Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A8

September 30, 2016

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Feature » Art and Culture

Center brings dance troupes under one roof

By Zhang Qian | September 30, 2016, Friday | Print Edition

SEEN from above, the Shanghai International Dance Center spreads out in the shape of a giant butterfly. After years of planning and construction, the center will be spreading its wings tomorrow with the opening of its first-ever show, a ballet production of “Hamlet” by Shanghai Ballet.

Approved in 2012, the newly built center in Changning District was designed to provide a permanent rehearsal and performance space for local dance groups which have long occupied the area bound by Hongqiao Road, Shuicheng Road and Yan’an Road W.

In the past, these groups trained in smaller structures on the new center’s grounds and rented theater space for performances. These groups include the Shanghai Dance School, Shanghai Ballet and the Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble; plus the newly arrived Dance Department of the Shanghai Theater Academy.

“We are now standing at the birthplace of the modern dance industry in Shanghai, and the industry is going to further prosper in the future,” says Le Shengli, head of the Shanghai International Dance Center Construction Engineering Headquarters. Le has previously worked as chief of construction on the Shanghai Grand Theater and Shanghai Culture Square.

“The original intention of the whole project was to create a broader space, a shared theater for dance troupes, a competitive platform, and a base where education, creation and performance could be nurtured together,” says Le.

Getting all the many stakeholders and organizations involved to agree on a single proposal was no easy task. According to Le, the idea of merging the area’s dance troupes was first mooted in 2007 but was long stalled by organizational issues.

Getting these organizations to find common cause and work together was Le’s first assignment when he was charged with bringing them under one roof.

Another major task for Le was collaborating with a team of US designers on the structure itself. Work on the center included preservation of six historic structures occupied by the Shanghai Ballet and Shanghai Dance School, plus the construction of four new buildings to form the 85,000-square-meter complex. Altogether, the center contains 48 rehearsal rooms and theaters.

The rehearsal spaces range in size from 100 to 400 square meters and are equipped with French windows for optimal lighting and ventilation. There are also spring-board floors with different tensions designed to prevent injury.

“The floor needed to be more elastic for ballet dancers who jump high in the air, but they could be less elastic for the Chinese dancers who focus more on fluid movements,” says Le. “Of course, softer springs were selected for young dancers with more vulnerable bones and joints.”

On a recent tour of the center, the students and dancers were excited about moving to their new “home.”

Chen Jianian, vice president of the Shanghai Dance School, said the new rehearsal rooms are about twice the size as those where he studied in the 1970s. “The big rehearsal room we have now can allow students to do more than 30 somersaults in a row,” he said.

Dancers with the Shanghai Ballet were particularly impressed with the spring-board flooring. “Many of our young dancers could not help dancing on it the moment they stepped inside,” said Xin Lili, president of the troupe. “They are so lucky to enjoy such great facilities at a young age. The floor will protect them and very likely prolong their careers in the long run.”

The 1,080-seat theater is remarkable for its unique design, composed of 2,700 double-curved metal plates and a pillar-less rotating stairway. In addition, each seat is carefully arranged to ensure maximum visibility of the stage.

Along with its “Hamlet” grand opener, this season will bring audiences “Crested Ibis” by the Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble, as well as overseas productions like “Deca Dance” by legendary choreographer Ohad Naharin with his Batsheva Dance Company from Israel, and “Tan Yuanyuan and Her Friends.”

Unlike other new performance venues in Shanghai which showcase a range of shows and art forms, the new facility will focus primarily on dance, according to General Manager Zhang Bowen. “We hope that the dance center will pop into people’s heads whenever they hear about dance,” she says.

As the city’s market for live entertainment grows, Zhang believes there’s room for a medium-sized venue like the Dance Center.

“We are ... probably more suitable for contemporary productions,” she says. “We can never fit Matthew Bourn’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ here — but the Shanghai Grand Theater or Shanghai Culture Square can. We’re on different paths.”

Organizers plan to stage at least 200 performances at the theater over the next year. Also looking ahead, Zhang and her team plan to expand the center’s reach with the opening of coffee shops, dance-related exhibitions, workshops and creative bazaars.

Art and Culture


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend