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When Asians Recreate a Classic Romance Production “Romeo and Juliet”
Romeo & Juliet is one of the most popular romance plays by Shakespeare with countless productions. With its origins in England, many people also have watched Romeo & Juliet performed in the western style, and also in its western interpretations.
When Shanghai Ballet brought their production “Romeo and Juliet” to perform at the 11th Bangkok International Festival of Dance and Music, the audience were quite curious as to how the Chinese would recreate this classic. The answer was clearly in the way they detailed and designed the performance with eastern philosophy in combination with western ballet choreography.
In this production, the performance followed most of the original text but cut down some details to suit the ballet. We still understand the tragic story of two lovers who devote their lives for their true love, through simple storytelling with key actions that moved the story along in the 3-hour long performance.
The choreography followed the form of classical ballet, rendering smooth and lively movements. What differentiates the Chinese performers is the inner concentration which influences the way they use their body to express feelings, despite moving western style. It is the connection between the body and the mind in meditation, an eastern philosophy, which is different from western philosophy.
The work by Derek Deane, OBE, demonstrated his excellent talents and experiences. The way he combined dance with music is very gentle. Every detail of the choreography is well designed, putting in “life” and “energy” that fulfill the stage. I prefer the ensemble scenes, especially the masked celebration scene which is so wonderful. I also enjoyed the solo scenes but thought that, with the huge stage space, the movements may need to be more powerful in its expression to draw attraction from the audience.
One issue that people questioned about ballet is the suitability of the Asian body and the ability of performers to conform due to its differences. Principal dancers; Fan Xiaofeng, Sun Shenyi showed us that the differences were not an obstacle for them to perform a very good ballet.
The design of the set and the scenery, and the costumes, created a great picture on stage. The way that designer Robert Guidi di bagno use color combination to support the movements of performers not only created a colorful stage but also a superb combination. One of the audience even shared with me that “… this is such a ‘Chinese’ production,” and I totally agreed with him.
Romeo & Juliet by Shanghai Ballet is yet another great performance at the festival. I would call this a cross-cultural production as the work demonstrated very strong western and eastern perspectives.
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Copyright 2012 Asia Dance Channel