Over 1,500 teachers, students perform bamboo dance in Hainan

Jessica Luo China Plus Published: 2017-04-12 16:34:36
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Students practice bamboo dance at a high school in Hainan province, April 9, 2017. The intensive dance can be considered not only a dance, but a sport as well. [Photo: VCG]

Around 1,500 teachers and students of a high school in south China's Hainan province perform bamboo dance together on April 9, 2017. The dance is a traditional performance of Li ethnic group in the island province. [Photo: VCG]

The Li ethnic minority, accredited for creating the earliest cotton fabric in China, still practice bamboo dancing which is thought to come from their work in the field and worshiping ancestors. [Photo: VCG]

The traditional bamboo dance performed by the Li ethnic group involves two bamboo poles on the ground across each other with several inches between them. Other bamboo poles are put across them. Young men crouch on both sides holding one end of the poles, moving them around in a set rhythm. [Photo: VCG]

The dancers jump and turn as the bamboo poles come together and spread apart. The pole holders will slowly accelerate as the dance reaches a climax, accompanied with people's cheering and laughing. [Photo: VCG]

Students practice bamboo dance at a high school in Hainan province, April 9, 2017. The intensive dance can be considered not only a dance, but a sport as well. [Photo: VCG]

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