January 22, 2004 marks the beginning of China's lunar new year with its Spring Festival celebrations and rituals.

But this year the international celebration of George Balanchine's centennial year is bringing a number of dance shows to China that will add to the joys to this year's traditional holiday in Beijing, especially for the city's ballet lovers.

Joining the world in the salute to the ballet genius, the National Ballet of China will give three performances featuring Balanchine's choreography at Tianqiao Theatre over the weekend (January 17 and 18) and in the Great Hall of the People next Tuesday.

Despite its relatively short history of 44 years, the National Ballet of China numbers five Balanchine works among its repertoire Serenade, Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux, Theme and Variation, Allegro Brillante and Who Cares.

Star dancers from the world's most prestigious ballet companies have been invited to participate in the shows by the National Ballet of China. The companies include the Kirov Ballet (Marrinsky Theatre Ballet), British Royal Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet and the New York City Ballet, which was founded by Balanchine.

"We hope that the audiences will learn about Balanchine and his works beyond Swan Lake," said Zhao Ruheng, president of the National Ballet of China, in an interview with China Daily.

The dancers of the National Ballet are in high spirits preparing for the weekend shows. They have been encouraged by their successful performing tour in Europe last October and November.

During the 53-day European tour, the company staged 29 sold-out back-to-back shows for 35,000 viewers in 13 cities in France, Italy and Britain and they brought back encouraging feed-back from the sophisticated and demanding European audiences and critics.

"The European audiences' warm welcome was a pleasant surprise. They enjoyed 'The Red Detachment of Woman' as dance rather than political statement and got a sense of Chinese culture through Raise the Red Lanterns," Zhao said.

"They were impressed by our dancers' technique and artistry as well as by our broad repertoire of both classics and Chinese contemporary dance," she added.

Programs

For the coming shows on the weekend, the program includes Serenade, Don Quixote Pas De Deux, Le Corsaire Pas De Deux, The Four Temperaments, Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux and Theme and Variation.

The shows will open with Serenade, the first ballet Balanchine choreographed in the United States, which is set to Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C Op 48.

First performed by students of the School of American Ballet in 1934 and formally premiered on March 1, 1935 by the American Ballet at the Adelphi Theatre in New York, Serenade is recognized as one of the great choreographic masterpieces of the 20 century. It has become a standard item in the repertoire of almost every major ballet company in the world.

The program will star Chinese ballerinas Zhang Jian, gold medal winner at the 1997 Moscow International Ballet Competition; Jin Yao, gold medal winner at the 2002 Varna Competition; Hou Honglan, winner of the 1997 Luxembourg Competition; Tatiana Tkachbnko, from the Kirov Ballet; and Nilas Martins, from the New York City Ballet.

One of the highlights of the shows will be The Four Temperaments, a debut performance for the National Ballet of China.

Set to "Theme with Four Variations for String Orchestra and Piano" (1940), by Paul Hindemith, The Four Temperaments, premiered on November 20, 1946, with the Ballet Society of the Central High School of Needle Trades in New York.

It is considered one of Balanchine's greatest works.

Hindemith's variations are inspired by the traditional Western idea of humors or personality traits: the Melancholic, Sanguinic, Phlegmatic and Choleric.

The ballet has themes and variations everywhere: complex structures growing from simple steps, ideas echoed, reinvented, transformed.

The leading roles are set off by supporting soloists, by a small corps de ballet. Four women advance on the Melancholic soloist, each step a huge high kick followed by a forward thrust of the pelvis. The Phlegmatic corps shift their weight jazzily from one foot to the other, syncopated wit.

National Ballet of China's principal dancers including Zhu Yan, Zhang Jian, Meng Ningning, Jin Yao, Sun Jie, Li Jun and Zhang Yao will perform the work. They will be joined by Igor Zelensky and Tatiana Tkachbnko from the Kirov Ballet, Joel Izquierdo Carreno from the National Ballet of Cuba and Agnes Letestu and Jose Martinez from the Paris Opera Ballet.

Another item during the shows will be Theme and Variations, set to the last movement of Tchaikovsky's Suite No 3 in G.

