Dancers perform a scene from The Lotus on stage.Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Dance Theater "Never underestimate your audience Cheap College Baseball Jerseys ," famed choreographer Wang Yuanyuan stressed several times during her interview with the Global Times. This statement underlined the confidence she has in her decision to continue presenting her once highly controversial work The Golden Lotus, now retitled as The Lotus.
Adapted from the erotic Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) novel The Golden Lotus, the eponymous dance production created by Wang's Beijing Dance Theater (BDT) achieved great success when it premiered at the Hong Kong Art Festival in 2011. But soon after, a huge storm of controversies surrounded the production over its bold presentation of the more sensual parts of the original novel, forcing Wang to halt the production's scheduled tour in the Chinese mainland.
"The tour schedule has been set for the rest of the year Cheap College Football Jerseys ," Wang said. "It will mainly head to some second- and third-tier cities in the southern part of the country."
Complicated adaptation
One of the country's most famous choreographers, in recent years Wang's reputation has actually increased more overseas than within China. Her dance troupe BDT, which she established eight years ago and mainly focuses on ballet and modern dance, have been staging more performances in foreign markets.
Wang first came to public attention in the mainland after she began cooperating with a list of famous film directors, including Feng Xiaogang and Zhang Yimou Cheap College Basketball Jerseys , to handle the choreography for their films or stage productions. In 2011, at the invitation of the Hong Kong Art Festival, Wang took on a commission to choreograph the adaptation of the legendary Ming novel.
"It was a great honor as an artist to receive an invitation from such a high-level international art festival," said Wang. "If you read what the foreign critics wrote about the premiere of The Golden Lotus back then you would see that they all saw it as a work of art."
One of the country's most famous works of literature, The Golden Lotus has long been trapped in an awkward position in Chinese literature history due to its rich depictions of humanity and philosophy on one side and its stark depiction of sexuality on the other. Based on such a complicated novel Cheap College Jerseys Wholesale , the modern dance drama, an art form still unfamiliar to many Chinese audiences, faced a number of huge difficulties, everything from how to choreograph the action to marketing, right from the start.
In order to better depict the essence of the novel on stage Cheap Wholesale College Jerseys , Wang invited a group of big-names to join her team, such as Oscar winning costume designer Tim Yip and Chen Qigang as a music consultant. Soon after the drama premiered in Hong Kong, some critics labeled the performance as the "sexiest dance" in the country.
However, Wang felt that this label didn't actually give the performance, or the original novel Cheap College Jerseys From China , enough credit. "The Golden Lotus unfolds a much bigger picture, even covering the legal system at the time," said Wang. As for the performance's sexual nature, Wang felt that while the general impression was that body language was more suitable to portraying characters' feelings, it wasn't at all easy creating the right dance routines for the show.
"How much sex appeal we incorporate is absolutely important. Too much would make the whole work appearing low-brow Cheap College Jerseys China , but too little would leave audiences the impression that we failed to grasp the emotions and lust of the characters in the novel," said Wang. "After all, it's The Golden Lotus, not A Dream of Red Mansions."
Too sexy for the mainland
The performance's big success in Hong Kong quickly helped the drama to secure more than 40 tour dates in the mainland for 2011 and over 100 performances for 2012. However, as discussion about the performance's sexy nature continued on endlessly and even began escalating in the mainland Cheap College Jerseys , Wang was forced to cancel the mainland tour in October of 2011.
A critic writing under the penname of Xia Mo pointed out that the dance performance had crossed the line by being too pioneering and challenging the public's acceptance of sexual taboos. Soon reports with headlines like "The Golden Lotus disturbs people's sense of shame" swept through media circles as articles called on the show to modify its dance routines and stage props.
After the cancellation, the only information mainlanders could find about the 180-minute performance was a five-minute-long online short that talked about the play's premiere in Hong Kong.
The return
Now that the performance has changed its name and performers, Wang believes the performance is ready for audience in the mainland to appreciate it for its depth instead of just the superficial sexy parts. Wang revealed that before the high-profile announcement of their performance in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, the troupe had actually quietly performed in some mainland cities last year to test the reaction of the market.
"Domestic audiences have developed rapidly in the past few years when it comes to their appreciation for art forms like modern dance Cheap Jerseys Wholesale ," said Wang.
"Audiences who choose to enter theaters and watch this drama on stage actually have very high-class tastes. They treat it like a work of art," said Wang. "Especially those that belong to the post-1980 generation. Culture has already become an indispensable means to enrich their spiritual world."
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