Beijing Contemporary Dance Company
Tour | In negotiation depending upon availability
Tour | In negotiation depending upon availability
On December 7, 1995, Beijing Contemporary Dance Company (BCDC) was created to promote the development of local art and to produce contemporary art works based on respect and continuity of traditional culture.
For more than 20 years, Beijing Contemporary Dance Company has released nearly 100 creations. After BCDC was founded, in February 1996, it premiered Red and Black at the Beijing Poly Theater. In October 2005, at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture, BCDC went to the United States to perform at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington DC and attended the “China Culture Festival”during the exchange of visits between the leaders of China and the United States. In 2006, BCDC was commissioned by the Singapore Arts Festival, Venice Biennale, and other major international festivals to create work. In 2007, BCDC was commissioned to create work on the opening Dutch Dance Festival and in the same year, the work Jue won the Annual Performance Award of “Danza&Danza”. In 2008, BCDC was invited by Lyon, France to participate in the Lyon Biennale “Focus Dance” Forum. At the invitation of Pina Bausch, BCDC attended the Dance Festival in Dusseldorf-Germany. In 2009, BCDC was invited to participate in the Romanian International Arts Festival and the Israel Arts Festival. In 2010, BCDC was invited to participate in the “Europalia” Arts Festival in Belgium. In 2011, BCDC was invited to attend the Salisbury Festival in England. In 2012, BCDC was invited to participate in the China-Japan Contemporary Dance Forum. BCDC performed series of classic works, including Oath-Midnight Rain, Offering, Wandering in The Realm of Lightness, Spring Festival, Blooming of Time and The Twelve Souls of Time, and so on. The works of BCDC have been widely concerned and praised by domestic and foreign experts and critics.
Artistic Director of Beijing Contemporary Dance Company , is one of the founding members of BCDC. Her work draws on her Buddhist upbringing and traditional Chinese dance training. In a contemplative, harmonious world, her dancers move with a natural flow of energy, yet surprises lurk around every turn, causing audiences to question the legitimacy of such binaries as “traditional/contemporary” and “East/West”.
She has received numerous major awards for performance and choreography both in China and abroad, including the Grand Prix at the 12th International Modern Choreography Competition in Belarus for her piece Worlds (1999). Ms. Gao has adjudicated national dance competitions and served as artistic director for such programs as the 2006 China Central Television (CCT) Chinese Lunar New Year Arts Special. She performs and presents her work throughout Asia, Europe, Australia, North and South America, and has received commissions to create works for such festivals as the Berlin Art Festival (Jue-Aware, 2004), Italy´s Biennale di Venezia (Oath – Midnight Rain, 2006), Singapore Dance Festival (Jing Hua Shui Yue – INTO, 2006), Holland International Dance Festival (Women of the World-Offering, 2007), etc. Her work Jue-Aware has received the Danza e Danza award for best performance in 2006 by Italy ´s leading dance magazine Danza e Danza. Ms. Gao has been personally invited by Pina Bausch to create and performa a solo work As I heard to premiere in Pina Bausch´s dance festival in Germany in November, 2008. Ms. Gao collaborated with Wen Wei Dance of Canada in 2009 to work on a new work Under the Skin which was premiered at Canada Dance Festival at the Canada National Art Center in 2010 and toured around Canada in 2011. Her latest work Offering-Fragrance in 2011 has just successfully premiered in May at the National Centre for Performing Arts. As an artist who always practices what she preaches and who´s always dedicated to her craft and is continuously pushing the boundary, Gao Yanjinzi is frequently invited by the Education Centre of the National Centre for Performing Arts to give workshops and seminars to share with an increasing number of dance lovers and art lovers what dance has given her in return over the years of her creative work.
