the musicians and the audience want to concentrate on the music, so listeners stay put during a performance.

    1     You can breathe; you can shift your body in your chair. You can respond to the music, but your response will be inward, which means emotion without motion (运动).The basic idea is to help each other focus on the music. Making noise or walking around can distract(使....分神)other listeners, and it may interfere with (干扰)the musicians' concentration.     2     In other words, it's easy to forget that at a concert the performers can see and hear the audience! Your attention and silence will help the musicians to perform better. They can feel your concentration, and it inspires them to give their best.

A common concern of listeners at classical concerts, and one of the main difficulties in enjoying the music, is the terrible fear of clapping in the wrong lace. It's no wonder the audience is afraid: Classical musicians don't usually make clear what they expect of the audience.     3     That is to say, if the music stops, people give a big hand. But in classical music, you are supposed to wait to the very end of the very last ending before you clap.

    4     How do you tell when a piece of music is really over? Quite often a classical piece has several sections (小节),each with its own ending, and it can be hard to tell which ending is the eventual ending, the one you're supposed to clap for. How do you know when it's really the end of the whole thing? Don't worry.     5    

【推荐3】National Public Radio (NPR) Music’s Tiny Desk Contest is back. Artists can submit an entry from this morning. This isn’t just another regular year of the Contest — it’s the 10th anniversary.

The panel (小组) of judges has doubled in size compared to previous years. The panel has a group of industry experts who are eager to see what this year’s participants can share. And there’s a great team of NPR’s Music station hosts on the panel: Amelia Mason, Novena Carmel and Stas THEE Boss.

Also new this year: Not only will the 2024 winner play a Tiny Desk concert, be interviewed on All Things Considered and go on tour with NPR Music — they’ll also be paired with a tutor in the industry who will help them navigate their music journey. Our judges are determined to give this year’s winner the support they’ll need to take their music to the next level. The winner will also be featured at two festivals this summer: Celebrate Brooklyn and the Millennium Park Summer Music series in Chicago.

And for the first time this year, the Contest is introducing a fan favorite vote. Later this spring, Contest judges will share their favorite entries as part of the annual Tiny Desk-Contest Top Shelf series on YouTube — and then artists and fans will be able to vote for their favorite among those selections.

Here’s how to enter: Record a video of you playing one original song — behind a desk, upload your video to YouTube, and submit the video on our Tiny Desk Contest website by Feb. 21 at 11: 59 p. m.   

A final reminder: Entry videos don’t need to be fancy. The Tiny Desk is where artists go to simplify their big productions. Contest judges are looking for artists to submit something that’s true to them and brand new to the Tiny Desk.