En pointe, cultural openness in China

(Xinhua)

14:58, November 10, 2012

Hungarian-American ballet master Tamas Detrich was deeply moved by the passion ofChinese audiences gathering at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) onFriday night in the heart of Beijing.

Detrich and his elite Stuttgart Ballet brought a graceful tenderness to the Chinese,performing "The Lady of the Camellias," a ballet adapted from Alexandre Dumas'masterpiece.

"The theater is remarkably magnificent," Detrich, the troupe's associate artistic director,spoke of the half egg-shaped surrealistic architecture designed by French architectPaul Andreu. "China is changing, both in architecture and diversifying cultural forms."

Zhao Ruheng, artistic director of NCPA, recalled, "Stuttgart was the first ballet companythat came from the West after China ended the self-isolation and opted for embracingthe outside world."

"The Stuttgart show immediately brought us a totally different enjoyment. We were soimpressed at that time," said Zhao, who starred in a well-known revolution-themedballet, "Red Detachment of Women," in the 1960s. "We used to be familiar with 'SwanLake.'"

Across the street from the NCPA building, a titanium-and-glass opera house nicknamedthe Bird's Egg for its ellipsoid dome, stands the stately Romanesque Great Hall of thePeople, where the Communist Party of China (CPC) inaugurated the week-long 18thNational Congress on Thursday morning.

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（Editor：陈丽丹、姚春）