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The only Chinese national ballet, the National Ballet of China (NBC) was founded on the 31st of December 1959. Originally known as the Experimental Ballet Company of the Beijing Dance School, "the cradle of dancers", it quickly grew under the influence of numerous Russian masters. During its formative years from 1954 to 1963, Pyotr Gusev and other Russian artists brought the Ballet training typical of the Russian School and assimilated it into the Chinese training program. In collaboration together, the Russians and Chinese successfully staged a number of classical ballets including Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, and Giselle from 1958 to 1960. This first generation of Chinese classical ballet dancers and other artists would go on to help build the company's classical ballet repertoire and lay a solid foundation for the development of the National Ballet of China. Over the past forty-five years, the company has attached great importance to the exploration and the accumulation of ballet knowledge. Today the NBC has an extensive repertoire and has successfully trained many generations of outstanding artists. This winning combination has attracted the attention and praise of the international world of ballet. At present, the NBC has over eighty professional ballet dancers, teachers and regisseurs. Many of its dancers have won gold, silver and bronze medals at major international ballet competitions.
The NBC's artistic mission is twofold. Firstly, to introduce Chinese audiences to Western classical ballets and contemporary ballet works and secondly, to explore the unique fusion possible between classical ballet and Chinese culture. This fusion was achieved by choreographing and creating its own ballets. The NBC's repertoire includes many of such fusion Chinese ballets, which represents the Chinese characteristecs; The Red Detachment of Women, Ode to the Yimeng Mountains, The Son and Daughter of the Grassland, The New Year's Sacrifice, Lin Daiyu, The Yellow River, Butterfly Lovers, The Nut Cracker, and Raise the Red Lantern. A number of other contemporary ballet pieces have won international acclaim, such as Coppelia, Fate, Rainbow of the Night, Chairman Dancers, Rite of Spring and Swan Lake (new version). Each of these ballets is an exploration of the blending between Chinese culture and history with more classical Western elements. The epitome of this blending was displayed in the ballet The Red Detachment of Women, which was choreographed by Li Chengxiang, Jiang Zuhui and Wang Xixian, and relates historical Chinese events through dance.
Continuing its education through cultural exchange, the NBC has worked with a variety of foreign ballet masters and choreographers, including renowned artists Anton Dolin and Rudolf Nureyev, to stage classical ballet works including Pas de Quatre, Variations for Four, Don Quixote, La Sylphide of the Bournonville School, Sleeping Beauty, Ben Stevenson's Fountain of Tears, Lycette Darsonval's Sylvia from the Paris Opera Ballet. Inclusive are also Balanchine's Neo-Classical ballets, including Serenade, and other contemporary works such as Rudy Van Dantzig's The Four Last Songs. Over the last ten years, Director Zhao Ruheng and all members of the NBC have been inspired by the spirit of the company's slogan, "Struggle arduously, keep united and down to earth."They have been diligently contributing to realizing their goal of"Expansion and furtherance of the art of ballet" through numerous performances and collaborations.
The company is further enhanced by the reputation of its own orchestra. The National Ballet of China Symphony Orchestra consists of sixty classically trained musicians and is the only orchestra in China to specializes in ballet accompaniments. It has collaborated with many other ballet companies from home and abroad, as well as giving many well acclaimed solo concerts. Also in house is the NBC's experienced house stage production team who makes each of the exquisite costumes, scenery, props, head-dresses and ballet shoes. The NBC's fortune continues as Beijing's Tianqiao Theatre is affiliated with the company. The theatre was built in 1953 and recently went under renovations which were completed in 2001. It is one of the only theatres in China built specially to host opera and ballet performances.
Since the first day it was founded, the National Ballet of China has never stopped receiving generous support from the Chinese government and from its older generation of performance artists. Foremost amongst these supporters are Dai Ailian and Bai Shuxiang. Throughout the NBC's career and to much international acclaim, the Ballet has toured more than thirty countries around the world including Britain, America, Russia, France, Demark and Italy. The NBC has brought Chinese ballet into the limelight and garnered the praise that it well deserves from the international ballet world.
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