介绍:
Although Swan Lake has come to symbolize ballet worldwide, it will soon be Crane Whisperer.
The National Ballet of China premiered its original production Crane Whisperer at Beijing's Tianqiao Theater in late September.
The ballet story is about a girl named Mengjuan from a family that looks after cranes. She sacrifices herself to save some cranes in a thunderstorm.
Ma Cong is the choreographer of the ballet. He worked with the National Ballet of China in 1990s, now he is a choreographer in the United States.
"I put a lot in what I have learnt from the west, when I was in America, 16 years' dancing there with the company there. What I want to insert is the culture mixed between the west and the east. So hopefully, this ballet will become sort of a bridge that actually, when the western people saw this ballet, they can be easy accepting it, in the way that the ballet hopefully can see the international stage."
The president of the National Ballet of China, Feng Ying, came up with the idea for the production during the company's tour of Qiqihar city in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province in the autumn of 2008.
They visited Zhalong Nature Reserve, which is a habitat for cranes. The locals told them about the real story of a young woman who died protecting the cranes.
The artists were deeply impressed by the devotion as well as the love and communication between the cranes and their caretakers. It's a good story about the relationship between human and nature. It's also universal. So, they thought, why not try a dance of cranes?
"Actually, Feng Ying, Madame Feng called me last year, and told me about this idea that she had for years. She wanted to produce a full-length ballet, which is coming from the true story. I was very, very interested. You know, the arts come from life. Last year, we went to Heilongjiang province, so we studied the crane and coming back to made the ballet."
The gestures and movements of the cranes charmed the artists so much that they went to the reserve a few times to observe how cranes fly, walk and communicate among themselves.
"When I, for the first time, was that close to see the crane, actually, the first impression that I got was the crane itself is a beautiful dancer. Their bodies and their legs, and they are ballet dancers. They are not only animal, but actually, there is something that is very special inside of them. They have soul. I was quite inspired by seeing the crane moving like that."
Zhang Zhenxin, a young choreographer with the ballet company, jointly choreographed Crane Whisperer.
Ma and Zhang both received training in Chinese classical dance at the Beijing Dance Academy and then turned to ballet. While Ma went on to become a choreographer in the United States, Zhang danced with British choreographer Akram Khan for two years from 2007 to 2009.
"We defined this ballet as Neoclassicism. So we have adopted many modern elements in the actions. We tried hard to imitate the movements and gestures and make the cranes look natural and beautiful in our choreography. Comparing with the previous works, dancers will definitely deliver a whole new feeling."
The music for Crane Whisperer is an impressive combination of Chinese and Western culture. It's written by Shen Yiwen, a young Shanghai-born composer who is now working on his doctoral degree at the Juilliard School in New York.
"Those Chinese elements will flow very naturally. When I was composing, I think I compose what was really natural to me at the moment. It's true the story is Chinese, there are some Chinese elements in my music."
Gong Xun is the stage designer of the ballet, who thinks highly of the whole piece of work and says it's dramatic.
"Classic ballet has been a basic aesthetic principle of the National Ballet of China. Xu Xiujuan's persevering story of her returning to the reserve after graduating from the university is perfectly matched with the spirit of the National Ballet. In this age, we sing high praise to the spirit of perseverance, not only for self-encouragement, but also to encourage more people to persue their own goals."
After charming the audience in Beijing, the artists are seeking to promote the dance to the world.
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