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CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Thursday, September 26, 2019 | 19 LIFE Left: Qiu Yunting (left) and Wu Sicong, dancers with the National Ballet of China, dancing the wedding pas de deux from Don Quixote. Right: Dancers with the ballet company perform Diamond, a chapter from Russian choreographer George Balanchine’s classic three­act ballet, Jewels. PHOTOS BY JIANG DONG / CHINA DAILY 60 dancing years The National Ballet of China will celebrate its legacy with a series of productions, Chen Nan reports. he National Ballet of Chi­ along with choreographer Li na, a leading dance compa­ Chengxiang and composer Wu ny, will mark 60 years of its Zuqiang, as well as ballet dancers establishment this year When you look at the of the company, spent months in Twith celebrations of the legacy of Hainan province to better under­ company’s history, the country’s first ballet troupe. stand and portray the soldiers. Red Highlights include 13 perform­ you see the Detachment of Women remains one ances of the company’s classic bal­ contribution made by of the most popular ballet pieces of let productions, both adaptations the company and has been staged of Western ballets and original Chi­ different generations around the world more than 4,000 nese pieces, including Swan Lake, of artists. We keep times. Giselle, Red Detachment of Women “When you look at the company’s and Raise the Red Lantern, as well and pass on the history, you see the contribution as concerts by the company’s sym­ tradition.” made by different generations of phony orchestra — all set to be artists. We keep and pass on the staged from Nov 25 to Dec 30 in Feng Ying, president, National tradition,” says Feng, who first Beijing. Ballet of China played the role of Wu Qionghua in “The birth and growth of the 1992. National Ballet of China has been While keeping the tradition of connected with the development of helped to establish a regime based adapting classic Western ballet pie­ the country. The company has on the Bolshoi Academy in Mos­ ces, the company has been creating endured many challenges in its his­ cow. Her fellow dancer and chore­ original Chinese works, too. tory and is a successful, confident ographer Pyotr Gusev was the In 2001, the company premiered and innovative company today,” school’s artistic director from 1957 the Chinese ballet piece, Raise the says Feng Ying, a former ballerina to 1960. In 1958, the school success­ Red Lantern, which is adapted from and current president of the fully performed Swan Lake, featur­ filmmaker Zhang Yimou’s popular National Ballet of China. ing Bai Shuxiang as the white 1991 movie with the same title. The As the country’s first institute of swan. ballet, also directed by Zhang, com­ dance, the Beijing Dance School In the following year, the school Teachers and students from the dance school affiliated with the National Ballet of China pose for a bined Western ballet with Chinese (now the Beijing Dance Academy) formed the first Chinese ballet group photo at a news conference for the 60th anniversary of the company on Sept 19 in Beijing. folk dance and Peking Opera, opened on Sept 6, 1954. troupe with Bai alongside 21 other which proved to be a commercial Dai Ailian, or Ailien Tai, then 38, dancers and an 18­member orches­ success. an overseas Chinese ballerina, was tra. It soon became the Central Bal­ the Beijing Dance Academy in 1954. ballet in China is short compared China in 1972. Since 2010, the company has appointed as the first president of let of China, which is now known as “For the Chinese audience, Swan to the history of ballet in the West. Based on a film with the same been holding workshops every year, the institute. Dai was born in a Chi­ the National Ballet of China. Lake represents Russian ballet.” “But the key to Chinese ballet’s name, it tells the story of a rural aiming to inspire and nurture Chi­ nese family in Trinidad and learned “It was incredible that we Chi­ Bai recalls that after she per­ growing popularity is telling home­ girl, Wu Qionghua, who escapes a na’s young dancers and choreogra­ ballet in London. She returned to nese dancers could perform Swan formed Swan Lake, Gusev told her, grown stories,” she says. life of slavery and joins an all­fe­ phers. China in 1940. She became the first Lake in such a short time. Every­ “You are an artist now.” In 1964, China’s first original bal­ male Communist Party army bat­ Last year, a dance school affiliated president of the National Ballet of thing was fresh, such as the cos­ From 1959 to 1961, under the let production, Red Detachment of talion led by commander Hong with the