2017/05 | Original large dance drama “The Twelve Souls of Time” remiered at the Beijing National Theatre. |
2016/02 | Dance Drama “The Twelve Souls of Time” won the first Beijing Cultural and Art Fund-funded projects |
2016/11 | BCDC invited to visit Egypt to participate in the Sino-Egyptian Cultural Year Exchange Activities. Successfully performed twice in the dance drama “Oath – Midnight Rain” which is warmly welcomed by the Egyptian audience. With the Cairo Opera House Dance group successfully organized a rich form of work shop and other exchange activities. |
2016/10 | BCDC with dance drama “Blooming of Time” participated in the National Grand Theater Dance Festival, and the performance was a complete success. |
2016/05 | Phoenix Satellite TV 20 Anniversary International Friendship Day, 120 foreign ambassadors and counselors in Beijing attended the event, BCDC was invited to perform. BCDC was invited to visit Sri Lanka for a performance. |
2016/1 | BCDC went to Croatia to exchange performances with the National Culture Ministry. In the G20 Asian Investment Bank initiation ceremony, more than 50 countries and representatives attended. BCDC was invited to perform to perform, and President Xi Jinping attended the event. |
2015 | The second large-scale creation of modern dance drama “Blooming of Time”, BCDC went to to Trier City Theater in Germany, Bad Homburg Hall, the Chinese Consulate in Frankfurt, Kassel City Hall, to carry out tour performance and premiered in the Beijing Theater, the national tour total of 22. The contemporary dance drama “Blooming of Time” has been performed 24 times in 2015. |
2014 | The new version “Spring Festival” was performed at Tianjin Grand Theatre. Cui Jian, the director of the dance drama, joined the dance artist Gao Yanjinzi to inject fresh expression into the dance drama. Gao Yanjinzi, with BCDC as the art director, and filmed MV for the theme song “Silent” for the movie version of “Silent Separation”. The song was directed by Gao Xiaosong, sung by Na Ying and by Huang Xiaoming as the leading actor. BCDC is very successful in this cross-border cooperation. |
2013 | The masterpiece “Spring Festival” is directed by Ms. Gao and by Cui Jian as music director. The whole music was a tailor made for Cui Jian, which received a great response after the first performance of the National Grand Theatre. The art world believes that this dance drama not only inherits the rebellious spirit of the original, but also sublimate the theme of the original “death” value to “life”, which is a major innovation and rereading of the Centennial Classic “The Rite of Spring”. |
2013/06 | Art director Gao Yanjinzi, was invited by Canada WenWei Dance Company to travel to Canada, with director Wang Wen-wei, and with He Tiuxia, director of the “Silk Road” World Music Company, and together created new works “Chinese Story”. |
2013/03 | BCDC was invited to the Salisbury Art Festival in the UK to perform the BCDC´s classic repertoire “Jue”. |
2013/02 | BCDC was invited by Ministry of Culture “Happy Spring Festival” activities to carry out special contemporary dance performances in Tel Aviv and Kameel in Israel. |
2012/09 | At the invitation of the Ministry of Culture, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and the Russian Ministry of Culture, BCDC participated in the performance of the “China Year of Culture” in Russia. |
2012/03-05 | BCDC was invited to participate in the “Beauty of the Folk Songs-China-Japan Contemporary Dance Forum”, The Roundtable Forum and dance master display. |
2012/03 | BCDC was invited to attend the “China Year” cultural exchange in Brown University, and created work “We send a letter to the gods” for Brown University. |
2011/12 2012/01 |
At the invitation of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture, BCDC accompanied the party secretary Liu Qi and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture to visit Albania, Kenya and other countries and do a performance exchange. The repertoire “The Other Shore/Under the Skin” toured China with the Canadian Wen Wei Dance Troupe. |
2011/05 | With the Canadian Wen Wei Dance Troupe, BCDC created international cooperation “Under the Skin”, and as the closing drama of the Canadian International Dance Festival on June 12, and internationally premiered at Canadian National Arts Center. |
