A new adaptation of French writer Alexandre Dumas fils’ “The Lady of the Camellias”, debuted by the Shanghai Ballet in 2019, is slated to be staged by over 80 dancers tomorrow and Saturday at the Grand Auditorium of the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM).
According to a CCM statement yesterday, the Shanghai Ballet, founded in 1979, has obtained remarkable achievements in original work, performances and talent cultivation, with 58 medals in international ballet competitions and nearly 100 professional awards in the mainland.
Adapted by UK celebrity dancer and Shanghai Ballet’s artistic director Derek Deane and US composer Carl Davis, “The Lady of the Camellias” featuring “a refined scenography and coloured with elegant costumes” tells the “circuitous journey of love between the young Armand Duval and Marguerite Gautier”.
Shanghai Ballet Director Xin Lili, Vice Director Wu Husheng and Principal Dancer Qi Bingxue attended a media briefing yesterday backstage at CCM’s VIP lounge to talk about the upcoming two-day performance.
“It is a new classic style of dramatic ballet, which consists of a story and characters”, Xin said, adding: “Every first-class dance troupe in the world has their own version of classical stories”.
Xin said that the performers are her dance troupe’s biggest asset, with every one of them having their special style of art to act different characters, enabling the audience to feel like they are in the story, rather than focusing only on the performers’ dancing skills or appearance.
Wu and Qi, the ballet’s protagonists, spoke about the toughness of the training behind their dynamic stage performance.
Wu said that in order to portray the character and deal with every detail well, it is necessary to have good basic skills and good training habits, as well as a good tacit understanding between the partners, adding: “As you can see in the hour and a half on the stage, in fact, we have practised every dance section and movement thousands of times.”
When asked which ballet she preferred to perform in, Qi responded that every show has its own high point.
An CCM official said that as of yesterday afternoon about 90 percent of the tickets to the two shows had already been sold.
Shanghai Ballet Director Xin Lili (centre), Vice Director Wu Husheng (left) and Principal Dancer Qi Bingxue attend yesterday’s media briefing at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) in Nape. – Photo: Yuki Lei
