NCPA Dance Festival 2017 kicked off on September 13th with the theme of “The World in One Dance”. In the three sections “Enduring Love”, “Contemporary Thinking” and “Chinese Charm”, famous artists and ensembles from Russia, Italy, Netherlands and China will give 34 wonderful dance performances of 15 programmes in the coming 91 days.
The press conference of NCPA Dance Festival 2017
At the press conference held at NCPA on September 11th, NCPA Artistic Director of the Dance ZHAO Ruheng, founder and artistic director of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre Lin Hwai-min, the head of Liaoning Ballet of China QU Zijiao, founder of TAO Dance Theatre TAO Ye, froducer of Xianwuren Dance Studio ZHAO Xiaogang, and the drector of Chinese dance drama Prairie Sisters ZHAO Ming touched upon many highlights of the dance festival.
NCPA Artistic Director of the Dance ZHAO Ruheng
Russian ballet has been a cynosure with its unique charm and striking features in the world dance circles. Four works under the division of “Enduring Love” are all brought by Russian choreographers. The opening ceremony of the Festival will feature performances of Anna Karenina on September 13th and 14th and Rodin on September 15th and 16th by St. Petersburg Eifman Ballet. Especially in Rodin, the dancers will make their lithe bodies into famous clay sculptures. Also, Russia’s top ballet ensemble Mariinsky Ballet will present classic work Sleeping Beauty on November 21st to 23rd. Besides, Liaoning Ballet of China (LBC)’s ballet Swan Lake is also a classical ballet with “Russian features”. This version of Swan Lake, designed by the famous Russian dance master Vladimir Malakhov for LBC, features both classicality and contemporaneity. It made its premiere in May this year.
On September 23rd and 24th, Xianwuren Dance Theatre will present Journey to Inspiration and Lotus, two works by Artistic Director ZHAO Xiaogang. Both of them are created based on classic Chinese culture. On October 14th and 15th, China Oriental Song and Dance Company will join in the dance festival with its first Chinese dance drama LAN Huahua, to present to audience the strong charm of Northern Shaanxi and tell about a touching love story. On December 2nd and 3rd, Taiyuan Dance Troupe’s dance drama Wild Geese, which is created based on Chinese writer YUAN Haowen’s masterpiece, will be performed.
Chinese minority dances will also be presented during this dance festival. On November 14th and 15th, Inner Mongolia University of Arts will perform its dance drama Prairie Sisters, which features peculiar Mongolian dance and music. On December 12th, “Tibetan Dance Performance” will kick off to bring audience into the snow-covered plateau where the Tibetan people live, to show audiences the unique pureness and spaciousness in dance.
QU Zijiao, TAO Ye, ZHAO Xiaogang and ZHAO Ming
On October 27th to 29th, Netherlands Dance Theater I will give 5 performances. It is worth mentioning that its work The Shelter is created with an inspiration from The Book of Changes, and touches upon the final destination of the soul, an ultimate proposition, in a body language. On November 2nd to 5th, Taiwan-based Cloud Gate Dance Theatre will perform Rice, a work choreographed by Artistic Director Lin Hwai-min in 2013 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Theatre. The inspiration comes from the rural scenery in Chihshang, a famous rice field in Taiwan, and the local residents’ strong environmental awareness. To perform Rice, Lin Hwai-min took the dancers to Chihshang, where they had an intimate contact with the paddy field, and helped the farmers do farm work. The dancers then integrated their first-hand experience into the composition of this dance. As they perform the dance, they will dance with pollen, paper mulberry fruits, wind, water and fire in front of a big screen on which there is the Chihshang paddy field, where audience can see seedlings, ears, harvesting, straw burning and irrigation with spring water. Their performance will show how the four seasons change in the paddy field, and therefore imply how life progresses. On November 25th and 26th, Compagnia Aterballetto will go up on the stage with its works, discussing with audiences on the loneliness and confusion of life and the eternal debate over human destiny. On November 3rd and 4th, Chinese choreographer TAO Ye will come onto the stage with TAO Dance Theater, as well as two new works 8 and 9. Based on a fully rational understanding and analysis of human body limits, they will release vitality in a body language in repeated but restricted movements.
Lin Hwai-min
Also, the Young Choreographers’ Works will be an important part of the NCPA Dance Festival. A series of Chinese contemporary young dancers will perform their most innovative and potential avant-garde works to make a blueprint for China’s dance world.
Photos by GAO Shang