Chinese Ballet: From the Nation to the World

Ballet, an art form that originated in Italy during the Renaissance in the 15th century, is a dazzling pearl on the world stage. Since its introduction in China in the 1950s, ballet has undergone innovation and exploration, and has initially formed an artistic style with unique charm. Chinese ballet workers have dug deeply into the essence of traditional Chinese culture on the basis of Western ballet, and created many masterpieces that blend Eastern and Western elements. Landmark classics such as "The Red Detachment of Women" and "The White-Haired Girl" combine Chinese stories with Western ballet techniques to present audiences with works that are both full of Chinese characteristics and full of artistic innovation.

In recent years, Chinese ballet has gone international and has received extensive attention and love. Works such as "The Red Lantern Hangs High" and "Peony Pavilion" have also been warmly welcomed and highly praised abroad, and their international influence has been continuously enhanced. Chinese ballet has gone from simply imitating and learning from Western classics to a position side by side with it, and has launched a number of ballet works with strong Chinese characteristics. In terms of style, "Dunhuang" by the Central Ballet Company, "Yellow River Fu" by the Ballet Department of Beijing Dance Academy, and "Xi Shi" by Suzhou Ballet are all outstanding representatives of Chinese ballet exploring the integration of Chinese and Western dance. These works actively combine traditional Chinese culture and artistic elements with Western ballet dance techniques and expressions, breaking the traditional physical operation of ballet and injecting new artistic charm and vitality into it. "Dunhuang" combines ballet dance techniques with the flying images in Dunhuang murals, presenting a brand-new art form that has both traditional Chinese characteristics and the modernity and internationalization of ballet dance. "Yellow River Fu" successfully combines Chinese classical dance elements with ballet dance techniques by depicting the spectacular scenery of the Yellow River and the tenacious spirit of the Chinese nation, presenting a dance work with both a strong ethnic style and a modern sense to the audience. And "Xi Shi" will be ancient Chinese history story and ballet dance techniques, performance form perfectly intertwined, so that the ancient Chinese beautiful woman image of Xi Shi radiated new charm.

In terms of subject matter, Chinese ballet has shifted from Western classical ballet to simply expressing love and court life, to more expressing Chinese history, culture and national spirit. Shanghai Ballet's "Sparkling Red Star" is a representative work in recent years. The play tells the story of Pan Dongzi, a Red Army soldier, who fought valiantly to protect his mother and thousands of families in an affectionate and passionate way. It is not only a celebration of ideals and beliefs, but also an expression of revolutionary spirit. The expression of strong national emotions successfully broke the "cold feeling" that ballet often has, and made it closer to people's aesthetic habits. Drawing inspiration from the important historical event of the Guangzhou Uprising, Guangzhou Ballet's "Banner" tells the heroic deeds of revolutionary martyrs who sacrificed themselves for national righteousness. The movement design in the dance drama fully takes into account the artistic characteristics of Chinese dance, so that this work not only shows ballet skills, but also shows strong ethnic customs. The Liaoning Ballet's "Eight Women Throwing into the River" uses the smart language of ballet and the thick artistic charm to interpret the tragic act of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation "Eight Women Throwing into the River", which shocked the world and sobbing ghosts and gods, to a vivid and emotional interpretation.

These works demonstrate the exploration and development of Chinese ballet in the new era, and fully reflect the achievements of Chinese ballet in inheriting and developing its classical characteristics while deeply exploring and integrating into the excellent traditional Chinese culture. People from different cultural backgrounds in the world feel the family and national spirit condensed in Chinese ballet, and Chinese ballet has also added color to the world ballet art, providing valuable experience and inspiration for the exchange and mutual learning of international dance art.

Ballet art is a worldwide language, which requires Chinese ballet to have a broad vision and an international perspective. Since ballet art entered China, the leaders of the world's ballet schools have melted together here. East and West cultures have further deepened exchanges through the art form of ballet. A large number of world-class artists, choreographers and actors have come to China for exchanges and cooperation. Chinese local talents have also gone abroad to participate in international invitations and creative performances. International exchanges and cooperation have not only accelerated the technological progress of Chinese ballet, but also brought new inspiration to its artistic creation. Chinese ballet continues to explore, summarize and discover how ballet, a Western art form, can better complete the interpretation of world culture in the artistic soil of the East, and tell Chinese stories well in world languages.

After several generations of hard work, Chinese ballet is based on the world ballet art and rooted in the excellent traditional Chinese culture. It has continuously grown new branches and harvested many fruits, presenting the unique style of Chinese ballet and undertaking the mission of cultural dissemination. The development prospect of Chinese ballet is broad, and there are endless possibilities in both technical and artistic creation. In the future, we firmly believe that Chinese ballet will continue to develop and innovate, injecting more vitality and energy into the world dance art.