Ruby Macdougall- Ethnic Yi Dance in Modern China

Ruby Macdougall is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan. She specializes in the study of Chinese dance. Macdougall provides background to the history of, and features traditionally associated with, the dance traditions of the Yi ethnic minority, a population with roots in China's Yunnan province. Furthermore, she demonstrates that, during the Republican era in Chinese history, altercations manifested between Yi dance performers and the Nationalist government because the Nationalists perceived many Yi dancers as having communist loyalties. Macdougall also describes recent transformations in the music and dance styles of the Yi, citing the adoption of hip-hop into Yi dance as one significant change.