Connecticut College China Yunnan/Mekong Project

“Yunnan Revealed: Indigenous Music and Dance from China's Land of Clouds”

Gen Dequan, Chinese indigenous artist

“Yunnan Revealed: Indigenous Music and Dance From China’s Land of Clouds” is produced by the China Yunnan/Mekong Project at Connecticut College in collaboration with the Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College; Flynn Center for the Performing Arts and the China Yunnan International Culture Exchange Center. View the Fall Tour schedule.

Fifteen musicians and dancers represent the Yi, Wa, Dai and Naxi ethnic minority groups from Southwest China. Their performances feature richly embroidered regalia and a fascinating ensemble of stringed instruments, flutes and drums. The performers express their cultural traditions compellingly through song, music, and dance. The great joy of their expression and the spectacular beauty of their art bridge the distant land of Yunnan, China with the United States. In this performance, the public has the opportunity to witness some of the most beautiful indigenous cultures of the world.

This is the first North American tour of minority ethnic performers from Yunnan Province, China. The one-month tour, from September 18 to October 17, 2005, includes public performances, school programs, lecture-demonstrations and exchange activities at The Kennedy Center; Connecticut College; Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College; Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts; Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington, Vermont; American Museum of Natural History; Symphony Space in New York City co-presented by the World Music Institute and the Asia Society; University of Washington and Whitman College in the State of Washington.

Preliminary research, preparation and the US tour are supported by grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, and The Asian Cultural Council, with additional support from Yunnan Province Culture Exchange Association, Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China and Connecticut College Dayton Residency Fund.