China’s Guangzhou Ballet presents the provocative four-act ballet Return on a Snowy Night in the NAC’s Southam Hall on October 15, 2011. The performance is sold out, but those still interested should check for last minute returns.

The award-winning company brings this innovative and exploratory cultural masterpiece to Western audiences, integrating traditional Chinese dance, opera, art, and music, paired with brilliant classical technique.

Founded in 1994, Guangzhou Ballet, considered the youngest ballet company in China, continues to earn well-deserved recognition as a major, rising force in the dance world. Under the artistic leadership of Zhang Dandan, former Principal dancer with the National Ballet of China (formerly the Central Ballet of China), the company has produced dozens of accomplished programs embracing both Western classics and original ballets based on Chinese themes. 

Dramatic, delicate, and sensuous, Return on a Snowy Night, choreographed by Fu Xingbang, made its debut in 2009 – adapted from a stage play of the same title by the eminent dramatist Wu Zuguang. The original play created quite a sensation following its premiere in the 1940s in Chongqing, China due to its tragic love story between a well-known Peking Opera singer and a high-ranking official’s concubine over a 20-year period. Since its premiere, the classic story, and significant cultural masterpiece revered by generations of Chinese audiences, has been retold in film, television, and opera.

The ballet Return on a Snowy Night won the 13^th Wenhua Award and five individual awards in choreography, music, stage art design, costumes and excellent performance by the Ministry of Culture in 2010. The ballet also won the First Prize in the 7^th Guangzhou Art Awards in 2010.

Return on a Snowy Night is a visual spectacle, introducing audiences to one of China’s leading ballet companies while showcasing the technical precision, elegant artistry, and musicality of the Guangzhou Ballet’s exquisite company of dancers.

" Guangzhou Ballet showed the kind of brilliant classical ballet technique that Montreal only rarely sees, and it was a pleasure to watch.”
The Montreal Gazette

Return on a Snowy Night
Author:                                    Wu Zuguang
Artistic Adviser:                       Wu Zuqiang
Playwright and Chief Director: Chen Jianli
Composer:                               Fang Ming
Assistant Composer:                Hui Peifeng
Choreographer:                        Fu Xingbang
Assistant Choreographer:         Simon Sylvain Lalonde
Stage Designers:                       Sun Tianwei and Lin Ankang
Lighting Designer:                    Sun Tianwei
Costume Designer:                   Mai Qing
Makeup and Stylist:                 He Limin
Stage Manager:                        Han Wenjun
Artistic Director:                      Zhang Dandan

Producers: Publicity Department of CPC Guangzhou Municipal Committee Administration of Press, Publication, Radio and Television of Guangzhou Municipality

Duration: 2 hours and 5 minutes, 1 intermission

 

Guangzhou Ballet – PUBLIC CLASS For advanced-level ballet students and dancers (aged 14 and up) Friday, October 14, 2011 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Cost: $15, payable in cash on site You must REGISTER in advance, as space is limited, at soutter@magma.ca 613-947-7000 ext. 588 – Renata Soutter, Dance Outreach Coordinator

Guangzhou Ballet’s Return on a Snowy Night is presented for one night only in Southam Hall on Saturday, October 15 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $38.74, $48.43, $59.19 and $64.57 for adults and $20.87, $25.72, $31.10 and $33.79 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card).

Tickets are available for purchase:

• In person at the NAC Box Office
• At all Ticketmaster outlets
• By telephone from Ticketmaster, 1-888-991-2787 (ARTS) new!
• Online through the Ticketmaster link on the NAC’s website (www.nac-cna.ca)
• A service charge applies on all purchases made through Ticketmaster

This production is eligible for the Live Rush program. Full-time students aged 13-29 with a valid Live Rush membership may buy up to two tickets per performance at the discounted price of only $12 per ticket. Live Rush tickets are available from 10 a.m. on the day before the performance until 6 p.m. on the day of the performance. This includes all available seats, including the best seats in the house. Check out liverush.ca for information on the Live Rush program.

For additional information please visit the NAC website: www.nac-cna.ca

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For more information, please contact:
Eleri Evans
Marketing and Communications Officer, NAC Dance
613-947-7000 ext. 379;
e-mail: eleri.evans@nac-cna.ca