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Zabrina Lo

When Hong Kong Ballet’s resident choreographer Ricky Hu Songwei and his wife, fellow choreographer Mai Jingwen, were assigned to create a new production inspired by Dunhuang for the company, they had what they describe as “an immediate headache”.
Dunhuang, in northwestern China, is known for the Mogao Caves, a Unesco World Heritage site on the ancient Silk Road featuring more than 1,000 years of Buddhist rock art. Over the years, its murals and statues have inspired numerous dance productions across China, all bringing the site’s wall paintings to life by blending classical ballet techniques with Dunhuang dance movements.
“There are so many dance dramas based on Dunhuang themes already, so how could we create something different from theirs?” Mai says.
Audiences often arrive with fixed stereotypes of the murals or feel they need academic preparation, she adds. “That’s why we were bashing our brains to find a story that would genuinely resonate.”
The two, with the Hong Kong Ballet team, visited the caves in October last year to look for inspiration for Dunhuang: In Search of Light, set to premiere on October 16 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
The show is co-commissioned by the Greater Bay Area International Theatre Festival, which will run until December, and is co-produced by the China Arts and Entertainment Group. Plans to run Dunhuang: In Search of Light in the rest of the Greater Bay Area have yet to be announced.

Not what they anticipated
Hu and Mai expected to be stunned by grand sculptures lit by floodlights and surrounded by intricate, elaborate wall paintings. To their surprise, the grottoes – which number in the hundreds – were kept pitch dark to protect the murals from degrading. They could not see a thing until the guide used a flashlight.
“We felt deeply shaken, not so much by the visual impact, but by the quiet dedication of these painters who settled down calmly inside a dark grotto to paint for an entire lifetime,” Hu says.
Hu and Mai spent another week studying classical Dunhuang dance in Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province. While figures like the Nine-Coloured Deer and the Flying Apsaras – recurring art motifs in the caves – will feature in their new production, the pair chose not to merely replicate traditional styles, focusing instead on a spiritual journey.
Hu says one of the most memorable grottoes was Cave 158.
“We went through a narrow path to arrive at the famous, massive reclining Buddha and its murals. This cave depicts the Buddha’s Parinirvana,” he says, referring to the Buddhist state of final liberation and release from the cycle of rebirth and suffering.
“This reminded us of Hermann Hesse’s 1922 novel Siddhartha, which we read a long time ago. In the story, set in India, a man looks back at the different moments of desire, separation and suffering in his life just as he is about to reach ultimate fulfilment.”

Their ballet production is a contemporary adaptation of Siddhartha merged with their own experience of “enlightenment” in Dunhuang.
“Perhaps, for the Dunhuang painters, their ultimate purpose in life was artistic pursuit,” Mai says. “For us choreographers, our journey is about evolving from pursuing box-office successes to pushing our creative boundaries.
“I hope our audiences can be inspired to find their own journey of enlightenment after watching our show.”
She adds that seeking one’s purpose in life is a universal topic that resonates across time and cultures.
“It is paramount, perhaps even more so today, that urban dwellers with hectic lifestyles take time to reflect on what they truly want and need.”
Telling stories through ballet
The project brings the pair full circle. Having begun their training in Chinese folk dance before transitioning to choreography, they found their foundational muscle memory gave them an edge in mastering the specific demands of Dunhuang dance.
In ballet, they explain, movements stretch the body upwards, whereas in Chinese dance, the body tends to sink downwards. In Dunhuang dance specifically, dancers bend their limbs and fingers to form angular postures that mimic the characters depicted in the murals.
“For a ballet dancer, this presents significant challenges,” Mai says. Instead of constantly blending the styles, the choreographers prefer to present the two genres in distinct scenes based on what works best aesthetically on stage.

Mai and Hu have previously worked on several ballet productions telling traditional folk stories, such as the classic Chinese love story The Butterfly Lovers for Hong Kong Ballet in 2024 and Magpie Bridge – also known as Love Bridge, based on the Chinese myth of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl – for Suzhou Ballet Theatre in 2025.
“Through these productions, we’ve gradually found our unique voice for telling stories through ballet and our identity as choreographers,” Mai says.
Compared to their award-winning The Butterfly Lovers, the new production relies on abstract emotion rather than concrete plot. For Mai, this contemporary approach offers immense creative freedom.
“True cultural preservation isn’t about blindly repeating the past,” she says. “It’s about tracing your roots to illuminate your own journey.”
Dunhuang: In Search of Light, Hong Kong Ballet, Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, 10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. October 16-18. For more information, visit hkballet.com.


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Promotional image for “Dunhuang: In Search of Light”, a new production by Hong Kong Ballet choreographed by the award-winning duo Ricky Hu and Mai Jingwen. The premiere will take place from October 16-18, 2026 (Image courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet)

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A promotional image for Hong Kong Ballet’s Dunhuang: In Search of Light, choreographed by Hu and Mai. Photo: Hong Kong Ballet

People visit the Mogao Caves site in Dunhuang, northwestern China. Photo: EPA

Hu and Mai began their training in Chinese folk dance before transitioning to choreography. Photo: Jonathan Wong

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Choreographers Ricky Hu and Mai Jingwen reveal their new production for Hong Kong Ballet inspired by the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang


Choreographers Ricky Hu and Mai Jingwen reveal their new production for Hong Kong Ballet inspired by the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang.


World of performing arts

Hong Kong Ballet

Hong Kong Ballet takes on China’s Mogao Caves in Dunhuang: In Search of Light

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Choreographers Ricky Hu and Mai Jingwen reveal their new production for Hong Kong Ballet inspired by the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang

Choreographers Ricky Hu and Mai Jingwen reveal their new production for Hong Kong Ballet inspired by the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang