Don't wear confining clothes if you want to really get into Roland Petit's Pink Floyd Ballet, featuring "Run Like Hell" and other passionate numbers late this month.

In "Run Like Hell" from Pink Floyd's album "The Wall," a splendid male dancer dashes out like a rock star followed by crazed screams from the audience. That was during the ballet's latest performance last month in Beijing.

It was an astonishing ballet by China's premier ballet company, the National Ballet of China, known for classical ballet.

Unlike some boring, suffocating contemporary dance, this magnificent ballet is very entertaining and keeps you watching.

It will be performed in Shanghai as part of the Shanghai Dance Festival, along with three Chinese ballets, "In the Mood for Love," "The Forbidden City," and "A Dream of Red Mansions."

"Pink Floyd is our company's first effort at such a contemporary ballet," said Feng Ying, vice director of the National Ballet of China.

"It is a beautiful ballet with many symbols of the relationship between man and nature, and it inspires our Chinese choreographers," she said.

The ballet was choreographed in 1973 in Paris by Roland Petit who happened to listen to his daughter's album by Pink Floyd, a legendary rock group in the 1970s and 80s.

Immediately falling in love with the music, Petit took a plane to dine with the band in London and decided to create a ballet with the score.

The dance consists of 18 sections using 12 pieces from the renowned albums "The Wall," "The Dark Side of the Moon," "Meddle," "Relics," "Obscured by Clouds," and "Is Anybody Out There?"

The dance includes a male solo, pas de deux, dance for five youths, dance for 11 youths and corps de ballet.

The set is simple with colored spotlights. The dancers all wear white. The sound of fierce wind separates different dance sections.

The ballet is amazing. Whether fighting-yet-embracing or push-me-pull-you moments, the movements appear so natural that they seem not to have been designed by a choreographer but flow from the dancers' hearts.

"As a young woman I loved to dance to Pink Floyd - it made me feel free and unconstrained. I felt a passion to dance," says Zhu Yan, prima ballerina.

"You can express yourself with the rhythms. We young dancers are very active in this ballet and can feel the passionate feedback from the audience. It's very exciting."

"The show was awesome, and made a strong impact on the audience," said Li Chengxiang, former director of the ballet company. "I couldn't control my emotions. All sections were very eye-catching. Sometimes I almost burst into tears. It was the passion of the dance and dancers.

"Pink Floyd's music, the dreamy, stage effects and the interaction between the performers and the audience touched my heart."

The Pink Floyd Ballet is part of the Shanghai Dance Festival. Three other Chinese dances will be performed, including "The Forbidden City" about the liberation of Chinese women, the ballet "A Dream of Red Mansions," and a new ballet, "In the Mood for Love" inspired by Hong Kong director Wong Karwai's award-winning movie at the Shanghai Grand Theater.

Well, maybe wearing soft and comfortable clothes to enjoy a passionate dance show is the best way to ward off the damp chill of Shanghai in January.

"In the Mood for Love"
Date: January 12-13, 7:15pm
Tickets: 100-500 yuan

"A Dream of Red Mansions"
Date: January 16-18, 7:15pm
Tickets: 100-500 yuan

"The Forbidden City"

Date: January 20-21, 7:15pm
Tickets: 100-500 yuan

"Pink Floyd Ballet"

Date: January 28-29, 7:15pm
Tickets: 120-680 yuan

Address: Shanghai Grand Theater, 300 People's Ave
Tel: 021-962-288