Modern Chinese Opera Dance

New version of a Chinese opera adds background
Friday, July 20, 2007

By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER

When the curtain rises, the grandfather of the boy emperor has control of the Imperial Palace. The boy and his mother, the Empress, are trapped. She laments: Why, oh why did she not listen to good advice? [Production photo courtesy of Lincoln Center]

At this point you may be wondering: Who is this woman? What advice? And, come to think of it, what empire?

This classic Chinese opera piece, "Second Visit to the Empress," starts boldly in medias res with little explanation. But in a new production for the Lincoln Center Festival, director and choreographer Shen Wei fills in the story.

In 2005, Shen created a modernized version of "Second Visit" that featured four Chinese opera singers and seven modern dancers, who brought movement to the traditionally static stage. His newest version, to debut Tuesday, excerpts two other operas to add 25 minutes of back story to the beginning of the original production. "Second Visit" comes third in a triptych of operas, after "Pillar of the Dynasty" and "Visiting the Mausoleum."

"The main reason [I lengthened the show] is that in the story, everything will be [clearer]," Shen said. "If you only show the last part, then maybe the audience will get confused. They don't know what happened before." [Production photo courtesy of Lincoln Center]

That's the non-Chinese audience, of course. In China, Shen explained, "they don't care about stories. It's more about the art form." Repertory pieces are so familiar to opera aficionados that the emphasis is on elements like orchestral music, vocals, spoken text, pantomime, acrobatics and martial arts. The story is almost assumed to be common knowledge.

Shen grew up with that tradition, entering an opera training institute at the tender age of 9. He performed as an adult opera singer for five years before taking on modern dance in 1989. "Second Visit" is his first return to the opera tradition since establishing his own dance company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, in 2000.

Now an acclaimed international dance phenom, Shen wants to bring the artistic discussion back to Chinese opera, which has been losing viewers even in its country of origin. "Modern people don't go to see opera, and don't understand," he said. "That's one of the reasons I'm doing this -- because I want to connect the art form to young people, and modern people."

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

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