Premiered on November 26, 1947, by the American Ballet Theatre at the City Centre of Music and Drama, New York, the ballet features no story line or stage props, so that the performers command all the attention.

As Balanchine intended, Theme and Variations is a tribute to the Russian ballet tradition. The choreography is formal but has many innovative steps and combinations.

The orchestral suite consists of 12 variations. As the ballet moves from variation to variation, solo performances of the ballerina and her cavalier are interspersed among the corps performances. As in all classical ballets, there is a central pas de deux. A grand polonaise builds to the climactic finale.

Zhu Yan, the prima ballerina of National Ballet of China and Igor Zelensky will dance the leading roles.

Zhu was the gold medal winner at the 1998 Varna Ballet Competition and a special award winner at the 1994 Paris International Ballet Competition. In 1999 and 2000, she was invited by the Swedish Royal Ballet Company and New Zealand Ballet Company, respectively, as guest ballerina.

Zelensky made his name with the Kirov (Mariinsky), the Royal Ballet and New York City Ballet.

He studied at the Tbilisi Ballet School and then at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg.

In 1990, he won the gold medal as well as the grand prix at the Paris International Competition. From 1992 until 1997, he danced with the New York City Ballet, where he enriched his repertoire with over 25 ballets of Ballanchine, Robbins and Martins.

He was desperate to dance Balanchine. "George Balanchine was from my birthplace, Georgia," he declares proudly.

Tchaikovsky's Pas De Deux will be considered another highlight of the coming shows. It had its world debut with the New York City Ballet on March 29, 1960.

The music for the ballet was originally intended for the pas de deux in Act III of Swan Lake. Because it was not published with the rest of the score, it remained unknown to Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov when they were preparing to stage the St. Petersburg version.

The music lay unnoticed in the Tchaikovsky Museum in Klin until it was discovered by people from the Tchaikovsky Foundation of New York in the 1950s.

On January 17 and 18, the pas de deux will be danced by Jose Martinez and Agnes Letestu from the Paris Opera Ballet and the show at the Great Hall of the People on the 20th will feature Argentina star dancers Julio Bocca and Cecilia Figaredo.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1967, Julio Bocca began his dance training with his mother at the age of 4. He was enrolled in the Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colon when he was 8.

Since 1983, he has worked in a number of ballet companies and theatres around the world.

In May 1985, he won the gold medal at the Fifth International Ballet Competition in Moscow. And the next year, he joined American Ballet Theatre as a principal dancer.

Since 1997, he has been the artistic director of the Ballet Argentino.

The Don Quixote Pas De Deux will star British Royal Ballet's acclaimed partners Alina Cojocaru and Johann Kobborg.

The 22-year-old ballerina Alina Cojocaru shot to international stardom in April 2001 following her enrapturing performance in the title role of the Royal Ballet's performance of Giselle.

Described by one European critic as "a pocket Venus with pencil-slender wrists and thoughtful brown eyes," the Bucharest-born and Kiev-trained prodigy was promoted prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet less than 18 months after she joined the company in November 1999.

Kobborg, 31, is now one of the most senior members of the Royal Ballet, both in terms of experience and the respect in which he is held throughout the world of ballet.

Technically, Danish-born Kobborg is a dancer of great elegance and finish, but what draws audiences to his performances is his intense dramatic color.

His dancing expresses with icy clarity the paradox at the heart of classical ballet: that absolute release is made possible only by absolute control.

Born in Copenhagen, he trained at the Funen Ballet Academy and the Royal Danish Ballet School. He joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 1991 and was promoted to principal at the age of 21 in 1994.

His strong stage presence and quicksilver technique were immediately recognized, but Danish dancers are tall, especially on pointe, and Kobborg never found himself a partner of a suitable size.

All in all, these are shows calculated to hold the audience until the last enchanting gesture.

Performance Details:

Dates: January 17, 18 and 20

Venue: Tianqiao Theatre over the weekend (January 17 and 18) and the Great Hall of the People (January 20)

Ticket Price: 1280 - 80 yuan

Booking: 64068888、64069999

(China Daily January 16, 2004)