Shanghai Ballet Troupe to Stage Full Swan Lake

Shanghai Ballet Troupe, one of the best ballet companies in China, will stage a full-length version of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" at Shanghai Grand Theater on August 2.

It will be the first of its kind in more than a decade, said the latest edition of "Shanghai Daily".

In an interview with the Shanghai-based English newspaper, Xin Lili, art director of the Shanghai Ballet Troupe, said: " Previously, we only performed acts starting from the second of ' Swan Lake'."

According to Xin, Shanghai Ballet Troupe will pay 60,000 U.S. dollars for the right to perform the "Swan Lake" choreography created by Derek Deane, art director of the English National Ballet.

Deane is now in town for a month-long coaching for the dancers who will stage his rendition, which was reproduced from Marius Petipa's choreography, the most well-known version of the "Swan Lake".

Xin said the purchase is the first of its kind her ballet company has ever made thus far.

She emphasized that Deane's work will help her ballet troupe expand. "Our dancers are very young, and they need to be trained in diverse styles, for different repertoires and by different artistic directors," Xin went on.

Xin believes the acquisition is worth the high price and more similar procurement of copyrights for performing ballet classical works created by foreign artists will follow in the future.






People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/