Grand music, dance, poetry and painting spectacle Lift Your Veil—Xinjiang is a Good Place premieres in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on October 6, 2023 (XINHUA) 

On a summer night in 2024, inside the Dubai Opera in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, a troupe of dancers clad in Atlas silk gowns spun barefoot, the pomegranate blossoms and geometric patterns on their skirts flickering like flames under the spotlight. The stage backdrop featured a colossal electronic sand curtain, its granules cascading rhythmically with drumbeats, as if the winds from Xinjiang’s Taklamakan Desert had journeyed thousands of miles to this moment. When the final note of the rawap’s strings faded, the entire audience rose in thunderous applause. One spectator gasped: “Is this Xinjiang? I must go see it!”  

In the shadows behind the curtain, director Jiasuer Tuerxun gripped his walkie-talkie with trembling hands. This man from Ili, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, was propelling his homeland’s kaleidoscopic charm onto the global stage through the musical extravaganza Lift Your Veil--Xinjiang is a Good Place. 

Director Jiasuer Tuerxun (COURTESY PHOTO) 

Esperanto beneath grapevines 

“It’s not just the meticulous choreography, but every detail of stage design that declares Xinjiang is a land of wonders,” Jiasuer told Xinjiang Today, speaking of the performance in Dubai Opera.

Back in Xinjiang, late into the night at the Xinjiang Art Theater’s rehearsal hall, the melodies of the Twelve Muqam (a grand synthesis of song, dance and music central to Uygur culture) flowed like liquid silk. Jiasuer stood in the dimness, his gaze piercing through drifting swathes of Atlas silk, as if beholding the bonfires of his youth in the Ili Valley three decades prior--where his teenage self now merged with the undulating rhythm of a traditional Xinjiang instrumental ensemble.

Jiasuer is the deputy director of Xinjiang Art Theater’s song and dance troupe and the production’s executive director. During his student years in Beijing, while endlessly repeating modern choreography techniques in practice rooms until dawn, he held fast to one conviction: The soul of Xinjiang dance resides not merely in footwork, but in the culture that breathes life into it. Structured in three acts--Dance from the Tianshan, Songs Along the New Silk Road and Symphony of Kunlun--the production unveils Xinjiang’s cultural tapestry through dance, vocal performances, epic recitations and displays of intangible heritage.

This theatrical odyssey unfolds like an unfurling scroll on stage: The Kazakh Kara Jorga (a quintessential folk dance) sweeps across the imagined shores of Sayram Lake; Mongolian performers channel the primal energy of Sawurden (a traditional dance from Xinjiang’s Hejing County, recognized as national intangible heritage) to the mournful cry of horsehead fiddles; the Hui folk ballad Why Are the Flowers So Red (a Xinjiang-flavored love theme from the 1963 film Visitors on the Icy Mountain) collides with electronic soundscapes in surreal harmony. The crown jewel remains the Twelve Muqam suite—this UNESCO-listed Uygur classic was resurrected through veteran musician Abdulla’s satar strings.

“Tradition isn’t a museum relic—it must pulse through contemporary movement,” Jiasuer asserted.

This philosophy has been expressed in the dances Jiasuer directed. In the classic Grape-Picking Dance, when dancers portrayed fieldworkers harvesting grapes under Turpan’s blistering sun with their body movements at the 2024 performance in Dubai Opera, the audiences collectively held their breath--this earth-rooted narrative, distilled through modern choreographic language, became a cross-cultural epiphany beyond words.

“We never anticipated such a minimalist duet becoming the showstopper,” Jiasuer told Xinjiang Today. To Jiasuer, artistic truth springs from life experience: “Without the happiness of Xinjiang’s people, how could such dances exist?”

Grand music, dance, poetry and painting spectacle Lift Your Veil—Xinjiang is a Good Place premieres in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on October 6, 2023 (XINHUA) 

Reimagining tradition 

At the Dubai Opera, dance formed the production’s backbone. Alongside the Kuche Dance channeling the spiritual legacy of Kizil Grottoes (Buddhism’s gateway into China and a Silk Road linchpin), highlights included Sunshine Over Mekit (golden laureate at China’s 13th Lotus Awards for ethnic dance), the Jula, a classic excerpt from the Twelve Muqam, and the timeless Grape-Picking Dance.

The choreographic feast left audiences spellbound. “This demands absolute precision--every gesture, facial nuance, even breath, must be calibrated,” Jiasuer emphasized. “With 70 performers, we balance group synchronicity with soloists’ individuality--that delicate equilibrium between unity and personal expression is paramount,” he said.

The whole production avoided pre-recorded tracks. Live orchestral accompaniment throughout--supporting dance, vocals, drama and epic chants--achieved unprecedented artistic complexity. “Our orchestra faced Herculean challenges,” Jiasuer explained. “Aligning dancers’ rhythms with vocalists’ phrasing, while maintaining internal musical cohesion--this demanded endless rehearsals, a relentless honing of collective intuition.”

The production’s alchemy also resides in its fusion of elements. “With nearly 300 lighting units, we infused avant-garde aesthetics into each act--reimagining angles, color palettes and projections. We extended the stage into infinite space through dynamic lighting, immersing viewers in shifting landscapes.”

Here, Kizil’s celestial nymphs (as depicted inside China’s largest ancient Buddhist cave complex) awakened in modern theater. Dancers’ sleeves and singers’ tones resurrected mural spirits, as if ancient patron deities guided contemporary artists in manipulating their silk veils.

Choreographer’s odyssey 

From fledgling dance arranger to mastermind of grand productions, Jiasuer describes his journey as the flowering of decades’ silent cultivation.

He enrolled at Minzu University of China in 1988 to study ethnic dance performance, and later pursued modern dance at Beijing Dance Academy’s Choreography Department in 1998. He has straddled tradition and innovation. His three-decade journey crystallized at a 2014 competition, when Uygur contestant Gulmira’s Xinjiang dance routines, all choreographed by Jiasuer, captivated judge and millions audiences nationwide, clinching the top spot. The success of his student Gulmira was also Jiasuer’s victory--a testament to his lifelong mission to forge a modern Xinjiang dance lexicon that honors roots while embracing innovation.

In recent years, Jiasuer has brought Xinjiang art to various places, which has piqued audiences’ interest in Xinjiang. At Hong Kong Polytechnic University in October 2023, the abrupt staccato of dap drums shattered campus tranquility. As Xinjiang melodies brought by Jiasuer’s team rippled through the air, reserved undergraduates rose tentatively, mimicking the performers’ shoulder shimmies. “These flash mobs create electric, unscripted encounters,” Jiasuer observed. Such joyous interactions became signature moments.

The Hong Kong audience’s fervor moved Jiasuer backstage. The finale featured Uygur singing legend Abdulla leading The East Is Pearl in his native tongue. “When those familiar notes sounded, local crowds lit up with recognition. We long for Hong Kong friends to witness Xinjiang firsthand,” he urged.

Post-curtain in Dubai in 2004, an emotional spectator rushed backstage: “I must walk the land that birthed such dances.” “Every act is Xinjiang’s open invitation [to visit the region],” Jiasuer affirmed.

“Music and dance are humanity’s mother tongue. Xinjiang is a good place--come see it with your own eyes,” Jiasuer concluded. “Only here does the true Xinjiang reveal itself.”

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