Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts
Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, or LAFA, is an art school in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China. It was founded in April 1938 in the Yan'an Soviet as the Lu Xun Academy of Arts as a training center for Communist artists.
History
The school was founded in April 1938 as Lu Xun Academy of Arts by Chinese Communist Party leaders, including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, in the town of Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, as a training center for Communist artists. On 2 August 1939, Luyi moved into the Qiao'ergou Catholic Church, where it became a cultural center for Yan'an.The school had a significant role in the Yangge Movement. The movement adapted the traditional dance genre of yangge to incorporate socialist themes.
Artists of the academy adapted folklore into the opera of The ''White-Haired Girl. The opera was first performed in April 1945 in Yan'an as a tribute to the Seventh National Congress of the CCP. It was one of the first large scale theatrical productions created in Yan'an.
The school moved to Shenyang in 1945, spun off its music department in 1953, and was renamed Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in 1958.
The composers of the original Lu Xun Academy in Yan'an and Shenyang include Ma Ke (composer) who composed the opera The White-Haired Girl, Chen Zi composer of the 1954 Liu Hulan (opera)'' and others.