Classic red ballet staged for International Women's Day

The Red Detachment of Women, China's first original ballet production by the National Ballet of China which premiered in Beijing in 1964, will be staged at Beijing's Tianqiao Theater on March 8, International Women's Day.

Based on the film of the same name, it tells the story of a rural woman, 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.

The classic ballet has been staged worldwide thousands of times and is still popular today. From March to May, the ballet piece will be staged in several Chinese cities including Guangzhou and Shenzhen, both in Guangdong province, and Nantong, Jiangsu province.

It will also kick off the National Ballet of China's nationwide tour, which will feature classic ballet works such as Giselle and Onegin, as well as the company's contemporary works, including Dunhuang and The Crane Calling.

The company's annual creative workshop, which brings together young choreographers, will be held at the Tianqiao Theater on April 12 and 13.

Besides ballet works, the company's symphony orchestra will perform three concerts on April 9, May 8 and May 23 at the National Center for the Performing Arts and Beijing Concert Hall.