Dan (Chinese opera)

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Dan (旦) is the general name for female roles in Chinese opera. There are a few different kinds of dan in Chinese opera. The commonly seen ones are 'Gui Men Dan', 'Hua Dan', 'Dao Ma Dan', 'Wu Dan', 'Lao Dan' and 'Cai Dan'. Each different kind of dan has their own unique characteristic.

  • Gui Men Dan (闺门旦)
These are roles of virtuous ladies. They are also known as Qing Yi (青衣）or (正旦). Qing Yi means 'Green robes' in Chinese and this kind of dan used to wear black robes in performances. Black used to use the name of green in the past. Qing Yi are normally matured and sometimes married ladies. They may be poor or rich, young or middle age but they have to be matured ladies to fall under this category. Qing Yi focus more on singing and they have little movements. They sing in this very high pitch and piercing voice which many people who do not understand opera cannot stand. Hence, the opera schools in China have difficulties recruiting students for this kind of roles as the student must have a good voice, good looks and must be tall enough. The most famous Qing Yi of the last century was Mei Lan Fang. Other examples of Gui Men Dan are Du Li Niang (杜丽娘) from MuDanTing (牡丹亭) and Wang Bao Chuan (王宝钏）from WuJiaPo（武家坡).
  • Hua Dan (花旦)
These are the cute, lively and young female characters. They normally wear short blouses with pants or skirts. Unlike the Gui Men Dan, Hua Dan focus more on movements and speech. They must be able to speak quickly and clearly. They also need to project a cute and innocent image as Hua Dan always represent girls of around 12-16 years old. Often, a Gui Men Dan is accompanied by a Hua Dan maid. Hong Niang (红娘) of Xi xiang ji (西厢记) and Yan Xi jiao (阎惜姣) of Wu Long Yuan (乌龙院) have played the role of Hua Dan.
  • Dao Ma Dan (刀马旦)
These are young female warriors. Dao Ma Dan are named like this because they normally perform horse riding together with a spear. This category seems similar to Wu Dan (武旦) but there is actually a difference. Dao Ma Dan do not fight as much as Wu Dan. They will do more stunts and dancing with the spear or whatever weapons they have. Dao Ma Dan need to sing a lot too and they have to sing while dancing or doing stunts which requires a good stamina. Dao Ma Dan usually put on the female warrior costume with the flags behind. Examples of Dao Ma Dan are Liang Hong Yu (梁红玉) and Mu Gui Ying (穆桂英).
Wu Dan specialises in fighting with all kinds of weapons and they must really fight with their opponents besides just doing stunts. In the past, the Wu Dan need to perform cai qiao (踩跷) and the Dao Ma Dans do not do this. Cai qiao is a very difficult skill. It requires the actress to stand on tip toe through out the whole show. The actress will put on something similar to high heels shoes but the heels of this special kind of shoe is so high that you are practically standing on tip toe. The fake small shoes are then attached to the bottom so that you will look like you have very little feet. It is an imitation of the foot binding practice in the olden days. Wu Dan must master many acrobatic movements. They specialise only in the fighting hence they seldom sing or speak.
    • Examples of Wu Dan are Zhi Zhu Jing (蜘蛛精) of Pansidong (盘丝洞) and Hu San Niang (扈三娘) of Hujiazhuang (扈家庄).
  • Lao Dan (老旦)
Lao Dan are older women (lao means "old"). They have their own set of movements and gestures and singing styles, different from Qing Yi. Qing Yi sings in high pitched and piercing voice while Lao Dan sings in a lower pitched voice. Lao Dan costumes are also less vibrant compared to the other female roles and they have much simpler hair styles.
    • An example is She Tai Jun (舍太君) of Yang Men Nu Jiang (杨门女将).
  • Cai Dan (彩旦)
These are the clownish female roles. They don't act like normal Dan and they do clownish gestures. Their movements are more towards normal daily movements and they speak like our normal daily lives.
    • Clownish dans are now normally performed by men, hence they look really ugly and they exaggerate more with their hideous make up.
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