Cullberg Ballet was on their stunning tour performing in Beijing, Suzhou and Hangzhou from 15^th May to 26^th May.

Cullberg Ballet’s visit excited many Chinese modern dancers. As soon as the group arrived in Beijing, it was required to open a workshop with students from different school on 13^th May. Beijing Contemporary Dance Theatre was also invited to take part in the workshop.

The climax of the evening was definitely the interactive dance section from both groups.  Workshop audiences were in awe as they observed six talented artists from both groups improvise with no previous practice and danced only based on their artistic instinct and skills.

Three selected works presented by Cullberg Ballet showed its different styles. They have also enlightened the audiences with their own special and avant-garde perception and understanding of the terms ‘Modern Ballet’.  It totally reconstructs Chinese audiences’ opinion about “modern ballet’. Some elder Chinese audiences found it hard to understand and follow, however, young audiences seem more opened-minded to accept the new genre art as they think it is “interesting” and “refreshing”.

During this trip, the stage technology was the most challenging for us since Cullberg Ballet uses various props and equipment to enrich its visual effect. With the assistance of the local theater, Wu Promotion and Cullberg Ballet was able to deliver the best effect of the intended performance for the audiences by being flexible with encountered complications.

When Cullberg Ballet was toured to Hangzhou, Ke Chaoping, the manager of Hangzhou Theater, said it was the first time for them to show such “modern” dance.

“It was awesome”, Ms. Hu from Zhejing Song and Dance Troupe told Ma Ran, our project manager, “I really enjoyed it.  As a professional dancer, I am so glad that I had the chance to see a world top dance troupe in our theater.”

Wu Promotion aims to bring different cultural events and help improve cultural exchange between China and European countries.  We are very pleased to see Chinese audiences offer different responses and thoughts on the performance we bring.