Dan (Chinese opera)
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Dan(旦) is the general name for the female roles in Chinese opera. There are a few different kinds of 'Dan's in Chinese opera. The commonly seen ones are 'Gui Men Dan', 'Hua Dan', 'Dao Ma Dan', 'Wu Dan', 'Lao Dan' and 'Cai Dan'. Each different kind of 'Dan' has their own unique characteristic.
- Gui Men Dan(闺门旦)- These are roles of virtuous ladies. They are also known as Qing Yi (青衣）or（正旦）。 Qing Yi means 'Green robes' in Chinese and this kind of dan used to wear black robes in performances. Black used to use the name of green in the past. Qing Yi are normally matured and sometimes married ladies. They maybe poor or rich, young or middle age but they have to be matured ladies to fall under this category. Qing Yi focus more on singing and they have little movements. They sing in this very high pitch and piercing voice which many people who do not understand opera cannot stand. Hence, the opera schools in china have difficulties recruiting students for this kind of roles as the student must have a good voice, good looks and must be tall enough. The most famous Qing yi of the last century was Mei Lan Fang.
- Hua Dan (花旦)- These are the cute, lively and young female characters. They normally wear short blouses with pants or skirts. Unlike the Gui Men Dan, Hua Dan focus more on movements and speech. They must be able to speak fast and clear. They also need to project a cute and innocent image as Hua Dan always represent girls of around 12-16 years old. Often, a Gui Men Dan is accompanied by a Hua Dan maid.
- Dao Ma Dan (刀马旦)- These are young female warrior. Dao Ma Dan are named like this because they normally perform horse riding together with a spear. This category seems similar to Wu Dan (武旦) but there is actually a difference. Dao Ma Dan do not do as much fighting as Wu dan. They will do more stunts and dancing with the spear or whatever weapons they have. Dao Ma Dan needs to sing a lot too and they have to sing while dancing or doing stunts which requires a good stamina. Dao Ma Dan usually put on the female warrior costume with the flags behind.
- Wu dan 武旦 - Wu Dan specialises in fighting with all kinds of weapons and they must really fight with their opponents besides just doing stunts. In the past, the Wu dans need to cai qiao 踩跷 and the Dao Ma Dans do not do this. Cai Qiao is a very difficult kind of skill. It requires the actress to stand on tip toe through out the whole show. The actress will put on something similar to high heels shoes but the heels of this special kind of shoe is so high that you are practically standing on tip toe. The fake small shoes are then attached to the bottom so that you will look like you have very little feet. It is an imitation of the feet binding practice in the olden days. Wu dans have to master a lot of acrobatic movements. They specialise only in the fighting hence they seldom sing or speak.
- Lao Dan 老旦 - Lao Dan are obviously those elder women. They have their own set of movements and gestures and singing styles, different from Qing Yi. Qing Yi sings in high pitched and piercing voice while Lao Dan sings in a lower pitched voice. Lao Dan's costumes are also less vibrant compared to the other female roles and they have much simpler hair styles.
- Cai Dan 彩旦 - These are the clownish female roles. They don't act like normal Dan and they do clownish gestures. Their movements are more towards normal daily movements and they speak like our normal daily lives.
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