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DE’ UNITE: SHE 101 – HIMPUNAN LAPORAN TEKNIKAL PROJEK PELAJAR

Figure 1.6 Dragon Dance

2.3 Fan Dance

Chinese Fan dances start out as ceremonial rituals whereas the dance moves haven’t changed, the
dance uses have. Fan dances represent beauty, grace, skill, tradition, delicacy and history. They also
express feelings of joy and fans are recognized as good luck charms and expressions of generosity. Even
all these years, fan dances are still used at ceremonies and Chinese celebrations such as Moon Cake
Festival and Chinese New Year. Now, it even transformed into unique modern workouts. Fan dance
consists constant changing of rhythms and body positions. The feather fans and silk fans are used in
the dance that began since the Han Dynasty, c. 206 BC. Fans are produced by knotting, weaving,
calligraphy, mounting, poker-work and carving. If the fan is produced by a skilful craftsman, painter or
writer, the price of a common fan will raise a lot! Fans have lot of functions. They can be as a tool for
artistic performance, dance, drama and folk arts rather than just chilling off in the summer. Dancers in
the ancient times hold fans while dancing, thus the preference passed down till present. It has become
a dancing art with distinctive Chinese characteristics.

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