Nobody would expect an American audience to understand a dance performance that tries to interpret one of China's most revered, classic and complicated works of literature. They might, however, have been amazed at the enthusiastic response of the crowd at the Rose Theater at New York City's Lincoln Center on February 8, following the performance of Dream of the Red Chamber. One day after the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, the American audience gave the 90-minute performance of the classic Chinese romance a standing ovation, with endless shouts of "Wonderful!" and "Bravo!" reverberating around the theater.

Through the language of dance-a fusion here of traditional Chinese dance, modern dance and Western-style ballet- and set to a score by the Academy Award-winning composer Su Cong, the grand performance told a complex story from A Dream of the Red Mansions, one of the four most revered works of classic Chinese literature, along with Journey to the West, Outlaws of the Marsh and The Romance of Three Kingdoms.

Written in the 18th century, A Dream of the Red Mansions depicts a feudal family saga that involves more than 400 characters and a wide range of social customs of the time. At the heart of the book is a Romeo and Juliet story among three main characters: Baoyu, Daiyu and Baochai, who are children of the large noble family.

The entire story of A Dream of the Red Mansions is not a simple one that could be easily followed even for native Chinese, said Zhao Ming, Director and Choreographer of the New York performance. Zhao is China's first-class award-winning choreographer, having graduated from the Chinese Ethnic Dance Department of Beijing Dance Academy and participated in American Dance Festival learning modern dance in 1986.

Zhao said his aim was to interpret the main part of the novel, the love tragedy, in the form of dance, which he said is a universal language that can be understood by people all over the world.

"There is nothing more universal than dance," said audience member Mollic Kirk, an undergraduate student from Boston. Kirk said that for her, the story itself was not as important, when compared with other elements of the performance like the stage settings, lighting, costumes and dances. "Everything is high quality, elaborate and beautiful," Kirk said.

Anthony Thomas, a staff worker at the Rose Theater, said he was glad to have his first opportunity to see a Chinese show such as Dream of the Red Chamber. Thomas said he could understand some parts of the story from the dance and was eager to read the book after watching the performance, because "it's so wonderful!"

East meets west

Dream of the Red Chamber was presented by Shanghai City Dance Ltd., Shanghai International Cultural and Communication Association and the Eastern Shanghai International Cultural Film and Television Group in association with New York-based Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment, LLC.

Performed by the Beijing Friendship Dance Co., the performance was shown for two nights in New York City on February 8-9, after touring Toronto on February 5, in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year which fell on February 7.

The dance drama was not presented for commercial purposes, organizers said. The tickets were distributed via special invitations. According to Li Zhixiang, Art Director of the Eastern Shanghai International Cultural Film and Television Group, the tour of the dance drama in Toronto and New York is part of China's efforts to introduce its culture to the outside world. The group is a company engaged in the communication and exchanges of cultural activities between China and the rest of the world,

Li told Beijing Review that many aspects of foreign culture and art have been introduced to Chinese audiences while fewer Chinese performances have entered foreign markets. The current ratio of imported foreign cultural shows and products brought to China and those exported by China is about 9:1, he said.

Li said his company has introduced more than 20 performances to China from foreign countries over the past couple of years and now it is time for them to make greater efforts in promoting Chinese culture. Presenting the dance drama of A Dream of Red Mansions is an attempt to test the waters in North America market, Li said.

Li said that the ultimate goal for the introduction of Chinese culture to foreign audiences would be relying on market forces, instead of government funding.

"Relying on the market means we have to find local partners that we are familiar with, who can pay for the costs of performance and promotion," Li said.

Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment (NWE) is one of the "mature" local partners that Li mentioned. NWE is not a new name in China. It established Nederlander New Century in China last year, the first Sino-foreign joint venture approved by China's Ministry of Culture to participate in theatrical presentation and theater management.

After presenting 42nd Street as the first Broadway show to tour China, NWE is now helping bring Dream of the Red Chamber to New York. The company did a lot in promoting the dance, including distributing the tickets and inviting local performance companies to the show.

"My biggest concern was that the Western audience would be confused because this is based on classic Chinese literature, and they may not be familiar with the story. But I think it was very well done and the audience can follow the story," said Bob Nederlander Jr., President and CEO of NWE.

Nederlander told Beijing Review that he received a great deal of positive feedback from Western audiences who attended the show and the comments all followed the same theme: "I didn't know it would be something that I would enjoy, but I found it very enjoyable."

From those comments and his own experience, Nederlander said a Chinese show like this will appeal to a certain type of audience if marketed in the United States, though perhaps it would not attract as large a crowd as a Broadway show.

"I do know that there is a great deal of interest in China here in the United States. I think the right productions from China will be received with wide enthusiasm," said Nederlander, adding that "the right production" referred to the hybrid of Chinese production with the characteristics and elements of a Western performance.

This was exactly the idea shared by Director Zhao Ming, who purposely incorporated "Western elements" like ballet and modern dance into Dream of the Red Chamber. "We were thinking of entering the Western market at the very beginning, so we needed to include some Western elements to make the show closer to Western audiences," Zhao said, adding, "A different culture will not be easily accepted if audiences cannot relate to it."

(Reporting from New York)