China Diary

Arrival in China
First Performance in Hangzhou
A challenging day in Hangzhou
Two Days in Shanghai
Shanghai to Beijing
First Performance in Beijing
Final Two Days in Beijing

Saturday 21 to Tuesday 24 January

Shanghai to Beijing

The second performance in Shanghai was danced by David Kierce and Keiko Amemori and went very well. Leeds Met University held their second corporate evening. A slightly smaller audience than the previous evening but was very well received.

The local Shanghai promoter was delighted with our performances and we are being inundated with offers to return, having also met with another promoter interested in having The Three Musketeers in 2007. I think we will make China an annual 2-week season for the Company!!

The Company really enjoyed Shanghai and filled their limited free time with as much as could be crammed in. The highlights of Shanghai seemed to have been the Hyatt Tower, the skyline on the river and Old Shanghai.

The next day was our travel day to Beijing. We left the hotel at a very civilised 11.30 am for the hour journey to the airport which was uneventful, and the only highlight was the Airport Bullet Train (Maglev) flying past us as 431 kmph.

All seemed to go well at check in, although there was some ambiguity as to whether you were allowed to carry wine in the hold or cabin luggage. The biggest drama was a nameless dancer who had wine bottles in his suitcase shaped like grenades!!

In China they are not very helpful at keeping you informed with regard to flight delays. 2.30 pm (our departure time) came and went and eventually we took off 45 minutes late. This was the start of our evening’s dramas. We arrived at Beijing Airport nearly an hour later than scheduled. Then there was confusion over the baggage carousel. Half the Company were in 2 different places and those of us left at the correct carousel were frantically dragging off anything with an NBT label on it. It then became a bit of a farce trying to march 60 people through arrivals, up the arrivals hall, up in an elevator (2 trolleys) at a time and across a large parking area to two waiting coaches. After a couple of head counts we decided we had about the right number of people give or take a couple of extra Chinese and set off for the city at about 5.50 pm. To now put our situation in context, several of the Company had tickets to go to see Les Sylphides and Napoli by the Central Ballet of China starting at 7.30 pm. The traffic heading for the city was very heavy and it soon became apparent that we were unlikely to get to the hotel before about 7.10 pm. Per diems were quickly given out on the bus as we lurched through the crowded Beijing streets. It might just be possible if check in went smoothly, but alas no. Rooms had not been allocated so by the time passports had been collected, room keys given out it was past 7.30 pm. Those dancers who had been at the head of the check-in line headed off to the theatre which was about 15 minutes away and were allowed into the auditorium even though they were very late. (Doesn’t bode well for us as we are performing in the same theatre and they obviously are not very strict about latecomers). Some of the dancers decided not to go at all as they had missed the start. The remainder went to the theatre in time for Act 2 of La Sylphide and Napoli.

Tuesday 24 January was the free day for the dancers.

Natalie Leftwich gives her take on the excursion to the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs:

“Ni hao! (Hello!) What an amazing experience. We met in the lobby of our hotel in Beijing at 9.30 am with much anticipation and excitement for the trip ahead. A little less than 2 hours later 33 of us ascended the Great Wall of China, one of the Seven Wonders of the World! It was bitterly cold and a bit overcast, but that didn’t stop us! We trekked up what was only a tiny fraction of the wall, stopping occasionally to take photos……and to catch our breath! It was quite a hike! Unbelievable to think the Wall, which is 6-7 mts high with a width of 4-5 mts at the top was built over 2,000 years ago and is the only man-made structure visible from space. And we were there, walking along it!

At 1.30 pm we bumped along the motorway on the coach and headed for a quick lunch and then to the Ming Tombs. On the way we compared photos and video footage, brushed up on our Chinese and caught a bit of shut eye! We had a little over an hour to walk along the grounds and through the Underground Palace, which is about 6 flights of stairs beneath the ground. It’s a massive tomb where the longest reigning Ming Dynasty Emperor and 2 of his Empresses were buried. Once again it’s so incredible to imagine this sacred place was built so long ago. 1584!

So, overall I’d say our excursion exceeded all expectations and it was a day well worth remembering!”

Arriving back at the hotel in time for the evening excursion to see the Chinese Acrobats was completely at the whim of the Beijing rush hour. We had intended to get back about an hour before the scheduled departure time to the other side of Beijing. We actually got back at 6.05 pm and with no time for those going on the evening to even take their numerous purchases to their rooms, we set off across the city once again through another mass of traffic.

Pippa Moore writes about the Acrobats: -

“When not performing, we at NBT transform into professional sightseers, bargain hunters and theatre-goers of the East……… So with a whole day off to fill, tonight’s entertainment on this fast-paced, jam-packed tour was to see the China National Acrobatic Troupe – the first state acrobatic performing troupe established after the foundation of New China and winners of 43 gold medals world-wide. The performers are mostly children – the youngest looked about 7 years old. They juggled, balanced, contorted, somersaulted……….. and usually all at once – their skill and precision simply breathtaking. I imagine it’s hard enough to balance on a rope swing at the best of times, but to be on a ladder on the rope and to juggle wooden tables with your feet and balance 12 people on your bike – now that’s impressive!

The performance was unbelievable – so much so, I had to buy the DVD to see it all again!”

Mark Skipper
Northern Ballet Theatre Chief Executive