Dance drama is a kind of stage art which uses dance as its main way of expression, and also fuses drama and music. Since 1990s, more and more original Chinese dance dramas are emerging, bringing audiences visual feasts.
As today marks the International Dance Day, we review the most classic Chinese dance dramas. Have you watched any of them?
The Pingju Opera Lotus Lantern is staged at a theater in Shijiazhuang city, Hebei province, Oct 24, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]
1. The first ethnic dance drama: Lotus Lantern
Premiere: 1957
China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater
The dance drama Lotus Lantern is based on the story of the traditional Chinese fairy tale Pi Shan Jiu Mu (A boy cuts through hills to rescue his mother). With techniques of long sleeves, water sleeves and sword, the drama is developed from Chinese opera dance and is a very expressive one.
It was shot into a color art film in 1959, winning wide praise.
The ballet The Red Detachment of Women performed by the National Ballet of China is staged in Nanning city, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, May 1, 2018. [Photo/SIPA]
2. Ballet The Red Detachment of Women
Premiere: 1964
The National Ballet of China
The dance drama of a story set in Hainan Island in the 1930s, is adapted from the movie of the same name. With the background of Chinese revolutionary story, it narrates the tale of a servant girl who escapes from a local tyrant family and grows into a female soldier with firm Communist faith under the help of a Red Army soldier.
It was pioneering in creating heroic images of Chinese detachment of women wearing "toe shoes". Combining the Western ballet with Chinese ethnic dances, it was a milestone in the history of Chinese ballet history.
Actors from the Shanghai Ballet perform the The White-Haired Girl in Xuchang city, Henan province, Nov 15, 2017. [Photo/IC]
3. Ballet The White-Haired Girl
Premiere: 1965
Shanghai Ballet
The ballet is adapted from the opera with the same name, and combines moves from the Chinese folk dances, classical dances with ballet art. It is based on the subject of Chinese revolutionary, and shows the complex struggle of Chinese rural life. It reveals the contradiction between poor peasants and landlord class in the old semi-colonial and semi-feudal China.
The dance drama Silk Road, Strewn with Flowers is staged in Fuzhou city, Fujian province, Aug 19, 2019. [Photo/IC]
4. Silk Road, Strewn with Flowers
Premiere: 1979
Gansu Opera and Dance Theater
The dance drama Silk Road, Strewn with Flowers, which portrays stories of an old painter and a kabuki, and their friendship with a Persian merchant, is based on the Silk Road and Dunhuang murals.
It eulogizes the long-standing friendship between China and the Western regions. The dance drama is honored as "the best dance drama in China", and "the Oriental Swan Lake".
The song and dance show Dynamic Yunnan is performed in Hangzhou city, Nov 29, 2003. [Photo/IC]
5. Original Ecological song and dance collection Dynamic Yunnan
Premiere: 2003
The dance drama mainly produced by famous dancer Yang Liping uses original ethnic song and dance to present a kind of brand-new stage art style. It integrates the essence of primitive song and folk dance from countryside in Yunnan to express ethnic people's diligence and homeliness.
The drama begins with 60 large drums and ends with 60 "peacocks" dancing together, filled with the worship of nature and love of life.
A still from the dance drama Confucius. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
6. Confucius
Premiere: 2013
China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater
The dance drama Confucius is directed by Kong Dexing, a direct descendent of Confucius. It depicts Confucius' tour around the Chinese States, a journey full of frustrations, where dreams go unfulfilled and devotion goes without repayment.
Confucius advocated and proposed rulers adopt codes of etiquette and a policy of benevolence, but his ideas failed to change the muddle-headed Lord of the State, who luxuriated in the company of beautiful women. Due to conspiracies of crafty and fawning officials, Confucius' ideas failed to change the situation and was forced to flee for his life. Trapped in the tempest of danger and hunger, he imagined seeing an ideal world of great harmony, but the wars continued, and his wishes were a heavy burden.
Actors perform in the dance drama The Past of Shawan in Guangzhou city, March 31, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]
7. The Past of Shawan
Premiere: 2014
Guangdong Song and Dance Ensemble
The dance drama The Past of Shawan sets the story at the Shawan ancient town in South China's Guangzhou city, and follows the main storyline of musicians' creation of the enduring Cantonese music piece Dragon Boat Racing. It presents the musicians' unremitting efforts and persistent pursuit in carrying forward folk music.
A poster for the dance drama Li Bai. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
8. Li Bai
Premiere: 2017
China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater
Dance drama Li Bai reveals the inner world of the great poet Li Bai through his conflicting choices and trade-offs he has made during major key junctures of his life. The drama highlights Li's passion, talent and boldness and portrays his struggle between his devotion to contribute to the rule of the country and his wish to retreat and enjoy the beauty of nature.
The dance drama Li Bai also brings to life the scenery, dance and music of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), showing typical artistic aesthetics from ancient China.
Dance drama Dunhuang Dream is staged at a theater in Jinan city, Shandong province, April 13, 2005. [Photo/IC]
9. Dunhuang Dream
Premiere: 2000
Lanzhou Song and Dance company
Dunhuang Dream is a legendary four-curtain dance drama which sets the thousands of years' creation history of Dunhuang art treasure as the background. It follows the storyline of the emotional journey of a young painter and the daughter of a senior general, presenting moving love stories.
A still from the dance drama Princess Zhaojun. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
10. Princess Zhaojun
Premiere: 2016
China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater
Princess Zhaojun is an epic stage production that adapted from a true historical event, bringing to life a household story of one of China's "Four Great Beauties", Wang Zhaojun.
Known as a celebrated Chinese heroine who helped bring peace to the turbulent northern border over 2,000 years ago in the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), Wang sacrificed her comfortable palace life for years of bilateral relations between Xiongnu, a powerful tribal nomadic group on the then-border of China, and her country.