2011/03 | China-Canada cooperation drama “The Other Shore” successfully conducted performed 10 more in Canada. |
2010/02 | BCDC was invited to Belgium “Europalia” Art Festival. |
2009/10 | BCDC toured to Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv at the invitation of the State Council news and Israel Arts Festival. |
2009/05 | BCDC was invited to participate in Romania Sibiu International Arts Festival |
2008 | BCDC was once again invited to perform “Jue” in the China Arts Festival, and there was no empty seat in the three performances. |
2008/11 | At the invitation of Pina Bausch, BCDC attended Düsseldorf Dance Festival – Germany. |
2008/09 | BCDC accepted the invitation to Lyon Biennale “Focus Dance” Forum. |
2008/06 | BCDC was invited by the Ministry of Culture and Roman Music park in Italy to participate in the “China Arts Festival”. |
2008/02 | BCDC was invited to participate in the “Chinese Arts Festival” held by Beijing Municipal Cultural Bureau and the City Government of London and performed at Royal Opera House. Invited to attend the Singapore “Chinese Arts Festival” and perform at the “Durian Theatre” at the Seaside Arts Center. |
2006 | BCDC was commissioned by the Singapore Dance Theatre to create a dance drama “INTO-Jing, Hua, Shui,Yue” and premiered at the Grand Theatre of The Esplanade. More than 2000 viewers, including the President of Singapore, were deeply impressed by the smooth choreography of the dance drama, the simple and electricity consumption full lighting set, and the deep Chinese Cultural Heritage embodied in the dance drama. |
2006/12 | BCDC performed dance drama in cooperation with the Norwegian Ibsen Theatre. |
2006/11 | BCDC was invited to join the European Arts Festival in Rome, Italy. |
2006/10 | At the invitation of Beijing Cultural Bureau, BCDC attended the “Cross-strait City Arts Festival” in Taipei. |
2006/08 | At the invitation of French Pierre Cardin brand, BCDC went to France for the Ancient Castle Festival. |
2006/06 | BCDC accepted the commission from the Venice Biennale to create new works. |
2006/05 | BCDC co-performed for 2006 “The Spring of Sino” – French Cultural exchange important project of Pierre Cardin´s brand. The piece was directed by hip-hop choreographer Najib Guerfi. |
2006/02 | BCDC was invited to Australia to attend the opening performance of the Multicultural Arts Festival of Canberra. |
2005/10 | At the invitation of the Ministry of Culture, BCDC went to the Kennedy Arts Center in the US to participate in the Sino-american Cultural Year “Chinese Culture Festival” large´scale performances, touring the US. |
2005/07 | BCDC received an invitation from Italy´s Bologna International Performing Arts Festival to perform in Italy. |
2005/06 | BCDC received an invitation from the Venice Biennale in Italy . |
2005/03 | BCDC again again accepted the invitation of the Berlin Arts Festival to perform at the Opening Ceremony of the Festival. |
2005/02 | Tour to the United States, performing at the Joyce Theater, MUSIC CENTRE and other U.S. mainstream theaters. |
2005/01 | BCDC tour in France. |
2004/11 | Invitation of the State Council press office to Brazil, BCDC attended the visit abroad activity of the head of State, Hu Jintao, completed the “Perception of China” large-scale cultural exchange event organized by the State Council News office, and participated in the ministry´s touring program, performing in the most important 10 theaters in Brazil. |
2004/02 | BCDC participated in the Berlin Festival in Germany, performing “Jue”. |
2004/05 | BCDC participated in the “First Guangdong Modern Dance Exhibition Week” performance. |
2004/02 | BCDC participated in the Venice Carnival |
2004/01 | At the invitation of Esplanade Company Ltd., BCDC participated in the Chinese Arts Festival and performed at the Esplanade Theater. |
2003/10 | BCDC performed in the Paris Opera and toured in 14 cities in France. |
2003/08 | BCDC cooperated with Canadian STP Dance Troupe to perform in Beijing, Shanghai and Guanzhou. |
2003/02 | At the invitation of Grand Performance USA, BCDC attended Los Angeles Summer Festival. |