Lifestyle |
Times Not Forgotten | ||
The National Ballet of China wows audiences at the Lincoln Center Festival | ||
|
||
The National Ballet of China (NBC) brought two classic works to Koch Theater in New York City as part of this year's Lincoln Center Festival--a 2008 adaptation ofPeony Pavilion "The NBC is bringing to us two distinctive and very different ballets this season. Both ballets tell us something about the long history of China at very different times in its history," said Lincoln Center Festival Director Nigel Redden, adding that while Artistic Director Feng Ying of the NBC said that it brought great pleasure to stage these two Chinese classics on the world stage of the Lincoln Center. The troupe, founded in 1959, encompasses more than 80 dancers, 70 orchestra musicians, 30 stage technicians and designers, and 40 support staff--most of whom made the trip to New York City. "We are very glad and honored to bring more than 180 staff members to the festival," Feng said. "The Lincoln Center is where all of the most excellent ballet companies in the world are longing to present, so we are also very happy to present our two different ballets in this city." Feng also thanked China's Ministry of Culture and the China National Arts Fund for making it possible to bring such a large troupe to the Lincoln Center Festival. "I saw the company in Beijing, and one of the things I felt was quite wonderful about the contrast between the two Chinese ballets was This contrast fits into the themes of this year's Lincoln Center Festival as a whole, Redden added, and New York audiences appreciate unique and different performances. Both of these ballets deliver. "One of the things I love is the idea of connections between disparate things at the festival," Redden said. "This year, we are doing the four history plays of Shakespeare and they end in a glorious battle. Revisiting Peony The star-crossed lovers of "It's very different with the classic ballet I have watched before," audience member Mindy Fisher told As befitting the romantic storyline of Liu, for his part, seems preoccupied with his lover's delicate shoes and feet--a connection both to the aesthetics of modern ballet as well as the symbol of feminine beauty from ancient China. At several points the ballet slippers of Du, played by prima ballerina Zhu Yan, become fetishized props, and the delicate bare feet of the dancer become objects of desire. The unspoken and unfulfilled longing of the lovers is beautifully expressed in the worship of the empty slipper--much as it might have been in a Ming Dynasty painting. The staging is bathed in soft, muted lighting with gigantic, soft peonies gently strewn about as if they had fallen from a storybook sky. The dancers float about as if in a painting, while a golden throne centers the focus. Adding to this blending of modern ballet with ancient Chinese aesthetics is the score arranged by Chinese composer Guo Wenjing. Guo blends the traditionalkunqu While many troupes from overseas have used recordings as their musical score, unable to afford the massive costs of transporting a full orchestra halfway around the world, the NBC has spared no expense in transporting its 76 orchestra musicians along with the cast to New York City. The decision was a wise one. Pre-recorded music would not have had the same impact. "It's like eating Chinese food," said Feng at a press briefing prior to the performance. "You have to have the original recipes." Other troupes featured at the Lincoln Center Festival have taken a hybrid approach to staging their performances. London's Royal Ballet performed last month with the in-house orchestra of New York City Ballet. The unique scoring of traditional Chinese instruments with Western classical selections made it necessary to transport the entire company from Beijing, however. "We wanted to have the company come in its full glory," said Redden. "To have the company orchestra do it made much more sense than to try to rehearse an orchestra here." Red Detachment rebirth While Like no other performance, Choreographed by Li Chengxiang, Jiang Zuhui and Wang Xixian, Since its debut 50 years ago, Western tourists to Beijing eagerly snap up Maoist memorabilia--alarm clocks and watches, copies of the Little Red Book, posters and calendars emblazoned with bright revolutionary depictions of idealized life in New China--and this same spirit seems to carry over into the popularity of "I liked the show. It's historical, and combines ballet and revolutionary themes together with great music," said audience member Kristin Garot. "It was bright, colorful and very impressive." Audience member Peter Tan called the show "creative." "It not only tells the story of the women's detachment but also artistically portrays the emotions of the characters very vividly. Although I don't quite understand the beginning, the story explains itself quite well as the ballet advances," Tan said. "The revolutionary spirit of the Chinese people is apparent in the plot of the ballet. The ballet was short, but it is such a classic." (Shen Anqi contributed to this story) The author is a contributing writer to Copyedited by Kylee McIntyre Comments to |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|