Advertisement
US-China relations
ChinaDiplomacy

American Ballet Theatre ‘excited’ about return to China in November

  • ‘For us, it’s a joyful experience,’ says artistic director Susan Jaffe, on the company’s first visit to the country since 2013
  • The tour was delayed for two years by the pandemic and is taking place amid fears US-China rivalry will dilute cultural exchanges

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
8
The American Ballet Theatre’s artistic director Susan Jaffe, who was a principal dancer when the company performed in China in 2000. The ABT last visited the country in 2013. Photo: Rosalie O’Connor
Laura Zhou
The US national ballet company will return to the stage in China next month for the first time in a decade, in the latest push for cultural exchanges between the two countries amid their continuing tensions.
Advertisement
Led by artistic director Susan Jaffe, the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) will perform in Beijing and Shanghai in early November, when they will present audiences with a full production of Giselle, perhaps the most beloved early romantic ballet in the world.

The ABT is also the first major US arts group to perform in China’s national theatre, where arts performances from abroad have only recently resumed after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jaffe – the company’s principal dancer for 22 years until 2002 – said the company was excited to be returning to China after a decade.

“For us, it’s a very joyful experience to bring our art form and our company to China for the people,” she said from her office in New York.

Advertisement

According to Jaffe, all of the ABT’s 85 dancers will join the China tour, which opens at the Shanghai Grand Theatre with five performances from 2-7 November, followed by another five shows at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts from 9-12 November.

Advertisement