This qualitative study examines how audiences perceive and respond to Chinese classical dance performances that challenge traditional gender norms. Although Chinese classical dance is often associated with cultural continuity, aesthetic discipline, and gendered movement conventions, contemporary performances increasingly present strong female characters, gender-neutral choreography, and modernised movement vocabularies. Limited research has explored how audiences interpret these changes. Drawing on open-ended audience response forms, semi-structured interviews, and reflections on six selected performances, this study identifies five major thematic patterns: generational differences in acceptance, responses to strong female characters, challenges in interpreting gender-neutral choreography, mixed reactions to innovative movement vocabularies, and rising interest in modernised classical dance. The findings show that younger audiences were generally more receptive to gender fluidity and choreographic innovation, while older audiences placed greater emphasis on classical recognisability, narrative clarity, and familiar gender codes. Strong female characters were more widely accepted than fully gender-neutral choreography because they provided clearer narrative and cultural meaning. The study contributes to Chinese dance studies, gender studies, and audience reception research by showing that gender meaning in dance is not produced by choreography alone, but is actively interpreted, negotiated, and sometimes resisted by spectators.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Thematic analysis: A practical guide. SAGE.
Burt, R. (2007). The male dancer: Bodies, spectacle, sexualities (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203960974
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE.
Cui, Z. (2024). Inventing the tradition: Hybrid gudianwu training and ambiguous Chineseness. Asian Theatre Journal, 41(2), 360–384. https://doi.org/10.1353/atj.2024.a936941
Dai, S., Xue, H., Giardina, M. D., & Newman, J. I. (2024). Hybrid choreographic femininities: DanceSport, physical culture, and performative corporeality in contemporary China. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 16(4), 368–386. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2024.2313205
Foster, S. L. (2010). Choreographing empathy: Kinesthesia in performance. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203840702
Hu, T., Guan, T., & Yang, Y. (2024). Connecting gender role attitudes among China’s youth to perceptions of the state: A bottom-up approach. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, Article 1082. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03579-0
Hu, Y., & Scott, J. (2016). Family and gender values in China: Generational, geographic, and gender differences. Journal of Family Issues, 37(9), 1267–1293. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X14528710
Ji, Y., Wu, X., Sun, S., & He, G. (2017). Unequal care, unequal work: Toward a more comprehensive understanding of gender inequality in post-reform urban China. Sex Roles, 77(11–12), 765–778. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0751-1
Jin, J., & Martin, R. (2019). Exploring the past to navigate the future: Examining histories of higher dance education in China in an internationalized context. Research in Dance Education, 20(2), 225–240. https://doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2019.1566304
Jola, C., Ehrenberg, S., & Reynolds, D. (2012). The experience of watching dance: Phenomenological-neuroscience duets. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 11(1), 17–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-010-9191-x
Kallio, H., Pietilä, A.-M., Johnson, M., & Kangasniemi, M. (2016). Systematic methodological review: Developing a framework for a qualitative semi-structured interview guide. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(12), 2954–2965. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13031
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. SAGE.
Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847
Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice (4th ed.). SAGE.
Pickard, A. (2018). Exploring embodiment through choreographic practice. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 1920. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01920
Qing, S. (2020). Gender role attitudes and male-female income differences in China. The Journal of Chinese Sociology, 7, Article 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40711-020-00123-w
Reason, M., Jola, C., Kay, R., Reynolds, D., Kauppi, J.-P., Grobras, M.-H., Tohka, J., & Pollick, F. E. (2016). Spectators’ aesthetic experience of sound and movement in dance performance: A transdisciplinary investigation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 10(1), 42–55. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0040032
Reason, M., & Reynolds, D. (2010). Kinesthesia, empathy, and related pleasures: An inquiry into audience experiences of watching dance. Dance Research Journal, 42(2), 49–75. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0149767700001030
Risner, D. (2007). Rehearsing masculinity: Challenging the “boy code” in dance education. Research in Dance Education, 8(2), 139–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/14647890701706107
Shu, X. (2004). Education and gender egalitarianism: The case of China. Sociology of Education, 77(4), 311–336. https://doi.org/10.1177/003804070407700403
Thomas, H. (Ed.). (1993). Dance, gender and culture. Macmillan.
Vukadinovi?, M. S., & Markovi?, S. (2012). Aesthetic experience of dance performances. Psihologija, 45(1), 23–41. https://doi.org/10.2298/PSI1201023V
Wilcox, E. E. (2018). Dynamic inheritance: Representative works and the authoring of tradition in Chinese dance. Journal of Folklore Research, 55(1), 77–111. https://doi.org/10.2979/jfolkrese.55.1.04
Wilcox, E. E. (2019). Revolutionary bodies: Chinese dance and the socialist legacy. University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.58
Yuan, Z. (2025). A call for advocacy and empathy: A study of gay men in Chinese dance. Journal of Dance Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15290824.2025.2522092
Zeng, X., & Liu, D. (2024). The role of feminist theory in interpreting female images in Chinese national dance drama. Espacio, Tiempo y Educación, 11(2), 286–310. https://doi.org/10.14516/ete.112014
Zhang, Y., & Liu, H. (2022). Individual’s gender ideology and happiness in China. Chinese Sociological Review, 54(3), 252–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/21620555.2021.1871727
Zuo, J. (2013). Women’s liberation and gender obligation equality in urban China: Work/family experiences of married individuals in the 1950s. Science & Society, 77(1), 98–125. https://doi.org/10.1521/siso.2013.77.1.98
Yan, X., & Hashim, N. S. H. N. (2026). Audience Reception of Gender-Challenging Chinese Classical Dance Performances. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 15(2), 2065–2082.
Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
