Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
TMJ4 News
Sword Dancing: Meet the women twirling swords with grace across Wisconsin
By James Groh,
2024-05-24
For the past year, a group of women have been twirling, playing, and dancing with swords.
“Usually girls don’t play with swords. This is the first time I played with a sword, and it’s fantastic," Wendy Yi said.
Li is a sword dancer. She practices and performs with a group of women committed to learning different traditional Chinese dances.
“(Sword dancing) was believed to embody the spirit of bravery, strength, and honor," Ying Li, another sword dancer said.
James Groh This group of women practices different traditional Chinese dances to connect with their culture despite being thousands of miles away.
Sword dancing is a roughly 1,500-year-old tradition. It originated as an army training exercise from the Tang Dynasty in China. Today, it's more commonly associated with physical exercise and dance.
“I hope the audience will find it visually interesting and that will probably give them some insights into the Chinese history, culture, and traditions," Yi said.
After filming them, I wanted to experience the dance myself. At first, I wasn’t great at handling the sword. But after a little practice, I finally got it.
Watch the video to see what sword dancing looks like and how fast I picked it up...
Sword Dancing: Meet the women twirling swords with grace across Wisconsin
In the past, this group has learned and performed other traditional Chinese dances like the Kung Fu Fan Dance and the Handkerchief Dance. By practicing this ancient art, audiences are given a glimpse into the past bringing Chinese history to life.
“I think the beauty of the sword dance attracted us right away. We wanted to continue the culture of this long-history dance and express how beautiful it is," Li said.
Sword Dancing connects them to their culture despite being thousands of miles away.
If you would like to have them perform at one of your events reach out to Ping Wang at pwang6994@yahoo.com.
Talk to us: Hey there! At TMJ4 News, we're all about listening to our audience and tackling the stuff that really matters to you. Got a story idea, tip, or just want to chat about this piece? Hit us up using the form below. For more ways to get in touch, head over to tmj4.com/tips. Name Email Message Verification:
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0