Village Ballet

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For China’s rural children， education in the arts typically goes no further than a requirement to recite the national anthem. But since earlier this year， the children of Duancun， a village in rural Hebei Province， have been filling their weekends with classes in painting， ballet， drama and music.

This village of just over 4，000 people， located 160 kilometers south of Beijing， now has a thriving children’s choir and orchestra， under the instruction of elite artists and educators from the capital volunteers in a privately-funded rural art education program.

Funded by the Hefeng Art Fund， the program has been in progress since last year in Duancun， a town in Anxin County， Hebei Province.

Idealistic Experiment

Li Feng， venture capitalist and the fund’s founder， initiated the experimental program in Duancun， where his father was born， with the intention of using art education to enhance the self-confidence of rural children.

A former curator and troupe manager， Li is a self-proclaimed art-lover and die-hard idealist at the program’s inception， Li dreamed of training a Duancun children’s choir to compete with the world-renowned youth choirs of Europe.

Along with his two elder brothers， Li donated a brand new elementary school to the town， which， upon completion， became the base for his art education project. Guan Yu， the 42-year-old head of the ballet department at the Beijing Dance Academy， did not hesi- tate to join the program when approached by Li in late February this year. Guan himself had long planned to volunteer at a ballet program in rural Yunnan after retirement.

For the first cohort of 20 Duancun girls recruited into the ballet program， dance training began with a full instruction in the school’s dress code shoelaces should be tied tightly， waistbands must never be visible， and only black hairpins were allowed in the studio. Painted nails were strictly prohibited.

“Art education starts with good habits，”said Guan.

He also invited the mothers and grandmothers of his pupils to join classes， to give them a two-hour lesson on tying the girls’hair into a regulation bun.

Like other volunteer teachers， Guan often finds himself comparing rural children to their urban counterparts， and believes that while the former are almost always unfamiliar with the basics of music and dance， they tend to be more obedient and diligent.

In the countryside， music lessons， if on the curriculum at all， are generally led by teachers of Chinese language or science， and tend to consist of the recital of song lyrics chalked on the blackboard.