Scenes from the Shanghai Ballet's new production The Lady of the Camellias. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Created by British choreographer Derek Deane and based on the novel by French author Alexandre Dumas (1824-1895), the ballet was part of the program at the China Shanghai International Arts Festival.

The Lady of the Camellias has been a popular subject for theater since it debuted in 1848. Dumas was the first to adapt the story for the stage in Paris in 1852. Following its success, composer Giuseppe Verdi put the story to music, creating the opera La traviata, in which the heroine's name changed from Marguerite Gautier to Violetta Valery.

"Every ballet company dreams about staging its own version of this literary classic, and we wanted to create a fine production that stands out from others, one that can live on the stage for a very long time," says Xin Lili, head of the company.