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Dancing Grannies

Some people say, “Dance as if no one is watching you.” This statement is true for the dancing grannies in China. As a result of the last few decades an emergence of a whole new group of ladies, usually in the late 20s to almost 60s, can be seen dancing all across China. Old people, mostly women, are seen dancing in the parks, apartment complexes and even near shopping malls. They are called Baba Wu. The word “baba” is used to indicate old aged people and “wu” is taken from the Mandarin word “tiao wu” which means ‘to dance’. Altogether the whole word means “old age dance.” This is basically a big group of local women, picking a place to dance as a part of their afternoon entertainment. These ladies, who dance for health and fun, call themselves reformers of the modern society. However, a lot of people hate their action of dancing in public place. People who consider themselves disciplined consider this action against public decency. The modernized China, especially the young generation, hate this act of these old women dancing on the side of the road. However, as the part of the culture, young people should listen and respect their elders. We want to dance and we can! This is what I heard the last time I had a conversation with one of the ladies dancing. There are usually around 20-50 women gathered together from place to place and season to season. Their number might reach 100-200 people if it is a busy place. These groups are led in front by the main dancer followed by the other dance leaders and also common women from the neighborhood. They start gathering after their dinnertime. After an hour or so, women will start to get together and socialize with each other. Then the leader will arrive. She will bring a wireless speaker and DVDs to play for her fellow dancers. They will select a few good songs and then begin the dance. This is when the fun begins and sometimes it lasts a few hours. The leader usually has some specific dance steps for each song for everyone to follow. If you are new to the dancing scene, do not worry! If you are unable to do the steps it’s not a problem. The main purpose, besides having fun, is to move your body. A lot of the women who join in each night for dancing use it as a form of exercise. The movement, especially after eating a big dinner, can help them to metabolize their food and keep them active and healthier at the same time. Joining these groups for an evening dance can also benefit their mental health. People concentrate on the dance so much that they forget about everything in the world. By the time they realize it, several hours have passed and it is time to go home. As a result of this heavy workout, they often feel quite tired. When they get home they are sure to sleep soon and get a good night of sleep feeling well rested when they wake in the morning. Although these old ladies enjoy dancing in public so much, the young generation has a totally differently perspective. They look down on these dancers. Some of the most common reasons are： talking at a high pitch, blocking the walkways and public property while dancing, high pitch music at public places and causing inconvenience to rest of the population. Yes, these women talk at a high pitch. It is in their habit and their wish. They don’t care if they make other people uncomfortable before starting their dance. It is common to see them dancing for no reason. When they start dancing the music gets louder as a number of dancers increases. This often causes disturbances to other people. Especially when they dance in apartment complexes on loud music, complaints are often made. "But the raucous music and large groups have become a nuisance for many Chinese residents who live near popular sites. Some are so annoyed that they've reportedly dumped poop on the dancing grannies" (Sophia Yan). These complaints make them move to a new place or make them turn the volume down which is something they normally don’t like. At places near shopping malls, the crowd is more so there are more dancers. They are seen encroaching big areas near newly opened malls and entertainment centers. They block walkways, making people take different routes that are normally longer than the shortest possible. At some places, people are seen walking through them cutting their groups because there is no other way to go. A lot of times security guards are seen requesting them to move to a new place. They target newly opened areas, they target those places because it is easy and the crowd is comparatively less than the rest of the places. Besides all this, sometimes there are two to three different groups dancing and competing with each. This is when the worst starts. The urge to “dance in the square” starts the battle between these groups. These dancers compete with each other not in the form of who is better but whose group has more people and whose song is louder. They attract common people to participate by wearing shiny glittering clothes, and loud music. The main leader usually performs the certain steps that are very hard for the newcomers. This gets the attention of people passing by and makes them join one of those groups. People have witnessed them dancing to songs that are not from China. All that matters is that their song has beats; lyrics do not matter to them. Recently it has been noted that they have started to pick more international songs instead of Chinese songs. This draws the attention of foreigners too. Sometimes you may even find foreigners joining in on the fun. It is definitely a good time to snap a picture for your WeChat! Baba Wu is one of the few things that are not liked by many foreigners in China. The reasons are same. They include inconvenience to people, loud speakers, occupying walkways, etc. Foreigners find it disturbing. Of course everyone has his or her own opinions. Some foreigners say they are fine with it as long as the music is not too loud, whereas some said they find it entertaining. To some people, it might be a place for cultural exchange; however, the businessmen find opportunity with the popularity of dancing in square. They invest in the dancing companies and send these dancers to join these dancing grannies. When these special dancers become friends of dancing grannies, and they begin to make these old ladies buy their products, such as food, living goods, medicine and health products, and so on. While these businessmen earn a lot of money, some others have been arrested and pressed charges for misusing these dancing groups. People have bet on these dancers. Some examples include when two leaders in Anhui province were sentenced to 10 years in the prison in April 2014 for defrauding 640,000 yuan ($103,000) from four dancing companions. In September, another man was charged with similar crimes worth 320,000 yuan ($51,600). The man charged, named Kuai, said, "People should not deny the positive effect it brings to (their) lives" (Hunwick). Although a lot of people see this as a negative thing in society, a lot of people consider it good. Upon asking one of the dancers, she told me a brief description of her reasons for dancing. She expressed, “dancing is the best exercise, it refreshes your mind. It enhances the cardio- vascular circulation, frees body movement, allow a greater angle of rotation and revolution of joints. It makes the ligaments strong. As the age increases, the daily workload on old aged people decreases, limiting their body movements. The less we move our body the more stiff it gets.” Most of what she told me is scientifically true. Dancing increases the elasticity of the muscles and in return does not cause fatigue at an early age. She also expressed that most of them join these dance groups so they can stay healthy. These dance groups gives women the chance to socialize. We can conclude that women in China have figured out their way to keep their body healthy. A big part of the population might not like it, but they do not care. This new way of keeping them healthy and enjoying their evenings, cannot be neglected. Nowadays these women have started taking their husband to these places. This is something new because Chinese men often do not like to dance. Dancing in public can be a little awkward for many men. Ladies should watch out for more of the men in their lives joining them for an evening dance. You never know, dancing together under the moonlight with these Baba Wu might be the next big romantic craze that is sure to make every woman smile!

Works Cited Yan, Sophia Yan. "China tries to rein in dancing grannies" CNNMoney (Hong Kong), 25 March. 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015. Hunwick, GlobalPost. "Old Chinese Women Won't Stop Dancing in Streets." USA Today. Gannett, 9 Apr. 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.