The course of searching for national identity

Ballet made its debut in China in early 19th century Shanghai. China had suffered a blow during the Opium War, and Shanghai had its beginnings in an age of both humiliation and development. Western powers established concessions (leased territories) in this city. The Russian immigrants held ballet performances and opened ballet schools.

Madam Dai Ailian, born in 1916, was an overseas Chinese. After studying at one of London’s renowned dance academies, she returned to her homeland in 1940. Dai Ailian employed a basic ballet training method for her students. Today there is a bust of Dai Ailian on display at the British Royal Dance Academy to honor her contribution to popularizing this art.

Chinese choreographers began serious attempts at creating dance dramas and ballet only after the founding of New People’s Republic of China in 1949. After the new China was founded, the former Soviet Union sent several ballet troupes to visit the mainland. Their performances helped to familiarize Chinese audiences with this art form. As a by-product of the political relationship of the two countries at the time, Russian ballet began to exert a positive influence on China’s local talent.

In an old and inconspicuous four-storey building of red-brick in southern Beijing, generations of Chinese ballerinas have sweated and strived to perfect this art.

In 1954, the first professional center for studying dance—The Beijing Dance School (later known as The Beijing Dance Academy)—was established in China. Ballet experts from the former Soviet Union—Yealina and Gusev—were the school’s artistic directors, and trained the first group of Chinese ballet students. The year 1957 saw “swans” dancing on a Chinese stage: the performance of the classic Swan Lake indicated that ballet had formally entered the stage in this country.

The New China first focused on introducing traditional western ballets. In the 60’s, Chinese artists began to explore the idea of combining western ballet technique with Chinese themes. The results, one “red,” and one “white”, are now standard repertoire for Chinese ballet artists: “The Red Detachment of Women,” and “The White-haired Girl.”

China stepped into a unique historical period—the Cultural Revolution. Ballet was first classified and criticized as “the weed of capitalism.” But later, when this art form was discovered as a tool that could promote political ideologies, ballet grew rapidly in popularity.

If only one piece needs to be mentioned when talking about Chinese folk ballet, then it will surely be “The Red Detachment of Women”. These pictures document some real-life stories about this piece’s beginnings—how the dancers once lived for months in military camps to learn how to practice swords in order to portray the soldiers vividly on stage.

“The Red Detachment of Women” was the first and most successful large-scale Chinese ballet, with both the theme and content reflecting a very unique Chinese style.

Adapted from a movie with the same name, “The Red Detachment of Women” tells a story about an impoverished girl, Wu Qionghua, who escaped from the tyranny of an oppressive landlord, joined the Red Army, and later grew up to be a distinguished revolutionary solider.

Although the storyline of this ballet seems a little bit out-of-date today, it still possesses its original charm. The piece is a model example of the successful combination of western ballet technique with Chinese folk dancing. The two styles are melded seamlessly within one piece, and it never fails to impress the audience with a natural flow of body language supported by intense emotions. “The Red Detachment of Women” was a prelude to the exertions of Chinese ballet artists trying to establish a Chinese identity using an essentially foreign art form.

For four decades, “The Red Detachment of Women” has been staged thousands of times and now still draws enthusiastic audiences to the theatre. A permanent part of the National Ballet of China’s repertoire, this performance is now called the “Red Classic”.

Although the storyline of this ballet seems a bit out-dated, it still possesses its charm and draws enthusiastic audiences to the theatre.