Home » Feature » Art and Culture
Local dancers put Shanghai on ballet map
Print Edition
SHANGHAI has taken a big step in becoming one of the world’s leading stages for ballet and dance. The 5th Shanghai International Ballet Competition, which closed on Thursday night, marked a new beginning for the city’s ballet scene. The biennial competition returned after a nine-year recess with an aim to bring ballet back into the spotlight.
An international jury panel chaired by Ivan Liška, artistic director of the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich (Bayerisches Staatsballett), recognized a total of 21 dancers who presented outstanding performances both technically and artistically in the nine-day competition.
The highest Grand Prix prize was awarded to Olexander Omelchenko, a Ukrainian dancer who’s a first soloist at Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre, while the gold awards for female and male in both the junior and senior divisions went to Chinese dancers.
Liška, a ballet veteran who had a successful career as principal dancer with the Hamburg Ballet and two decades of experience as ballet and artistic director in Munich, said he was very impressed by the quality of the contestants, especially the Chinese contestants, who showed musicality and sureness on stage.
“Since I was first in this country about eight years ago, I’ve seen great development toward precision and the idea and spirit that come into the dancing,” commented Liška after all contestants had performed.
Xin Lili, director of Shanghai Ballet, said all dancers showed their best on the stage and brought beauty and joy to the city of Shanghai.
“The important thing is that, through the competition, the dancers will have more reason to continue doing what they love, and bringing the public’s attention to the art of ballet,” said Xin.
Liška also emphasized that Shanghai ballet culture belongs to the ballet culture of China, and since ballet was introduced to China from outside, it has to “become Chinese.”
This fall, the all-new Shanghai Dance Center will be the home of Shanghai Ballet, Shanghai International Dance Theater and Shanghai Dance School. It will provide state-of-the-art training facilities as well as a full-size theater with 1,008 seats.
After a tour around the Shanghai International Dance Center, the international ballet masters emphasized that in addition to having the best venues and giving full support to dance, the important thing to secure a prosperous future is talent and people.
“I think after having excellent facilities, the next step is to find the right talent and good productions,” said Zhao Ruheng, director of dance at the National Center for the Performing Arts and honorary chairwoman of the Chinese Dancers Association.
Rising stars
Shanghai Dance School is among the top ballet academies in China. It has nurtured many of the country’s top dancers, including Tan Yuanyuan, the most successful Chinese ballerina on the international stage. Tan has been a principal dancer at San Francisco Ballet for almost two decades.
Now, 17-year-old ballerina Yu Hang, who won the gold award in the junior division of the 5th Shanghai International Ballet Competition, is about to embark on her own journey on the global stage.
Yu is Shanghai Ballet School’s rising star. She studied with Lin Meifang, the same teacher who taught Tan.
This February, she competed in one of the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world, the Prix de Lausanne, where she ranked first among all winners.
Yu and Bai Dingkai, another Shanghai Ballet School student who also competed at Prix de Lausanne and ranked seventh, received scholarships to study at the Royal Ballet School in London this September for one year.
“Every competition is a new challenge. We are competing with different dancers, it’s about doing the best I can,” said Yu after a rehearsal for the closing gala performance.
The 5th Shanghai International Ballet Competition was 16-year-old Japanese ballerina Okayasu Haruka’s first international competition. The youngest contestant has been studying at Shanghai Dance School for four years and entered the final round of competition.
The international ballet masters also gave advice to the next generation at a forum on August 5. They explained that as ballet school education is focused primarily on techniques and skills, young dancers should not only be adaptable, but also develop their own style to express their personalities.
“Maybe once, turn away from the mirror, dance to another wall, ask the teacher to sit somewhere else, and try to find inside you what you really, really want to dance,” said Liška.
“You have to take it into your hand, grasp it, shape it, use it, young people. We are waiting for you to become what we are hoping,” he added.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
