SHANGHAI BEAUTY.

What is beauty? In China, nakedness is considered superficial and unattractive, while sex is a subject of embarrassment and absolute taboo in public. Between east and west still lies a cultural chasm that is beyond politics, race and rhetoric. Bridging the gap is Shanghai Beauty, a creation commissioned by the House of the World Cultures, Berlin and developed as a collaboration between China's first independent dance ensemble, Jin Xing Dance Theatre Shanghai, and the German dance company Rubato.

In Shanghai Beauty, the two opposing views of the body and the beautiful are examined through a cross-cultural choreography for 16 dancers who move as one. It is the clothed body that inspires the fantasy of the dance. After all, isn't it what's covered, concealed and hidden from view that creates the mystical and the alluring?

Who better to explore these concepts than the star of the show and choreographer, Jin Xing: a former colonel in the People's Liberation Army who was propelled to notoriety and stardom after undergoing a sex-change 15 years ago. Now happily married with adopted children, acknowledged as China's most famous and successful choreographer and its leading force in contemporary dance, Jin Xing has surrounded herself with the cream of her nation's talent, drawn together from its different regions and ethnic minorities.

Sumptuously staged to a score which blends Beijing Opera, German Electronica and Glenn Gould's immortal rendering of JS Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues, Shanghai Beauty provides an intriguing blend of Western influences and traditional Chinese artistry.

Please Note: The Festival Talk with Jin Xing scheduled to follow the 1 March performance, has been re-scheduled to Sunday 28 February 3:30pm, in the Artspace (enter via Dunstan Playhouse Foyer).

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