THE INFLUENCE AND DYNAMISM OF WESTERN DANCE IN GUANGXI, CHINA: YOUTH ENGAGEMENT AND SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACT

ABSTRACT This study examines the influence and dynamism of Western dance in Guangxi, China, focusing on its role among the new generation of dance students and its socio-cultural impact. The research aims to analyse the dissemination and adaptation of Western dance in Guangxi and explore its significance for young dancers in the region. Using a qualitative, multi-method approach, the study combines in-depth interviews with participants from three distinct groups selected through criterion-based sampling. The key informants included eight established dance professionals. Additionally, questionnaires, observations, and document analysis were conducted across three private dance schools in Nanning, Baise, and Jingxi from 2023 to 2025. Key findings reveal that the historical dissemination of Western dance in China reflects asymmetrical power dynamics and state-mediated cultural governance. Guangxi’s peripheral status fosters unique patterns of hybridization, blending Western techniques with Zhuang and Yao traditions. Dance education operates as a neoliberal project, promising social mobility while reinforcing ethnic and class hierarchies; and Urban dance scenes serve as sites of state-engineered cosmopolitanism, masking spatial inequalities. The study concludes that Western dance in Guangxi embodies a paradox of cultural globalization: it simultaneously empowers youth through global connections while disciplining them within nationalist and market-driven frameworks. Its novelty lies in challenging traditional core-periphery diffusion models by centring borderland perspectives and revealing how marginalized communities reinterpret dominant cultural forms.