Famed choreographer dies at 87

Li Chengxiang, a renowned Chinese choreographer and former head of the National Ballet of China, died on Dec 14 at the age of 87 in Beijing after a long illness.

One of his most famous choreographic works is Red Detachment of Women, China's first original ballet production, which premiered in the capital in 1964 and is best known in the West as the ballet performed for former US president Richard Nixon during his visit to China in 1972.

Based on a film by the same name, it tells the story of a rural girl, Wu Qionghua, who escapes a life of slavery and joins an all-female Communist Party army battalion led by commander Hong Changqing on Hainan Island during the civil war in the early 1930s. Li also played the ruthless landlord Nan Ba Tian in Red Detachment of Women then.

"Ballet in China has a nearly 60-year history. The key to Chinese ballet's growing popularity is its interest in telling homegrown stories and Red Detachment of Women is a landmark in the history of Chinese ballet," said Feng Ying, head of the National Ballet of China. "Li had made great contribution to the development of China's ballet."

Feng notes that Red Detachment of Women is still popular today among middle-aged people and the younger generation, and has been touring worldwide. The National Ballet of China staged the ballet in Spain on Dec 5, marking the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"Different generations of ballet dancers of the National Ballet of China perform the classic piece, which is a legacy left by Li," Feng adds.

Feng graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy in 1979 and joined the National Ballet of China the same year. In 1980, she played the leading role in the ballet production Lin Daiyu, choreographed by Li, which was based on the main character, Lin Daiyu, in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) writer Cao Xueqin's classic Chinese novel, Dream of the Red Chamber.

Li, who was born in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, graduated from North China University, the predecessor of Renmin University of China, with a major of theater, and started working with the Central Academy of Drama as a dancer the same year.

He was enrolled to study ballet in 1955 as the first group of students from Beijing Dance School under the guidance of Russian artists.

In 1957, Li became the assistant teacher of the school when Russian dancer and choreographer Pyotr Gusev was the school's artistic director. The same year, under the instruction and direction of Russian experts, China staged La Fille Mal Gardee (The Wayward Daughter), a masterpiece created in the 18th century, with Li as one of the choreographers.

With the founding of the National Ballet of China in 1959, Li played in the first three classic ballet productions adapted by the troupe: Swan Lake, Le Corsaire (The Pirate) and Giselle.

"He was not only a great choreographer but also a talented performer," said Zhao Ruheng, former president of National Ballet of China, who took the position in 1994 after Li's 10-year tenure. "It was Li and the elder generation of Chinese ballet dancer-choreographers who laid a solid foundation for China's ballet. He witnessed the birth and development of Chinese ballet."