Tang Mancheng

Tang Mancheng was a classical dance educator who taught for decades at the Beijing Dance Academy, where he was a senior professor of Chinese classical dance, chair of the academic committee and a master's supervisor. In 1980 he and Li Zhengyi created the shenyun course, distilling bodily rhythm and expression from opera and martial-arts movement; his essay on the form, spirit, force and rhythm of shenyun set out its principles, and the shenyun textbook won a national teaching award. He choreographed the dance drama Princess Wencheng and dances such as Snowstorm at the Mountain God Temple, Shuipo Fengchen and Qingyuan, and his writings are collected in the Tang Mancheng Dance Anthology.