company was founded to China. tumes, lighting and the stage instruction of Russian experts, the Women, premiered in Beijing. It is Changqing on Hainan island dur­ support more talented children. Before the Beijing Dance School design,” says Bai, 80, who was born National Ballet of China staged Le best known in the West as the ballet ing the civil war in the early 1930s. formally opened, then­Soviet balle­ in Xinbin county, Liaoning prov­ Corsaire and Giselle. performed for former US president Bai played the role of Wu in the Contact the writer at rina Elena Oleg Alexandrovna ince, and was selected to study at According to Bai, the history of Richard Nixon during his visit to original ballet production and she, [email protected] Merchant visits Shanghai’s Great Theatre By ZHANG KUN in Shanghai will play the role of Antonio, is a Chi­ Thacker says the newly refurbished [email protected] nese singer and musical actor of the space reminds him of venues in the Mongolian ethnic group. He West End, making him feel at home. The upcoming Chinese produc­ achieved national fame through the With the help of interpreters he tion of The Merchant of Venice has talent show Super­Vocal, which has happily worked with the cast in brought together a star­studded cast aired on Hunan TV. “I am the new Shanghai, all of whom are in the and a Laurence Olivier Award win­ boy of the theater stage,” says the same age range as his four children. ning theater director from Britain. 30­year­old. “It almost seemed At a press conference on Aug 29 The play directed by David impossible that one day I would be announcing the show, he said that, Thacker, featuring actors Jin Shijia, performing in a Shakespeare play during rehearsals, he would some­ Yu Ailei and Ayanga, will premiere like The Merchant of Venice. This is a times imagine Shakespeare himself on Oct 4 at the Great Theatre of Chi­ great opportunity for me to improve entering the room and would pon­ na in Shanghai. my stagecraft, especially with Mr der the question, “How would he The show will play to a packed Thacker being our director.” want to do it?” house from Oct 4­7, after tickets to Jin Shijia and Yu Ailei, two veter­ “He would want a production for From left: Actors Jin Shijia, Yu Ailei and Ayanga attend a news all four performances sold out with­ How would he an actors of both screen and stage, audiences today, the Chinese people event to promote their upcoming play Merchant of Venice to be in minutes when the box office will play the roles of Antonio and in Shanghai, not for people 400 staged in Shanghai from Oct 4­7. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY opened on Aug 30. “I was trying to (Shakespeare) want Shylock, respectively. years ago,” he says. “He would want buy some tickets myself, but all of to do it? He would Thacker, 69, who has helmed sev­ the play to be exciting and stimulat­ them were gone even before the en productions that have played in ing for the audience now.” Arts in Beijing, Twelfth Night by the new Merchant will be “refreshing webpage was loaded,” says a staff want the play to be London’s West End, praised the The Merchant of Venice will be the Guangzhou Dramatic Arts Center, and authentic”, according to Huang member at the Great Theatre of Chi­ exciting and actors for their dedication and pro­ sixth production of the Royal Shake­ and Hamlet by the Li Liuyi Theatre Changyong, director of the acade­ na who asked to remain anony­ fessional skill, as well as their self­ speare Company’s Shakespeare Studio in Beijing. All three plays my. “Shakespeare’s plays are pre­ mous. In order to meet the strong stimulating for the lessness. “They were ready to share Folio Translation Project in Chinese. were premiered last year. sented every year as graduation demand, the theater management audience now.” their skills and observations with The project, which seeks to make The new production of Merchant projects at our academy. In the past was even considering selling some less experienced actors in the cast,” the Bard’s works more accessible to will be the closing program of a couple of years we have made some seats with partially obstructed David Thacker, he says, adding that they are a “great Chinese speakers, kicked off in 2015. showcase of international theater very good interpretations of Shake­ views of the stage, she says. theater director from Britain tribute to actors all over China.” Among the five productions art at the Great China Theatre speare’s plays, and we really believe One of the main attractions of the Standing on the stage of the staged so far are The Tempest by the which started in June.

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