Sixteen year old Stephanie Guo, a resident of Secaucus since 2006, recently performed at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center in New York as part of the Shen Yun Performing Arts group. Unlike most teenagers, Guo’s life revolves around dance and she devotes most of her year to studying, training, and traveling. Since she joined Shen Yun in 2008, Guo has traveled the world and performed in 400 shows over four seasons.
Guo spends December through May on tour, has a short break, and then returns an arts academy to study and train.
Expressive movement
“I love how expressive it is,” said Guo about classical Chinese dance. “It is both subtle and explosively energetic. There is a wide range of emotions you can express.”
Classical Chinese dance represents 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. The comprehensive dance form depicts Chinese cultural stories and legends through various postures, movements, jumping and tumbling techniques.
“It has a complete and independent dance system. It is very complex,” said Guo.
“It is great to bring this dance form out to other people.” – Stephanie Guo
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“Ballet is straight and hard. Chinese classical dance is all about the softness and the roundness of the movement.” Guo noted that the dance form has a lot of circular motion and that the breathing technique is especially important.
The costumes have brilliant colors and include imperial dragon robes, phoenix coronets, and capes symbolic of different Chinese dynasties from a warrior’s helmet and armor to the traditional rightward cross-collared Han clothing to the ethnic attire of the Manchurian, Tibetan, Dai, Mongol, and Uyghur ethnic groups.
Traveling around the world
Guo has performed throughout North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe.
“We perform at many cities and countries,” said Guo. “For me it is really exciting because I think I have gone to many more places than many people my age. It is great to bring this dance form out to other people.”
Guo had a difficult time choosing a favorite city or country from her travels and said that she enjoys most of the places she visits. She said she does prefer visiting countries in Asia like Japan, Taiwan and Korea.
She has made many friends in the academy and enjoys taking pictures on every visit.
“I like photography,” she said, “which is really fun when you get to go all around the world.”
Life of dance
“When I heard about Shen Yun I really wanted to join,” said Guo. After studying ballet for three years Guo moved on to study classical Chinese dance in New York at the age of 10. At the age of 13 she applied to be part of Fei Tian Academy of the Arts in upstate New York. The academy is an accredited institution that offers academic and arts education.
“I’m part of a special group of young performers,” said Guo. “After May we have a break that usually lasts two weeks and then we get back to a normal schedule of academic classes and dance classes.”
Guo said that she returns to her home in Secaucus during breaks on the weekends and after touring. Guo is in the tenth grade and said that she will continue studying at the academy until she completes high school, and then will make a decision on whether to stay with the company.
“I’m not sure about long-term,” said Guo about her future plans. “I think most likely I will [stay with the company] but you never know.”
Guo’s advice to any young person interested in dancing is that it requires commitment and that basic training takes a long time.
“You have to be able to express yourself and training takes quite a while,” said Guo.
She said that although it can be tiring, dance is something that she really enjoys.
When she isn’t performing, Guo enjoys writing and reading English literature.
Adriana Rambay Fernández may be reached at afernandez@hudsonreporter.com.