chinese dancers

i have been keeping something from you. but first... it's always wonderful to be discovered by someone with a blog that makes you, well, swoon. post after post in this woman's blog, poetic oneirism, somehow make you want to use the word utterly. then, when i came across this post, with this photo, i gasped.

for what i have been keeping from you is one of my favorite artists, elyse ashe lord. sure, her images feature all of the elements of japonisme, but, almost idiosyncratically, the people she features are chinese! sort of. from what i know, she never actually went to the orient, but there is something about her somewhat fantastical versions that delight me. and thus, when i saw that photo i thought immediately of this series of lord's.

ON THE COLD FOOD FESTIVAL,
ENTERTAINING AT THE SOUTHERN ESTATE:
the Guests Were Li Chiu-ho, Ma Nan-yeh, Wei Tung-kao, Li Hu-ch'uan, Huang K'ung-ts'un, Li Lung-t'ang, and Hu Hu-shan

Singing, dancing—handsome actors entertain;
guests have been invited to the courtyard.
The singers' mats hold the setting sun;
the dancers' sleeves flap in the east wind.

Lakeside willows—this smoky mist is hard to prohibit!
Flowering peach—a fire burning red by itself!
Village women come to ride the swing;
when they're done kicking, their hair is a mess!

Li K'ai-hsien. Translated by Jonathan Chaves

ting jen's post on dancing is so full, that i needn't come up with much
on my own.

QUIET SITTING

As I get older,
I like quiet sitting:
too many worries harm your soul.
My poems are not achieved by slaving at each word;
of all the emotions, serenity is best!

The perfumed steps are covered with flowers;
in blossoming trees: frequent songs of birds.
When the feeling comes, I dance and sing,
completely forgetting my head of white hair.

Wang Chiu-ssu. Translated by Jonathan Chaves.

ah yes.