A Ballet Inspired by Movie, Tiptoes Dance A Sign of Love

The Sino-France co-produced ballet A Sigh of Love started rehearsing on 28th June. Since Wong Kar-Wei’s movie (In the Mood for Love) has the same Chinese name with this ballet, the ‘kin’ relationship between the movie and this ballet has attracted special attentions from local and foreign media in Shanghai.

The playwright for this ballet Cao Lu Sheng is also the drama playwright for Dream of Butterfly and The Gadfly. A Sigh of Love is different from the movie In the Mood for Love in time and settings. The ballet shows life in Shanghai in the 1930s-1940s when Shanghai was an ‘isolated island’, and describes a story of two couples. Half of the story is related to the war time background.

Mr. Bertrand d’At, Director of Ballet de L ‘Opera National du Rhin, recommended by the AFAA, is the choreographer. He requires the main characters Sun Shen Yi and Ji Ping Ping to use slight steps to demonstrate the seemingly visible but unavailable love. Costume designer Mr. Jerome Kaplan, who also designed costumes for Raise the Red Latten has already finished miniature samples of sceneries and several drafts for Cheongsam (Qi-Pao).

As the choreographer r. Bertrand d’At introduces, the ballet will use old Shanghai’s popular songs such as The Blossom Youth,Shanghai At Night, Song of Four Seasons etc., and combine the styles of modern music and jazz. Beethoven’s music played by four string instruments will be used to demonstrate four different characters in the ballet to give audience a fresh feeling of the music.

It is the first time that cheongsam has been used as the major ballet costume. More than one hundred cheongsams are used according to 1930s-1940s examples of cheongsams and some fabric. To make it most convenient for dancers to dance, there are two cloths on one cheongsam; the front cloth overlaps the back one with the side vent placed on a higher place. (Jiefang Daily)

 

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