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Arts preview: Hong Kong Ballet brings a conceptual touch to Chinese classic

Mabel Sieh

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Choreographer Wang Xinpeng (below) reinterprets The Dream of the Red Chamber (above) for the Hong Kong Ballet. Photo: Dickson Lee

THE DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER

 

Best known for its tear-jerking story, The Dream of the Red Chamber has been adapted for screen and stage many times. But choreographer Wang Xinpeng's ballet version of the popular Chinese literary classic promises to give the doomed romance a more conceptual take.

"It's a story about human fate and destiny," says the Dalian-born artistic director of Germany's Ballett Dortmund and ex-principal dancer of the Peking Central Dance Company.

Written by Cao Xueqin during the Qing dynasty, the 18th-century novel depicts the relationship between Jia Baoyu and his two cousins: Xue Baochai, a smart, graceful and well-loved woman to whom he is predestined to marry; and Lin Daiyu, his true love.

Wang's dance reinterpretation, The Dream of the Red Chamber, will be staged by the Hong Kong Ballet on October 25- 27 and November 1-3.

"Jia lived in an era of feudalism where his life and everything had to follow a set of traditions, rules and expectations. He could represent any person today," says Wang, who left the mainland for Germany in 1989 "to see the world".
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