Dancer Wang Qimin rehearsing. Photo: Zhu Jiang

By Yue Hongyan

As the first international workshop initiated in China to develop young Chinese ballet choreographers, Work Shop, founded by the National Ballet of China (NBC), will premiere its inaugural productions at Tianqiao Theatre this weekend, with seven pieces by four young Chinese and two international choreographers.

"The workshop offers a platform for talented young Chinese artists with dreams and inspiration to make full use of their abilities and take part in the creation, including choreography, lighting and design," Work Shop's director Fei Bo told the Global Times.

"After the original works The Red Detachment of Women and Raise the Red Lantern, the National Ballet of China has always tried to create new pieces, however, the lack of choreographers has been a barrier and this is why we founded Work Shop," added NBC director Feng Ying.

Work Shop invited two foreign choreographers to join the development stage and share their knowledge. Jiri Bubenicpk from Czech Republic and Terence Kohler from Australia are both classically trained dancers-turned-choreographers who will also present their works this weekend.

"I was trying to think of something that would marry my Western culture with Chinese Eastern culture. Language is not something that we have common, but time is. That was basically the starting point," 25-year-old Kohler explained.

Boasting 10 years experience in Germany, Kohler will present his piece Take Your Time, with a cast of 28 dancers. "In this time, the story exists, it is a way the time goes forward, time speeds up, goes backwards, time stops, there are lots of concepts all based on time."

Jiri Bubenicpk from Czech Republic will present two pieces inspired by French painters Pierre Soulage and Leonardo da Vinci. Outrenoir is a modern ballet with four dancers. "I want to create a kind of dream, from the stage of black, slowly one bit of light, from that to more and more pictures; it is just the dancing coming out of the pictures," he explained.

"I have a lot of chances to always try different things, I think for a choreographer, that's the most important thing. You need the time and space to try different ideas," Kohler added.

Despite his young age, Kohler has already made a name for himself on the international scene. He created a full-length ballet Anna Karenina in 2006 The Temple Dancer, a shortened version of La Bayadère, in 2007.

"They are experienced in the concept of choreography, more open and free to illustrate their ideas," Fei commented. "For us, it is important to find the way of telling the story and reflecting the reality of modern Chinese society."

"The Chinese young choreographers are not lacking affection, but the methodologies to present their ideas," he added.

Based on their understating toward life and reality, Zhang Zhenxin, Wang Qi, Wang Sizheng and Zhang Yixiang will present abstract illustration pieces of relationships, love, dreams and self-discovery, each lasting no more than 15 minutes.

"The most difficult thing is when you see the dancers cannot understand your idea and cannot dance as you hope," said 22-year-old dancer-turned-choreographer Zhang Yixiang.

"I have to think more. Not only the actions, but also the structure, rhythm, lighting, stage and communication with all the dancers is very difficult."

Zhang's debut choreographic work is a three-part piece with a cast of 19 dancers, entitled Fairy Tale and is based on his personal experiences of being a dancer, including pain, loss and loneliness, as well as the beauty of childhood dreams.

Fei said that both Kohler and Bubenicpk provided great ideas to the dancers and choreographers about the understanding of ballet, helping them to "find feelings from real life and then transfer the feelings to the dancers. The dancers developed movements based on feelings and how to finally express them to the audience."

"One of the amazing things about Chinese dancers is their understanding of their bodies," Kohler added. "Maybe they don't have the experience of creating choreography, but they have understanding of their bodies and how to move their bodies, that is fascinating."

"The Chinese dancers and choreographers have a lot of information and passion to give, I am very interested if the workshop continues each year, the creative process would just explode. These dancers are hungry!"