Dance brings ancient war alive

Blending modern dance with Peking Opera, martial arts and traditional Chinese music, the dance theater production Under Siege: The Full Story of Farewell My Concubine is on a four-month tour in 23 cities around China.

Choreographed and directed by Yang Liping, the production premiered in 2015 and draws on one of the most famous battles in Chinese history.

Designed with international audiences in mind, it has since been performed more than 300 times at home and abroad, earning a reputation as a landmark in China's contemporary dance theater scene.

The show has attracted critical praise overseas, described by The Guardian as rich in "hallucinatory images", while The Times noted its "urgency, vividness and wit".

A newly revived production was launched in April. Starting with three shows in Kunming, Yunnan province, it has traveled through Shanghai, Suzhou in Jiangsu province, and Wenzhou and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.

The production will stage three shows at the Poly Theatre in Beijing on Saturday and Sunday, before concluding its tour in August in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

Yang explains why she chose to revisit the work now. "I feel there is a hunger for artworks of power and strength."

Over the past decade, she says, many dance productions in the country, including her own Peacock, have focused on grace and feminine beauty. Audience tastes, however, are changing.

"I think they want to see works that reflect real Chinese power," she says.