When Bahtiyar Yusanjan, a young man from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, attended a friend's wedding last month, he experienced far more than delicious food, phenomenal dancing and nonstop music.
After the traditional ceremony, people started to dance and sing while playing local instruments commonly seen at weddings. However, when a group of young men took to the stage, the party reached a climax.
The group formed a circle, with one man flipping from his back onto his chest, kicking high in the air. The others responded to his dazzling dance moves by applauding and cheering, before taking to the floor themselves.
"I joined the group and more people were quick to follow suit. The wedding was transformed into a street dance party. We danced for hours and everybody was very happy," said Bahtiyar Yusanjan, 35.
The bridegroom and many of the guests at the wedding are street dancers, including Bahtiyar Yusanjan, who was inspired by the improvised performance to choreograph an original dance piece titled A Happy and New Era. The work premiered at a street dance performance on July 21 during the 6th China Xinjiang International Folk Dance Festival, which is scheduled to end in Urumqi on Saturday.
The piece featured 12 dancers ranging in age from 17 to 28 from the street dance studio DSP (dream, soul and passion), where Bahtiyar Yusanjan works.
The piece received warm feedback from the audience thanks to its creative choreography, which mixed street dance moves with traditional Xinjiang ethnic dance steps. Traditional plucked instruments such as the dutar, sattar, rawap and gijja were used for the work.
The performance also featured competitions that attracted nearly 300 dancers from ethnic groups, including the Han, Hui, Tajik, Uygur and Daur. A Happy and New Era won the Best Dance Piece award.
