Southern culture

For Guangdong Song and Dance Ensemble, the local culture is a source of creativity, with many of its performances highlighting traditional elements and the zeitgeist of today.

The ensemble's first musical Goodbye 1990－that tells the stories of young people who went to Guangdong province's capital Guangzhou hoping to make it big in the 1990s－was performed in 2019, with vintage stage design and Cantonese songs reenacting the social environment and urban culture.

The ensemble is now taking it even further by incorporating Guangdong cultural elements, such as nanquan (a martial art style that originated in the southern banks of the Yangtze River) and the lion dance, into their second original musical Mission Must Be Achieved, which started touring Guangdong on June 25.

The musical tells the story of Zou Li, a courier who is searching for his long-lost sister. When delivering a package to a boxing club, he finds a clue that could lead him to his sister, but little does he know that the mission also leads him to a boxing championship.

The director of both musicals Gao Ruijia says compared to Goodbye 1990, which is about young people pursuing their dreams, Mission Must Be Achieved is a person's self-contemplation after gaining some life experience.

"We need a sense of mission, but we don't necessarily need to see everything as a mission that must be completed with success. It's not about reaching the goals. What is more important is to keep the passion alive," Gao says.

While the musical features boxing, the production team also fuses martial arts into the songs and dances. Producer Li Siyin says they invited professionals, including boxing championship winners, national martial arts champions and other top athletes to instruct the performers.

Choreographer Chang Eunsuk from South Korea has been taking boxing lessons since the end of February, despite that she was working in multiple cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

"I hoped to learn more about boxing and martial arts, so that I could better integrate them into the dance, which is a highlight of the choreography of this musical,"Chang says. "This musical is a challenge for everyone. Learning boxing and martial arts from scratch was a bit strange at first, but now the performers are doing a very good job of getting it right. Apart from rehearsals, I often see them practicing the dances and martial arts, or doing muscle-building workouts. I'm very happy to see them work so hard and feel for their dedication."

Apart from the regional cultural elements, the musical also strikes a balance between the traditional and the modern by adopting music genres such as rock 'n' roll and rap.

Tong Daqin, a composer of the musical and deputy director of the ensemble, says he watched several boxing films before working on the compositions, so that the music could correspond with the power of the sport and the sense of mission that drives the roles.

"Boxing originated in the West, and kung fu is our traditional culture, so I used a combination of ethnic music elements and electronic rock in the arrangement and instrumentation, trying to give these two different cultures a chance to interact with each other," Tong says.

The musical is one of four stage works by Guangdong Song and Dance Ensemble that will embark on a national tour this year, along with three dance dramas.

"Musicals entered Guangdong early－a lot of excellent works have been created here, especially Dongguan in the early years. It takes time to not only create great works, but also build an audience, and I believe now is the best time for this," Li says.

"Guangdong Song and Dance Ensemble is a leading figure in presenting Guangdong culture. In our musical productions, we aim to integrate Guangdong's cultural elements and the local characters into the musicals, so that these works can resonate with the local audience. We also hope that these musicals will go national and global."