A Dream of Red Mansions dance drama debuts in New York

A folk dance drama adaptation of the Chinese literature classic A Dream of Red Mansions made its New York debut on Friday, drawing hundreds of theatergoers who greeted the performers with a thunderous ovation at the close of the two-hour performance.

The show will continue its run at the David H Koch Theater in New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts through Sept 13.

Over the centuries, the masterpiece written by Cao Xueqin (1715-1763) during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), also known as The Story of the Stone, has served as an inexhaustible wellspring of artistic reinvention, inspiring countless adaptations across film, television, and traditional Chinese opera.

Produced by the Jiangsu Center for the Performing Arts, and co-directed and choreographed by Li Xing and Li Chao, the production arrives on American shores backed by extraordinary momentum.

Since its 2021 debut, the show has logged more than 480 performances across China and Singapore, and captured two of China's top cultural honors: the national Lotus Award for dancing and the Wenhua Award for theater, according to a press release from the Jiangsu center.

Drawing on traditional Chinese cultural symbols, the latest production distills Cao's epic into a purely visual language, converting its intricate romantic tragedy and meditations on life's impermanence into sweeping, dynamic choreography.

The performance, organized into 12 standalone yet interconnected acts, reimagines iconic literary vignettes through an immersive visual and auditory experience.

The visual grandeur of the show resonated strongly with American dance luminaries in attendance.

Mira Nadon, a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, said the production's inventive stagecraft and emotional weight gave her an immediate impression.

"It was beautiful. It was very moving," Nadon said. "The sets and costumes and the production were gorgeous. I loved the way they had the interactive set -- it was really creative, and all the costumes were just so visually stunning."

She highlighted the climax of the first half, saying: "I think the scene at the end of Act Two, with all the women and the flowers, was really powerful."