One of the great things about living in Shanghai (and China) as an expat is the ability to treat yourself inexpensively. One such treat was our first foray to the Shanghai Grand Theatre on Saturday night to see the Guangzhou/Guanagdong Acrobatic Troupe's rendition of Swan Lake.
Shanghai is lucky to have such a strong classical cultural arts scene, and of course you can get that with a Chinese twist.
We were both impressed by the performance. To give you an idea of what it was like, here's a quote from Shanghai's CityWeekend publication.
(sic) combining the acrobatic skills of the Orient and the grace of the West, this retelling of Swan Lake will undoubtedly impress those looking for a high-energy ballet fix...
Linda really wanted to see this rendition. Previously we had seen Chinese acrobatics at the Shanghai Centre, but this hadn't given Lin her ballet fix. Linda was reminiscing about her youth as a ballet dancer all the way up to the last call before the performance, and I must say it was great to see her really enthused about dance. Passion is something you always observe in people, and when you see a true flash of it, its great to watch. I did notice this expression on the faces of people attending the performance too.
The only detraction from the night was our seating. We went for the upper circle tickets (RMB200 a pop), and true to its word, it was 'upper'. We couldn't see the top part of stage area, which meant we were sight-restricted for some of the trapeze, pole-climbing, & theatrical effects that were employed throughout the evening.
If you're only visiting Shanghai for a short time, or you've never been to the theatre in Shanghai, I'd recommend you make the time and get out and see a performance. It was awesome.
A few tips. We picked up our tickets from a little box office on Feng Xian Lu, located near the Vegetarian Lifestyle Restaurant, across the road from Isetan Shopping Center (Nanjing Xi Lu). We also noticed there were a heap of scalpers outside at the performance and quite a lot of empty seats inside. Lin really wants to hit the scalper option next time we go to the theatre.
Image taken from the Culture.sh.cn website.
