National Ballet of China’s Red Detachment
The National Ballet of China has not toured Hong Kong since 2017, and its performances have been eagerly awaited by local audiences. This week it showed its signature ballet “The Red Detachment of Women” at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
Premiered exactly 60 years ago in 1964, this is one of the Eight Model Operas created during the Cultural Revolution. (Shanghai Ballet’s “The White-Haired Girl” is another one.) Though it looks slightly dated, it is still fascinating as a historical curiosity.
It tells the story of a poor peasant girl Qinghua who narrowly escapes being sold as a slave by an evil landowner, Nan Batian, thanks to the help of Hong Changqing, the Commissar of the Red Detachment of Women. She then joins this Red Detachment and helps it to defeat the landowner.
The two-act ballet lasting over two hours consists of a prologue and six scenes. Scene 2, celebrating the founding of the Red Detachment of Women, includes a lot of joyful dancing. The various sections with dancers waving flags, pointing machine guns, and brandishing knives, have a folksy vivaciousness and charm that is delightful.
Scene 4 set in the Red Detachment’s camp has a lively dance with village girls waving their bamboo hats. In the ensuing battle scene, episodes of sword fighting, cannon shots, and machine gun warfare have a surging momentum that is theatrically exciting. And later, the sight of the Red Detachment members leaping across the stage provides a triumphant climax to the panache of the choreography.
Most impressive of all was the sheer commitment of the whole cast. Despite the formulaic choreography (a team effort by three choreographers – Li Chengxiang, Jiang Zuhui, and Wang Xixian), the dancers’ faith in the drama made the characters they portrayed look larger than life. Wu Siming, as Hong Changqing, was impressive as an actor. His signature pose – upraised arms with clenched fists – emphasised his heroic stance. As Qinghua, Ning Long danced with strength.
The performances were danced to a taped recording by the National Ballet Symphony Orchestra. This weekend the National Ballet of China will also perform “Swan Lake’, the most famous ballet classic.
-- Contact us at [email protected]
-
Integration of GIS and BIM can drive development of smart city Dr. Winnie Tang
The China Association for Geospatial Industry and Sciences (“the CAGIS”) released the Top Ten Highlights of China's Geographic Information Industry in 2023, which provides much inspiration. The
-
Equip young people for the future Dr. Winnie Tang
In late February, the inaugural flight of an air taxi from Shenzhen Shekou Cruise Homeport to Zhuhai Jiuzhou Port took only 20 minutes with an estimated one-way ticket price of 200 to 300 yuan per
-
Are we raising a generation of leaders, or of followers? Brian YS Wong
The essence of education is defined not by the facts it imparts, but the potential knowledge it inspires students to individually pursue on their own. Put it this way – the ideal form of education
-
The urgent need for reforms to sex education in Hong Kong Sharon Chau
Nearly one in every four university students (23%) in Hong Kong has been sexually harassed, according to a 2019 report published by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC). A 2019 study found that
-
STEAM should be linked to real life Dr. Winnie Tang
In the 2017 Policy Address, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education was proposed as one of the eight major directions to promote I&T development. Since then, funding has
