Chinese traditions will take center stage as song and dance is used to showcase the daily lives of Chinese laborers on Saturday.

Tarim, Uygur Song and Dance Ensemble from China, will be performing music unique to its culture at 7:30 p.m. in the Theatre in the Doudna Fine Arts Center on Saturday. Admission to the performance is $10.

Dan Crews, the director of patron services of the Doudna Fine Arts Center, said the group is from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China and will be playing song that are traditional to that region. 

Crews said this is the first time Tarim has ever been to the United States. 

 “This group, they are probably some of the finest musicians that play Uygur music, which is just a very ancient form of music,” Crews said. 

Though the group has become well known throughout China, Crews said the members, as Uygurs, are an ethnic minority with some being located in farther Chinese providences. 

 “In fact, they are really closer to Russia and Mongolia than they are to Shanghai or Bejing,” Crews said. 

Tarim includes 18 members and has performed at many government events in China, Maynur Zbrayim, a member of the Tarim, said the group’s music is about everyday occurrences.

“Our songs, dance and music are about laboring people, about our harvest and our happy lives,” Zbrayim said.

Zbrayim said she thinks younger generations will like the performance more. 

“The students like our performance more,” Zbrayim said. “They know our art more, because maybe they learned about some of our history (and) our art.”

Crews said the group does some interesting dances.

“They had two performers do what is called a cup dance, they had like five cups on their head,” Crews said. “When they were done dancing, they pour water out of the cups, you had no clue there was water in there. They hold their heads so level and straight, it is a neat experience.”

Tarim is a part of the Arts Midwest World Fest, which is an organization that brings four international groups to the United States over the period of two years.

The groups visit nine locations for a week each and give workshops at local schools and organizations. 

“Our performances are different, for the very young students we have simple performance, because they are to young to understand our performance,” Zbrayim said. “For older people, we have a more difficult performance that is not so easy.”

 Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.