(Ecns.cn)--"Ballet is purer than those who deem it as vulgar or low-brow," said Wang Yuanyuan, a famous dancer and ballet director whose latest drama has stirred up heated discussion.
Wang's version of "Jin Ping Mei," or "The Plum in the Golden Vase," is an adaptation of a classical work of Chinese literature from the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644) that has been banned since the 17th century for its "notoriously pornographic" content.
The book's first English translator, Clement Egerton, supposedly found himself so embarrassed by the sex scenes in the book that he rendered them in Latin to avoid censorship.
But when Wang's ballet version by the Beijing Contemporary Dance Theater premiered at the 39th Hong Kong Arts Festival last March, it attracted a sell-out crowd.
This month, the performance will begin the first part of a highly anticipated tour of the Chinese mainland, including the cities of Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan and Nanchang.
Unnecessary disturbance
"People really don't need to worry so much," said Wang, who thinks that the sexual nature of the ballet has been seriously overhyped.
A former principal ballerina at the National Ballet of China, Wang choreographed both the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games and a dance performance at the handover of Hong Kong in 1997.
She began thinking about adapting the infamous "Jin Ping Mei" four years ago. In 2009, after hearing about Wang's idea for the ballet, a supporter in Hong Kong began to provide financial assistance for the production.
Wang said she realized from the start that there was little chance of ever staging the work on the Chinese mainland.
"We had not applied for a performance permit in mainland China for a simple reason: I do not like chasing after trouble. Besides, 80 percent of our shows are now staged abroad. We do not rely on any government sponsorship, so we are not limited," she said.
However, after the show's successful debut in Hong Kong, Wang attempted to get permission to stage it domestically. Surprisingly, the work received Chinese government approval without censorship requirements.
Though the production includes erotic props like a "swaying bed," "the audience will see no striptease or nudity. It is all about the dance," explained Wang.
What you think is what you see
With tight choreography, beautifully designed stages and music brimming with drama, the ballet unfolds with the story of a lone woman – the infamous Pan Jinlian – who falls in love with Ximen. Together they kill Pan's dwarf husband, Wu Dalang.
The story then follows the life of Pan and the different relationships with her family and the people around her. According to Wang, the story "is more about humanity than sex."
"This is art. The work is different from the book because it is not a story of love or sex; it is about passion and ambition, plotting, scheming and desire," said Wang, who has tried to reveal social problems through the work, rather than limit herself to a strict interpretation of the original.
"'Jin Ping Mei' was written in the Ming dynasty when society was in a rotten state," explained Wang. "The current social phenomenon is the same in some sense. People will do anything for money and they want everything quickly — there is no moral concept. If you have money, you're No. 1."
"We symbolize information through abstract dance moves, so if you see it as a dance drama, you will get more from it. But if you think that it is just a dance with sexual content, then you will get nothing but the 'sex thing'."
No time for criticism
After the September leg of the tour, the ballet will begin a second tour of other Chinese cities, including Xi'an, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. It will also tour in Israel, France and South Africa.
Wang already has plans for another production with a Hong Kong director after the tour is completed. "There is no time to think about the criticism, I have more work to do," said Wang, who will travel to Denmark to direct the new production.
