Live performances back in business

Venues sold out

According to the China Association of Performing Arts, more than 9,400 performances were staged nationwide during the Spring Festival holiday, a year-on-year rise of nearly 41 percent, and up 22.5 percent compared with the Spring Festival break in 2019.

Total revenue from this year's performances was 378 million yuan ($55.7 million), and the shows attracted more than 3.2 million audience members.

A report released by the association on Jan 28 said: "Venues such as the Shanghai Concert Hall, Hunan Grand Theater and Shenzhen Concert Hall staged classical music concerts, which sold out. Traditional performances, such as Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, Qinqiang Opera and Pingju Opera, were among the bestselling shows during Spring Festival.

"At smaller theaters, musicals, immersive shows and standup comedians dominated the box office."

Dancer-choreographer Wang Yabin said: "Live performing arts are all about being close to other people. For us performers, audience participation is part of our act."

Last year, Wang choreographed a new dance drama, The Lady from the Sea, based on the play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in 1888. Wang performed the lead role of Ellida, a woman who has a peaceful life on the surface, but who has to make choices based on her love, desire, confusion, struggle and self-awakening.

Commissioned by the Shanghai International Dance Center Theater, the production premiered in Shanghai in November, and was scheduled to be staged in Beijing in December.

However, the performances in the Chinese capital had to be postponed due to the pandemic. Wang is now ready to stage the production at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing on Feb 18, before she heads to Lucerne Theater in Switzerland to choreograph a new dance show with local artists.

"During the pandemic, I spent a lot of time working from home, like many other people. I have a small space with a mirror and a ballet balancing bar, where I can train every day," Wang said.

She added that it takes a long time to transform a production from the page to the stage, and this complex process requires cooperation from many artists.

"I created The Lady from the Sea by meeting other members of the creative team and the dancers online, which was extremely challenging. Our schedules were changed repeatedly, but now we are all looking forward to the return of live performances," Wang said.

As China has optimized its COVID-19 measures, she plans to resume her project, Wang Yabin and her Friends, which calls for international collaboration.

Wang collaborated with Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui on a production of Genesis in 2013, and the following year with choreographer Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York on Dream in Three Episodes.

"This year, I will work with French composer Laurent Petitgirard on a new dance piece based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. I met him three years ago when I toured France, and he told me he was very interested in this production. We've been in touch and talked about the project for a long time. Now, it's happening," she said.