Taking it to the next stage

"Zhang Huoding has been hoping to adapt the Peking Opera piece Farewell My Concubine for the last 10 years. It's a challenging performance for her, especially the interpretation of the sword dance," says Ba Tu, the president of the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts.

In 2015, Zhang closed the annual arts festival with the Peking Opera pieces The Jewelry Pouch and Dream of the Boudoir. The same year, she made her debut in the United States, and caused a sensation when she performed the two famous Peking Opera works The Legend of the White Snake and The Jewelry Pouch, at the Lincoln Center in New York. In 2016, Zhang performed The Legend of the White Snake at the close of the Meet in Beijing Arts Festival in the Chinese capital.