On November 14th, the National Ballet of China (hereinafter referred to as “NBC”) came to SWUPL and gave an art feast for all the teachers and students in the student activity center.

Before the feast was given, the vice president Liu Xiangshu met NBC’s vice president Zhang Yi and his party in the first floor of the student activity center. The two parties talked about the SWUPL’s recreational activities and the Elegant Art Campaign Among Schools before they exchanged gifts.

The whole activity consists of four parts: a brief introduction to the history of ballet, a ballet class simulation, a step-by-step learning course and the ballet shows. An NBC choreographer Li Ning, the hostess of the show, firstly made an introduction to the history and development of the western ballet as well as the NBC. Then, she invited some dancers to show the basic skills such as Tips of Toes, Battement Tendu, Pirouette, Saute, etc. The audiences, including the teachers and the students, quickly got a basic knowledge of ballet through the dancer’s movement and Li’s explanation. In the latter step-by-step learning course, Li invited 30 students to the stage to learn the basic movements led by a dancer.

The real show began with the Female Classical Four Dance, which perfectly showed women’s beauty of tenderness. In the Dying Swan, the dancer Lu Di became an exquisite specimen of a swan attempting to escape death through every catching movement and every delicate gesture. The modern ballet Brave Mario was absolutely a different style from the former - the cheering tune and the professional but funny movements of the dancers quickly heated the air and made the audiences applaud to the rhythm of the music. The Act I of the Red Detachment of Women, a famous Chinese classical ballet, and an episode of the Swan Lake, were performed as the last two but the best ones. With the little dancing ‘swans’scattered around the stage, the ‘prince ’and the ‘princess’danced elegantly to the music the Whistling Swans. The air became warmest ever and all the dancers came out delivering their thanks to the audiences through dancing, winning an ever long lasting applause.

Background information:

Hold jointly by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance, the Elegant Art Campaign Among Schools holds a theme of “Approaching masters, Enjoying classics, cultivating temperament and improving morals”.  During this campaign, the National Ballet of China, China National Peking Opera Company, and the National Theatre of China will send the professional dancers and their excellent performances to the students, aiming at promoting the campaign, enriching the schools’ cultural life and improving the level of aesthetic knowledge among students.