TICKETS SELL FAST AS VENUES WELCOME RETURN OF AUDIENCES

The performing arts industry is witnessing a sellout return as the fight against COVID-19 continues, with tickets being snapped up fast for concerts, ballets, outdoor music festivals and traditional Chinese operas.

Performance venues are not as full as they were before the pandemic emerged, though, as they adhere to the one-seat-apart rule.

In Guangdong province, Chen Rui, deputy general manager of the Guangzhou Opera House, said, "Even taking this into account, performances have continuously sold out."

The opera house has launched the Guangzhou Art Season, bringing nearly 220 shows to audiences from this month to October.

"The Guangzhou Art Season has been a popular event for local audiences for the past 11 years. Shows also sold out before the pandemic, but judging from the messages audiences have left on our social media platforms, we can sense their enthusiasm and anticipation to return to the venue," Chen said.

During the past two and a half years, the pandemic has forced many shows to be canceled or postponed. When cases of COVID-19 surged in April, the Guangzhou Opera House, like many other performing arts venues in the city, closed temporarily. Some touring productions canceled their visits to Guangzhou, and local art troupes also stopped their shows.

"In April and May, we saw repeated closures and reopenings. This month, with cases under control, the venue has resumed operations, audiences have flocked back and are continuing to do so," Chen said.

This year, the Guangzhou Art Season highlights local art troupes' productions, as artists from other cities may find it difficult to travel to Guangzhou due to the pandemic.

The opening show, staged on June 8 and 9, was a contemporary acrobatic production, The Butterfly Lovers, performed and produced by the Guangzhou Acrobatic Arts Troupe of China.

Featuring star acrobats Wu Zhengdan and Wei Baohua, and veteran choreographer and director Zhao Ming, the show premiered at the Guangzhou Opera House in March last year and won warm feedback from audiences.

The story of The Butterfly Lovers is well known among Chinese audiences. Combining ballet and acrobatic techniques, it is based on the tragic romance between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, known as "the Chinese Romeo and Juliet".When Wu performs a pirouette on the shoulder of Wei－her longtime partner and also her husband－and then another on his head, audiences are transfixed.

Wu said, "We've been making plans and canceling them after the successful premiere of the show last year. We planned to tour more than 30 cities, but only made it to about 10 of them.

"As an artist, I want to share my work with as many audiences as possible. Although we have staged virtual shows, we never feel the same thrill as when we interact with theater audiences."

In 2005, the couple stunned audiences with a version of Swan Lake. The fusion of dance and stunts earned the production global acclaim that resulted in several world tours and a total of 2,000 shows at venues including the Royal Opera House in London, the Kennedy Center in Washington and the Kremlin Ballet Theater in Moscow.

Acrobatics, a Chinese tradition dating to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), are struggling to survive amid market competition, but the couple's creative ideas offered a new visual experience for audiences.

For Wu, 40, The Butterfly Lovers marked the fulfillment of a promise she made to herself. In 2003, she performed a five-minute-long piece with her husband during China Central Television's annual Spring Festival Gala, receiving warm audience acclaim. As a result, Wu decided to turn the performance into a full-length acrobatic show.

The Guangdong Music and Folk Art Troupe will close the Guangzhou Art Season, which features concerts, operas and musicals, with a local folk music concert on Oct 28 and 29. The event will also mark the 25th anniversary next month of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

Performance companies from around China have been invited to join the event, including the China Oriental Performing Arts Group from Beijing, which will perform the popular dance drama A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains.

Chen said: "We are prepared to make some last-minute adjustments, as the situation regarding COVID-19 is unpredictable. Since the pandemic emerged in early 2020, we've learned to live with the changing situation and move forward, building a 'new normal' for the Guangzhou Opera House."

To attract audiences back to performing arts venues, local authorities are also offering about 100,000 low-priced tickets to shows during the Guangzhou Art Season.

According to a Zhejiang Daily report, theaters in Zhejiang province are also witnessing a revival, with audiences returning for live performances.

On May 28, Zhejiang Wuju Opera Troupe staged the classic production Legend of the White Snake, featuring award-winning performers Yang Xiayun and Lou Sheng.

The newspaper report stated: "Tickets sold out in just one day. The theater had to open seats on the second tier to cater to the audience."

Wuju, a form of opera from Jinhua, Zhejiang, has its roots in neighboring Anhui province, with a history dating to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The traditional art form was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

Theater audiences in Zhejiang are also returning for The Legend of Beauty, staged by the Suzhou Ballet Theater. The company finally resumed its tour by staging performances in Hangzhou on June 15 and in Shaoxing on Friday. It also staged the production in Ningbo yesterday.

Li Ying, a former ballerina who cofounded the company in 2007 with her husband Pan Jiabin, also a former ballet dancer, said, "We planned to go touring immediately after the Spring Festival holiday in February, but had to postpone these plans until now."

The couple, principal dancers with the National Ballet of China from 1987 to 1992, joined the United States ballet company BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio, before dancing at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater in Pennsylvania for 12 years until 2006.

Li said: "It's been a roller coaster ride with the pandemic. Our dancers are even more excited to return to the theater than our audiences."

During Duanwu, the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday, the company gave outdoor performances near Jinji Lake, a scenic spot in Suzhou－the first time it had performed to audiences after new outbreaks of COVID-19 were reported in February.

"Almost every day the outdoor space was open to audiences, it was fully booked. The weather was good and people wanted to go outside to have some fun," Li said.

Li Fan, director of the theater and drama department at the Shaanxi Opera House and Xi'an Concert Hall, said, "We've attracted more audiences this year after the city was hit hard by the pandemic."

In December, a monthlong lockdown was introduced in Xi'an, the Shaanxi provincial capital.

"From February to June, we saw a rise of about 30 percent in our newly registered audience members－more than ever before," Li Fan said.

From June 10 to 18, the Chinese play Hello Rob!, directed by Rao Xiaozhi, was staged at the Xi'an venue to full houses, mainly comprising newcomers.

Li Fan said, "As the play premiered in Xi'an in 2003, we thought that audiences coming to watch it this time would include some of our old fans. To our surprise, many new supporters came to see the production.

"Even though they may not be familiar with the play, they're coming to see it as a show, as a form of entertainment."

This month, the Xi'an venue also launched a series of talk shows in conjunction with leading domestic standup comedy enterprise Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media Co.

Xu Zhisheng, a popular talk show performer, gave three shows during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, all of them selling out within minutes.

Li Fan said the local government also offers low-priced tickets to attract audiences back to theaters.

Meanwhile, the Strawberry Music Festival, the biggest outdoor music gathering in China, has announced its return.

The festival will be held simultaneously on July 2 and 3 in Wanning, a coastal city in Hainan province, and Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province. The lineup for Wanning features a total of 22 artists and bands, including New Pants, Dada and Jiulian Zhenren.

Song Jia, manager of Jiulian Zhenren, a four-piece rock band from Lianping county, Guangdong, said: "The upcoming Strawberry Music Festival will be our first performance at an outdoor music festival this year. Like our audiences, we have been anticipating the shows for some time."