Shanghai, pregnant with Haipai ballet; Shanghai, nourishing Haipai ballet; although ballet is an imported product, it blooms with thousands of styles and charms in the city. The 2022 Haipai Ballet Performance Season was officially announced today, and for the first time, Shanghai Ballet selected 11 classical, modern, contemporary and red masterpieces from the play library to form "five series" and take turns to be staged in the city's 7 major theaters. It is expected that the total number of performances this year will exceed 80, an increase of nearly 1 times over previous years.
Pictured: The 2022 Haipai Ballet Performance Season was officially announced today Xinmin Evening News reporter Wang Kai (the same below)
After that, Shanghai Ballet will also participate in important projects such as the "Shanghai Spring" International Music Festival and the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, actively participate in the brand construction of the "Performing Arts World", promote the prosperity of the "Five New Cities" cultural performances, and let the general public enjoy the ultimate charm of Haipai Ballet at their doorstep.
Dancing colorful city colors
Since its establishment in 1979, Shanghai Ballet has always been committed to the inheritance and innovation of ballet art, established an elegant, extreme and fashionable Haipai ballet style, and accumulated more than 170 Haipai ballet masterpieces.
The 11 plays of the 2022 Haipai Ballet Performance Season are a demonstration of the creative achievements of Shanghai Ballet in different periods, and it is also the embodiment of the strong strength of Shanghai Ballet as an international, professional and market-oriented group. These plays include the revolutionary theme of the Original Haipai "White Haired Girl", "Shining Red Star", "Pagoda Mountain", the World Language telling the story of China's Haipai innovation "Fancy Years" and "Marco Polo", the world literature classics of the Haipai interpretation of "La Traviata", "Romeo and Juliet", the famous ballet of the Haipai interpretation of "Swan Lake", "Giselle", "Nutcracker", and the current new force of Haipai ballet creation "Journey Without Borders".
Picture: Swan Lake
"New Year Series - Favorite China Festival", "Inheritance Series - Memory of the Times", "Modern Series - Burning Youth", "Haipai Series - Romance" and "Classic Series - Century Memories" More than 80 performances of the five series will be staged in shanghai grand theaters, Shanghai International Dance Center, Shanghai Culture Square and other theaters since February, in addition, "Journey without Borders", "Shining Red Star" and "Pagoda Mountain" will be unveiled as the 38th Shanghai Spring International Music Festival.
A tribute to the music magnate
2022 marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of the famous French composer Debussy, and Shanghai's original modern ballet "Journey Without Borders" takes Debussy's artistic experience as inspiration and pays tribute to this artistic innovator who dared to rebel and dare to propose new ideas.
With Xin Lili, the head of Shanghai Ballet, as the general director, and Wu Husheng, chief actor of Shanghai Ballet and director of the Artistic Creation Department, as the choreographer, the play portrays a young artist full of "rebellious" and "innovative" personalities with a poetic structure, a dance vocabulary that integrates neoclassical ballet and contemporary ballet, and a stage vision full of impression colors, telling the story of his critical inheritance of his predecessors in his dream-chasing journey, constantly seeking, exploring, and finally achieving himself.
In Xin Lili's view: "This is a story about art, about life, and about you and me." And Wu Husheng's interpretation from the perspective of choreographer is more emotional: "If we can all bravely explore the unknown, if we can all embark on a journey without boundaries... I hope that the audience can see the greatness of the artist from it. The reason why they are remembered by the times is that in addition to the immortal works in their pens, they also have their courage and perseverance beyond ordinary people, which is the source of their strength to achieve extraordinary achievements, and it is also the light that illuminates the faith of the forerunners behind them. ”
Pictured: Xin Lili
Star rising stars share the stage
Over the past 40 years since the establishment of the Shanghai Ballet, young actors have won 54 medals in the International Ballet Competition, achieving a breakthrough in the international ballet world of Chinese ballet - the first medal, the first double dance award, the first ballet "Olympic" gold medal are all from the Shanghai Ballet.
In this performance season, Wu Husheng, who starred in 9 major plays, is already the top power of contemporary Chinese ballet, and he has won the gold medal of the Chinese dance "Lotus Award" performance several times, and is also the winner of the Protagonist Award of the Magnolia Theatre Performing Arts Award. The lead actors Fan Xiaofeng and Qi Bingxue are also the winners of the Gold Award for Chinese dance "Lotus Award" performance, and the two have also won the Supporting Role Award of the Magnolia Drama Performing Arts Award and the Newcomer Protagonist Award respectively.
"We not only cultivate ballet talents independently, but also attract rising stars from Australia, the Netherlands and other places to return home after further study." What makes Xin Lili happy is that after years of talent accumulation, Shanghai Baba has formed a complete echelon of actors, year after year, through more than 100 performances of more than ten ballets with different styles every year, adhering to the principle of "bringing the old to the new" and "leading people with drama", the young actors have grown step by step into excellent ballet power.
In 2022, Shanghai Baba will also disseminate and deliver excellent ballet repertoire containing red, Haipai and Jiangnan culture to the Yangtze River Delta region, the old revolutionary area of Nanchang in Jiangxi, beijing, Tianjin and other important cities, showing the inclusiveness, diversity and creativity of Haipai culture to audiences and friends everywhere, and contributing to the construction and dissemination of Shanghai cultural brand. "Ballet is full of elegance and romance, but also full of life. Haipai ballet grows in the cultural soil of Shanghai and blooms in the youth of generations of Shanghai ballet people," said Xin Lili, director of the troupe, "We hope that through such a large-scale performance season, we can show the pursuit of Shanghai Ballet in art and the exploration of creation, and also let the industry see the new state and emerging trend of Shanghai ballet performing talents and creative forces." (Xinmin Evening News reporter Zhu Yuan)