NBT makes its pointe with ballet

A silent, delicate and beautiful English ballerina and her dancing co-stars have left their marks on Chinese audiences.

From mid December to last week, the Leeds-based Northern Ballet Theater (NBT) embarked on a seven-city tour in China with its widely acclaimed production of Madame Butterfly. The English dancers had the honor of closing the 5th Beijing International Dance Festival in powerful fashion.

Audiences were impressed with the East-meets-West choreography and a perfect blend of pointe with Japanese-style dancing and movement.

The exquisitely designed Japanese settings, such as the kimonos, folding fans and yamato-e, were reminiscent of the early 20th century Japan, and added rich texture to Giacomo Puccini's world famous masterpiece.

Madame Butterfly is particularly relevant in these fast-changing times, according to Professor Chris Bailey, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Society from Leeds Metropolitan University.

"The show is one of the most famous statements of the West about the East. Now 100 years later, after the world has changed so much, I think it's a good time to look at that piece again and ask what has changed," he says.

The university, Leeds City Council and Yorkshire Forward had sponsored NBT's tour in China, which acted as an ambassador for the city and the Yorkshire region.

As the powerhouse of northern England and one of the fastest growing cities in Britain over the past 20 years, Leeds has rich cultural assets, which it wants to share with its Chinese counterparts, Bailey says.

Famous for its cultural scene, the city is home to the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition and top international performing companies, such as Opera North, NBT and Phoenix Dance Theater.

Performing arts, cinema and music are just part of the rapidly developing creative industry in Leeds. The city is among the first in the UK to draft active cultural policies to help develop the industry since the country made it a major national policy in 1997.

"China, too, has a specific policy to develop its creative industries. That comes out of a general recognition that the world economy is now driven by knowledge rather than by things. And culture plays a very important part in it," Bailey says.

As Beijing counts down to the 2008 Olympics and London prepares for the 2012 Games, cultural exchanges between the two countries are considered crucial for better relations.

For NBT and Leeds Metropolitan University, fields of cooperation are being explored extensively in education, arts and sports.

NBT, for example, ran a week-long dance workshop last month in Beijing for 20 participants aged between 18 and 25, half of whom are disabled. The workshop was designed to enhance their communication skills through dancing.

In Beijing, Leeds Metropolitan University is working with a local university on sports and Olympics related projects. And it also plans to participate in the Festival of Experimental Theater, in Shanghai, 2010.

"The Olympics in China and the UK will provide good opportunities for us to build links," Bailey says.

(China Daily 01/08/2008 page19)