Ethnic and Religious Affairs

Traditional Jangar dance ignites students

By Lei Xiaoxun (China Daily Xinjiang Bureau)
Updated: 2009-04-28 17:50

In addition to practicing exercises during morning breaks, students at Xinjiang Hebukesaier Mongol autonomous county's Chengguan primary school now have another way to make their bodies strong—the traditional Jangar dance.

A pupil practices Sawudeng dance.

"Hebukesaier is the birth place of Jangar culture, which dates back to the 15th century," said the school's head master Liu Benyuan.

However, the Jangar tradition is not popular among youngsters, which presented the school with a dilemma: on the one hand, the school wanted to improve the curriculum of its physical education; on the other hand, it's a tradition that should be preserved in an area rich in Mongol art forms.

Ultimately, the idea of combining the traditional Jangar ethnic dance with the school's PE program came about.

"We chose a special segment, namely Sawudeng dance, from Jangar folk art performance," Liu said. So far, it has been a proven success since the program was introduced this year.

Nowadays, each of the school's 1,740 pupils, who are Han, Mongolian, and Kazak, can perform Sawudeng dance. Moreover, many students have expressed a strong interest and enthusiasm in learning Jangar traditional culture.

Some pupils enrolled in the Jangar performance training class to improve their knowledge and performing skills.

"I find the program quite enjoyable and it ignites my interest in learning Jangar," said 11-year old Tolimuji, who is a known young Jangar performer in the school.

"My dream is to be a professional Jangar singer when I am grown up,” he said.

Liu believes the program can be a case model to other Xinjiang ethnic areas. “The essential point of such a practice is to raise people’s awareness, especially the promising young generation’s, to preserve the core value of their own culture,” he said.

Jangar is one of China' most important ethnic art forms, known for the unique Mongol traditional form of rap and dance performance. The epic dance mostly hinges on the depiction and praise of the Mongolian hero Jangar.