Name: Judge: NTD Chinese Dance Competition Contestants This Year Are Really Outstanding
Uploaded: 2025-09-14T23:49:57.000Z
Description: Judge William Li shared how dancers this year brought higher technical difficulty, expressive storytelling, and timeless cultural values to the stage.

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The finals of NTD’s 11th International Classical Chinese Dance Competition concluded Sunday at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center in Chester, New York. Judge William Li shared how dancers this year brought higher technical difficulty, expressive storytelling, and timeless cultural values to the stage.

The classical Chinese dance competition is one in a series of international cultural and arts events hosted by NTD aimed at promoting traditional culture. In China, this culture has been all but destroyed by the Chinese Communist Party over the past several decades.

Classical Chinese dance training includes three main components—bearing, form, and technique. It is an expressive dance form rooted in 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture, and is also one of the most comprehensive dance systems in the world.

Each contestant is required to perform a short dance routine along with a set of required techniques and movements, demonstrating leaps, spins, and classical technique.

One highlight is the advanced movement method known as "shen dai shou, kua dai tui"—“the body leads the hands, the hips lead the legs.” Reintroduced by the artistic director at Shen Yun Performing Arts, the once nearly lost technique allows dancers to create powerful, sweeping movements that magnify both emotion and a dancer's presence on stage.

<em>The following is a transcript of Li's interview, edited for clarity.</em>

I think that the contestants this year are really outstanding, especially in their technical movements. The level of difficulty is going up higher and higher, and especially this year, all of the contestants are very outstanding in this aspect.

So I'm talking more about the leaps, the turns, and the tumbling movements. All of the contestants, they're doing a lot more difficult techniques, and more than that, it's all combined. So it's not just doing one simple flip but after you flip, you go into another spin, for example. So the level of difficulty there is very high.

In the past, it was already very difficult but I just noticed that overall, the level is higher now. So maybe in the past, you see one or two contestants that are more outstanding. But now, all of the contestants are more outstanding.

"Shen dai shou, kua dai tui" is something that we've always been looking at as one of our main judging criteria. And every year, you notice that the contestants are getting more and more adept at using this shenfa technique. So that's really gonna show in the form of how their body is more expressive. Their movements and poses are more grand, and you notice that throughout all of the contestants as well. So not only the jumping and tumbling, but also the 'Shen dai shou, kua dai tui' technique, everyone has a better mastery of it as well.

"'Shen dai shou' makes your movements more expressive. And in classical Chinese dance, your movements have to express an emotion or convey a message. So it's all about getting your message across to the audience, and 'shen dai shou, kua dai tui,' that's going to make your movements a lot more clear. So whatever you're trying to portray is going to be more expressive to the audience. And there's a lot of self-choreographed pieces which are very touching, and even as a judge, when I'm watching them, I'm feeling very touched and moved.

For example, some notable ones are the piece by Lillian Parker and Katie Parker. It's a story about two sisters who have their faith. It's suppressed, you know, in China. And it's a story of their faith and how they're very courageous and pushing forth and still holding on to their faith even in hard times. And their story just really touched me. I get goose bumps when I watch it. That is one of the strengths of classical Chinese dance as well, because it has the ability to portray any emotion in any story. So that's really coming out in our contestants' performance this year.

I think the contestants are doing really well in portraying bearing. And I think one of the key elements of bearing is that you're portraying the inner essence of you as a performer. And the foundation for that is the history and the virtues of Chinese culture. So virtues such as compassion, forbearance, courage, loyalty. You yourself, in everyday life, has to have these values portrayed. You have to act with these kinds of values, and then in your dancing, it will naturally come out. So it's not something that is forced or fake but something that comes out very naturally through your dancing.

I think classical Chinese dance can is actually something that is very international. We have contestants from all over the world coming to join, as the virtues and values of Chinese history are universal. For example, loyalty, courage, faith. This is something that, all over the world, we think are good things—it's not just unique to Chinese culture. So anyone can come and perform classical Chinese dance from any part of the world, and you can also bring out these virtues in your bearing on stage.

I think I'm very touched to see that there are some contestants who are older and still participating. Because, you know, as a dancer, when you're in your 20s, that's probably when you're at your best in terms of stamina. And you know your ability to do all these difficult technical movements was because when you age, your body is aging, and of course, it's going to be harder for you to do all of these difficult technical movements. So I see dancers who are in their 30s and even in their 40s competing, and for me, that's very inspirational.

I think overall, it's just, I'm really touched by all of these performers who in the past, maybe they competed and they might have gotten eliminated and they might not have gotten a good reward. Not everyone's gonna get first place but they come back again and again, and I see that they're improving every time, from the preliminary to the semifinals and finals. The people who make it through every round, every day, I see improvement. And that is also something that I think is really wonderful. It's what the competition is all about.

I think it's carrying on the culture, history, and values of traditional Chinese culture, which is universal. And, you know, having the future generation and next generation also carrying this torch forward, especially with all of these younger contestants coming and learning classical Chinese dance, it takes a lot of discipline. I think it brings up a new generation of people who have these disciplines in life, so it's also something that's good for society.

I think all the finalists did really well to make it here. And you know, it's the last day. Now it's a little bit more of a push, and we're almost there. For everyone, the contestants have worked very hard to get to this point. For now, just enjoy the stage and do your best. The ones who didn't make it, I think they did a very wonderful job because it was so hard to decide who could make it into the finals. Everyone was very, very great and had their own strengths. And I think for the contestants who didn't make it, a lot of them are already thinking, how can they do better next time? Where can they improve? I think that is the spirit of ... you know, as a dancer, as an artist, you always are seeking to improve, even for people who you know, you might have won gold last year, maybe this year you're gonna get gold but they're still gonna be thinking about how they can improve. And really, all artists, I think, are like that, in that way.

It's a very good opportunity, if you join the competition, to really push yourself to your limits and see where you can improve. So I would encourage them to try it and see.

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