SINGAPORE, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- A young lady twisted and turned in the dim lighting like a night elf, fast as tornados and slow as a cloud. A man was dancing alone, strength flowing all over his fine figure as he slightly turned his neck and shook his shoulders. A group of kids in yellow tutus were spinning and spinning.
These are some of the most impressive moments of the recently closed session of the Asia Dance Arts Festival.
The annual Asia Dance Arts Festival is now in its third year. Supported by both the Chinese and Singaporean governments, this event is hosted by the international society to promote cultural exchange of music and dance, known as a top dance competition in Asia.
This year, the festival was themed "Promote Dance Culture under Belt and Road Initiative." The auditions of the competition started in a dozen of Chinese cities from February and outstanding teams were selected to compete in the finals in Singapore, from countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Australia and Japan.
During the finals that have lasted for five days and four nights, the dancers have performed 168 dances. In addition to the fierce competition, 24 courses were offered by nine lecturers from Singapore, China, Japan, Australia, India and Malaysia.
The award ceremony of the Asia Dance Arts Festival 2019 was held at Victoria Theatre Singapore on July 28.
Kang Kai, the counsellor for education at the Chinese embassy in Singapore, spoke highly of the festival's contributions to the cultural exchange between Singapore and China over the past three years. He hailed the festival as a platform for countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative to compare notes on dance skills.
"It corresponded to China's Belt and Road Initiative and promoted cultural and artistic exchanges among Asian countries," said Kang.
Hu Haiquan, a Chinese singer and chairman of the festival, told the award ceremony that the contributions made by the festival's executive committee over the last three years and the intent of founding the event. He believed that global art presented people's yearning and love for beauty and hoped the festival would inspire young dancers.
Following the competition, 14 categories of awards were presented to nearly 300 individuals and groups. Six of the contestants won 500 and 1,000 Singaporean dollars, and four were awarded full scholarships worth 10,000 dollars by the Dance Faculty of Singapore Raffles Music College.
It is worth noting that this festival valued the local cultures. Toh Soon Huat, Justice of the Peace and the honorary executive chairman of Singapore's 100-year-old Sian Chay Medical Institution, and Ding Wenjing, vice president of Jiangsu Association (Singapore), were specially invited to grace the event as award presenters.
The festival also invited two senior citizens and two volunteers from Singapore Tongjingren Hospital to watch the performance and give out awards at the award ceremony. The help from Jiangsu Association and Sian Chay played an important role in connecting the festival with the local charity of Singapore, so that the festival could call on more of the kind-hearted to care about people in need with the power of dance arts and expanded its influence.
Some says that dance is the language for souls and people can realize their dreams as long as they can dance. It goes beyond languages and borders, making it a natural way for people to exchange feelings and build friendships. This is what the Dance Arts Festival aims at, spread the true, good and beautiful, enhance friendship.
