Cao Wugen

05-2191Dragon DanceTraditional DanceJixi, AnhuiBatch 5 (2018)

Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in November 1940 in Jixi County, Anhui Province. From 1951 he studied Hui opera and appeared in performances of various local folk customs, and later learned the hand dragon dance and its prop making from elders in his village. While farming in the village he often organized performance teams to take part in shows in his spare time from farm work. Through repeated practice he gained a thorough command of the performance sequence and dance characteristics of the hand dragon, and he is especially skilled at constructing hand dragons by traditional methods. He has made paper, straw and bamboo hand dragons for neighbouring villages, local schools and various dragon dance events. For many years he has been committed to transmitting, teaching and promoting the hand dragon dance, has organized and trained school performance teams, and has performed and won awards at festival and folk events at provincial, municipal and county level. He was responsible for adapting the hand dragon dance, formerly performed while parading through villages or in public squares, into a group dance for the stage.

Honors & Recognition

Representative bearer of Dragon Dance (Hand Dragon Dance), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

References & Archival Sources

Cao Wugen · National Representative Bearer Archive

Representative Items of This Bearer

Profile

Representative item: Dragon Dance
Item code: Ⅲ-4
Category: Traditional Dance
Region: Jixi, Anhui
Born: —
Batch: Batch 5 (2018)

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