The ballet "White-haired Girl" will appear at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, with 85-year-old Chen Xieyang performing again

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of New China, the Shanghai Ballet's 60th Anniversary Celebration National Tour of China's original ballet "White-Haired Girl" will debut in Beijing from August 16 to 18, participating in the National Grand Theater's Vast National Style and Dancing Classic Series.

In this performance, 85-year-old famous conductor Chen Xieyang will take the stage again. He has been the conductor of "The White-Haired Girl" since 1965 and is one of the first conductors to direct the large-scale ballet "The White-Haired Girl". In addition, the China Film Orchestra and the China Radio Choir will perform live backing tracks and choruses, with Shanghai Opera House singers He Xiaonan and Zheng Yao as soloists. This is also the first time since the play resumed in 1989 that it has been performed in Beijing with live backing tracks, solos and choruses.

In 1964, the original Chinese ballet "White-haired Girl" was born on the stage of the fifth "Shanghai Spring". She marked the breakthrough of Chinese ballet from scratch and was one of the first Chinese ballets to tell the story of China in the world language of ballet. "The White-haired Girl is the starting point of Shanghai-style ballet and one of the founding works of Chinese ballet. Ballet veterans represented by Hu Rongrong, Fu Aidi, Cheng Daihui and Lin Yangyang led the teachers and students of Shanghai Dance School to create together, illuminating the beautiful vision of ballet sinicization and nationalization," said Xin Lili, artistic director of Shanghai Ballet.

Stills from the Shanghai Ballet's ballet "White-haired Girl", "Da Chun" played by Xu Jingkun and "White-haired Girl" played by Guo Wenjin

In 1971, the color art film "White Haired Girl" was filmed by the Shanghai Film Studio and screened nationwide. The film made the play a household name. While using foreign ballet vocabulary, "White Haired Girl" draws on a large number of ethnic folk dances, traditional operas and martial arts materials, while perfectly combining reality and romance. In 1979, the Shanghai Ballet was established on the basis of the "White Haired Girl" crew, taking over the heavy responsibility of inheriting the classics and inheriting the artistic original intention and feelings in "White Haired Girl".

Musically, the ballet "White-haired Girl" retains the original opera "North Wind Blows", "Red Head Rope" and other tracks, and also absorbs a large number of folk songs in North China, Hebei Bangzi and Shanxi Bangzi, and uses the combination of orchestral music and national musical instruments, making the dance rich in distinct national styles and a strong sense of life.

"The White-Haired Girl" has infected generations of Chinese with its true history and romantic emotions. The play was awarded the "Chinese National 20th Century Dance Classic Competition and Performance Classic Award" by the Ministry of Culture in 1994, and was listed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2021 as "Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China". Key Supporting Works of Stage Art Excellent Creation Project ".

Stills from the Shanghai Ballet's ballet "The White-Haired Girl", "Da Chun" played by Zhang Wenjun and "Xi'er" played by Zhao Meici

"The White-Haired Girl" is still full of vitality. The total number of performances at home and abroad has exceeded 2,000, not only all over the country, but also in France, Australia, Singapore, Canada, the United States, Japan, North Korea and other parts of the world. The principal and main actors of each generation of Shanghai Ballet started their artistic career by playing "Xi'er" and "Wang Dachun", using the best actors to inherit the most classic works, and then using the most classic works to cultivate and nurture each generation of actors, which has become the fine tradition of Shanghai Ballet.

This time, the lead actors are Qi Bingxue, the chief star, Xu Jingkun, Guo Wenjin, the main actors of the "post-00s", Zhang Wenjun, Zhao Meici, and so on. In order to present the artistic charm of "The White-Haired Girl" authentically, the dance troupe specially invited Lu Caigen, who has been the lighting engineer of "The White-Haired Girl" since 1964, to "return to the rivers and lakes".

Ji Pingping, head of the Shanghai Ballet, said: "The original Chinese ballet'White-haired Girl 'shows the original spirit of Chinese ballet art to the world. We will continue to adhere to the ingenuity and perseverance, tell the Chinese story well, and walk the road of creating for the people."