Qingming Riverside in Washington

by Wu Kong

Recently， the curtain of the Eisenhower Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington， D.C. rose for the Chinese dance drama Qingming Riverside. Accompanied by the tinkling of thawing ice， the extravaganza like a three-dimensional Chinese scroll unrolled a pic- ture of China during the Northern Song Dynasty （960-1127）. The production depicted folk celebrations for the coming of the spring， a prosperous marketplace and the busy banks of the Bianhe River in central China during Qingming Festival about 1，000 years ago.

The folk-fusion dance drama was inspired by an ancient painting called Along the River During the Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan （1085-1145）. The five-meterlong scroll depicts social life in the busy and prosperous capital city of the Northern Song. The painting includes more than 800 figures， including high-ranking officials， nobles and commoners， all accented by various expressions and positioned in varying situations. The stage adaptation usesrich dancing elements of central Chinas culture to represent the hustle and bustle of the ancient city on the Bianhe River portrayed in the painting.

Since 2007， when the drama was first staged by the Hong Kong Dance Company in the Hong Kong Cultural Center， it has been performed more than 30 times elsewhere， in cities such as Beijing， Shanghai， Hangzhou， and Nanjing. In 2008 and 2010， the production was dispatched as the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to participate in cultural activities of the Beijing Olympic Games and Expo Shanghai. In January 2013， Qingming Riverside was performed at the Sony Center for the Performing Arts in Toronto， Canada， and at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington， D.C.， U.S.A.

According to artistic director Leung Kwok-shing， the dramas music was composed before its dance was choreographed. He explained that the music is based on traditional Chinese classics， while sets and the 16 poetic dances of the drama were inspired by the countryside， riverside and streets depicted in the painting. Each dance features folk elements and vividly represents local life of the time. “I endeavored to inject new meaning and delight into traditional dance，” Leung asserted， outlining his principles of creation. “But at the same time， I tried to keep as much as I could of the exquisite nature of traditional Chinese dance.”

The greatest challenge the creators faced was ensuring that a drama focusing on an ancient Chinese capital could beunderstood and appreciated by modern foreign audiences. “We wrestled with finding the best way to promote and spread traditional culture，” Leung adds. “We wanted to effectively communicate our stories across cultural barriers and help this genre be better received by the world. These were the issues my colleagues and I pondered extensively. The production crew made efforts to inject more imagination and modern sense of beauty to bring Chinese traditional culture closer to the audience. Essentially， we are trying to showcase Chinese tradition with poetic choreography.”

“Along the River During the Qingming Festival depicts the lives of commoners rather than emperors， generals and ministers，” declared Gerard Tsang， executive director of the Hong Kong Dance Company. “The painting includes many common daily scenes such as a peasant praying for rain， busy merchants， and a woman pushing a handcart. From them we can see that many people at the time maintained a diligent and restrained attitude towards life.”He believes that stories about common people tend to be more easily accepted and welcomed by spectators.

Qingming Riverside actually joined“Image China，” China Arts and Entertainment Groups annual Chinese folk dance tour to the U.S. In 2012， Silk Road and Peony Pavilion， two of the best known dance dramas of the group， were staged at two top U.S. theaters： The Kennedy Center and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Qingming Riversides two predecessors made it more easily accepted by American audiences.