Behind the masks

Back downtown, Nie Xuequn and her troupe have been revving up to give traditional nuo dance performances, one after another throughout the festival.

They came up with an innovation this year and rehearsed for a month.

Audiences applaud as she bites down on a mask and takes a breath through her nose.

The mask is made of paper, hand-painted with colorful patterns. It's smaller and less fearsome than the wooden ones her ancestors wore. A small stick inside lets her hold it in her mouth while dancing, freeing her hands for movement.

"It makes my mouth sore, and breathing is harder too," she admits, adding that old masks had nose and mouth holes and the new ones only have eye openings.

Nie is an inheritor of nuo dance, a ritual performance that dates back more than 1,000 years in rural China. Originally, it was a form of exorcism, featuring masked dancers who jumped and shouted to drive away evil spirits and pray for good harvests.

"People relied on this method back when medicine and science weren't developed," Nie explains.

"They'd dance to ward off sickness, to ask for peace and prosperity."

Today, they have made adjustments to meet modern preferences.

"The masks can't be too fierce, so we made them cuter, more acceptable to contemporary audiences," she says.

They also ditched the heavy wooden masks and props to free their limbs for jumps, spins, and dramatic head turns in line with the newly added dynamic music.

Her troupe of 18 dancers, the oldest 50 and the youngest just 18, has performed at Shaowu's high-profile events, including those attended by city leaders and retired officials.

"Audiences have given us great feedback and actively responded to our invitation to try the nuo dance on stage," Nie observes.

"Anyone can do it. It came from farmers and villagers. It's for everyone."