Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Centre, May 7 - 8, 2016.

The ballet Soul of Crane praises the beauteous youth and precious life by presenting us the magnificently beauty of the harmony between humans and nature, highlighting a poetic scene of “crane lives in human, so does human in crane”. The red-crowned crane has been given a very special cultural sense that characterizes auspiciousness, purity, and loyalty, which makes the crane the precious gift from the nature. The heroine of the ballet was created on the legend of XU Xiujuan who was the first person in China to look after cranes. XU Xiujuan devoted herself to a career of cultivating and protecting cranes and sacrificed her life for saving a crane trapped in the moor, which represented the noble spirit of her time. When we enjoy ourselves in the excellent ballet, empathy flows in our heart, enlightening us to feel the beauty of nature, of human and of the sublime self-sacrifice for another life, awakening the pure and virginal soul that we were born with, in a heaven-like artistic atmosphere.

It is no exaggerating to define the creation of the ballet as a pilgrimage to nature and heaven. Back to 2008 when FENG Yingqin, the vice leader of the National Ballet of China went with a branch of the corps de ballet to The University of Tsitsihar for giving performance, the young artists saw red-crowned cranes for the very first time in their lives. Impressed and touched by the elegance and dignity of those creatures as well as the magnificence of their flapping, the ballet made a wish to create a China’s ballet featuring the crane, to illustrate the distingue and gracious characteristics of crane through ballet.

From 2008 to now, the Soul of Crane team has visited red-crowned cranes’ habitants for thousands of times. Through the on-field studies on cranes and face-to-face interviews with the workers looking after those cranes, the team gained precious first-hand knowledge. Through their visits, those industrious workers continuously reminded the artists of the legend of XU Xiujuan who gave her life to save a crane, and the team began to feel the sublime power behind this noble love for crane. The pilgrimage-like tours led the team to cranes’ habitants, also unveiled the pure and chaste inner world of those laborious workers – the protectors of cranes. Finally was created the master-piece ballet – the Soul of Crane – touching, amazing and excellent, leading us into a true pilgrimage of art and soul.