On 29 April, the International Theatre Institute (ITI) and Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) co-hosted the celebration of the 2015 International Dance Day in Shanghai at the Zendai Himalayas Centre. This was the first regular event since ITI’s relocation of its General Secretariat from Paris to Shanghai in April this year. STA’s Party Secretary Lou Wei, President Han Sheng, Vice Preside Gong Baorong and Guo Yu attended the celebration. Party Secretary Lou Wei delivered a speech on behalf of STA.
In his speech, Party Secretary Lou Wei said that as an international cosmopolitan city, Shanghai should become an important base for the interaction and exchange between the advanced cultures of the world and for the transmission of Chinese culture. As a comprehensive university of arts with international reputation, STA is greatly honoured to become one of the most important strategic partners of ITI for its activities globally. We will endeavour to create the opportunities to foster the common language, strengthen the mutual trust and deepen the relationship among the ITI members through holding rich and colorful international culture activities such as the International Dance Day itself, thereby making a contribution towards building closer friendly relationship between the Chinese people and peoples across the world, advancing the harmonious co-existence, integration and sharing of the diversified cultures of the world and, ultimately, promoting the enduing peace and common prosperity of the human society.
Mr Tobias Biancone, Director-General of ITI General Secretariat, delivered a speech on behalf of ITI. He said that in the future, ITI will join hands with STA on more exchange programs of arts and education and attract artists and experts of high appeal across the world into Shanghai. Mr Perez de Arminan, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture, sent a congratulatory message on behalf of UNESCO. Mr Israel Galvan, the famous Spanish choreographer, was the International Dance Day message author 2015, whose message was conveyed to the audience through a video presentation.
During the celebration, the dancers from Spain and France presented brilliant performances. The teachers and students of STA College of Dance presented the originally created dances including "Painted Umbrella and Secluded Orchid", "Red Facial Powder" and "Autumn" which were some of the highlights of the celebration and won warm applauses from the audience for their rich national character and style.
Apart from the celebration, there was also the “Seminar on Cross-Border Cooperation in Dance and Dance Education – The Role Positioning of Government and Professional Dancers”, which was held at the STA Library on 30 April. The seminar was chaired by STA Vice President Gong Baorong and attended by world famous scholars and experts such as the president and professors of the Spanish Academy of Dance, international advisor (performing arts policy) of French Ministry of Culture and Communication and president of ITI International Dance Committee. The Chinese dance experts, Chen Jianian, Luo Bing and Ou Jianping, also gave keynote presentations during the seminar and had Q&A with the audience.
According to the research, the origin of STA’s association with ITI dated back to 1948 when ITI was first established. At that time, the Chinese theatre educator and theorist, Yu Shangyuan attended the first annual meeting of ITI at which he personally witnessed and participated in the establishment of ITI as an organization, taking advantage of his visit to the United Kingdom to give lectures. Yu Shangyuan was transferred to STA to teach in the Department of Theatrical Literature in 1959 and he passed away on 30 April 1970. STA Party Secretary Lou Wei said that our predecessors built up the bridge for cultural exchange for us and today we will further build upon this base to make a broader, deeper and better platform for cultural exchange to promote the refined Chinese culture into the world through the cooperation with ITI.
