Qing Tan - Emotive Sigh

A Chuanju performance by Tian Mansha (Chengdu)

Première / production commissioned by the House of World Cultures

the A road of light, steps that become dance steps, a theatre scene: a figure dies and becomes a ghost … Themes of a performance within a performance, of projecting and finding oneself, and of the minute and barely visible changes in life and art. Tian Mansha, who has received many awards for her interpretations of classical Sichuan Opera (Chuan Ju), pieces together concrete and abstract images to create a complex mosaic. The traditional percussion instruments used in Sichuan Opera provide a powerful rhythmic backing underscoring her imagery.

Tian Mansha - director, performer and university lecturer - is one of the most prominent and influential opera artists in China today. In the 1990s, she was already commissioning Chinese stage authors to write productions - an innovation that triggered an entire series of works commissioned for actors. The premiere of her contemporary piece Si Shui Wie Lan (Small waves, still water) was considered: ‘A milestone in the history of the revival of Chinese Theatre’. She has also worked with the Hong Kong avant-garde theatre artist Danny Yung. She performed in his music-theatre piece Four Grand Inventions at the House of World Cultures in the year 2000.

The performance will be accompanied by soloists playing traditional instruments in the Chuanju style and by the orchestra of the Shanghai Theatre Academy.