Chinese butterfly lovers
Music by Chen Gang & He Zhan-hao
The dance of Tears comes from a famous history story of the Butterfly Lovers, Ying-Tai and San-Bo… Forbidden to marry his sweetheart the young scholar San-Bo dies of a broken heart. When Ying Tai visits his grave a storm comes up, the tomb yawns open and the grief stricken girl jumps in and perishes. Reunited in death the lovers emerge as two beautiful butterflies that soar away into the sky… The dance occurs in the moment when Ying-Tai sees the tomb and realizes her fate. The long sleeves are symbolic of the river of tears that result from the suffering and injustice borne by Chinese women throughout the centuries.
