Balletto di Roma came on stage in China for the initial performance of their new version of Romeo and Juliet at the Grand Theatre of China on May 25, 2011.

Balletto di Roma came on stage in China for the initial performance of their new version of Romeo and Juliet at the Grand Theatre of China on May 25, 2011. This is the first time that Balletto di Roma makes a visit to China. Following Beijing, the Roma group also toured to the Guangzhou Opera House for 2 days.

The biggest highlight of the new Romeo and Juliet is that, it breaks through the original story and endows it with a fresh character by giving a new historical background of post-Second World War. It has received excellent reviews in its world tour, and is awarded by the media as being of "milestone significance for the Italian dancing and theatre world". The choreographer Mr. Montverde also won the "best Italian choreographer"with this work.

The artistic director of Balleto di Roma, Walter Zappolini, met with the press through the organization of the National Grand Theatre before the performance, and illustrated the concept and content that the performance tries to deliver: this new ballet reverses the names of the leading actor and actress, and creates plenty of subversive stage changes. The most important aspect is the story's new setting, which is given a new era - Italy after the Second World War, instead of 14th century, and is combined with a modernization of visual elements and the language used in dance. Lacking the extravagant stage set usually seen in classic ballet, the stage has instead only the simplest decoration with lighting that exudes cinematic effect. All of these transformations grant the old story with a new meaning. Zappolini said, "this concept is impossible to duplicate, and its significance reaches its full extent because it has been created in Italy. This is also the fatal reason why Balleto di Roma has been keeping this work as their repertoire and tour repertoire."

According to a report made by China Radio International, the renowned international dance critic, Mr. Ou Jianping - also the director of the Research Center of Chinese Academy of Arts - said after seeing this performance that, "after several years of watching a tremendous amount of dance drama, I realize that this method of performance used to abandon the formulated pantomime gesture to illustrate the conflicts among figures beside dancing has become mainstream in the current dancing world. "

Regarding this tour, there has been a vigorous dissemination of reports made by various domestic media. The Beijing Youth Daily published a report: "Romeo and Juliet by Balleto di Roma, overturns the original story of Shakespeare", while an article of Beijing Times reads, "the pioneering Romeo and Juliet cutting through all ages is coming to Beijing,"fitting well with the innovative concept of this performance. Additional coverage and reports on this performance held at the National Grand Theatre and Guangzhou Opera House has been made by China Daily, Douban.com, Sohu.com, xinmin.cn, gzlive.net, Time Out, etc.