Beijing Dance Theater
BDT has toured to over thirty cities in more than a dozen countries including Germany, Iceland, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Serbia, Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico, Columbia, and Ecuador, including world-class venues such as the U.S.’s Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the U.K’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London and Australia’s Perth International Arts Festival.
An absolute star in the contemporary cultural landscape of China, Beijing Dance Theater continues to tour across the globewith packed houses and stellar reviews.
“An invigorating experience… Sheer visual beauty.”– The Washington Post
Founded in 2008 and led by artistic director/choreographer WANG Yuanyuan, the Beijing Dance Theater (BDT) has secured their reign on China’s dance stage with stunning dance productions. Collaborating with renowned directors, composers, and visual artists, BDT is a leader in creating cultural collaborations showcasing China’s best stage artists in unmatched, remarkable dance productions.
With amazing creativity and momentum, BDT has built an extraordinary repertoire of works which represent the creative team’s critical and artistic reflections on facets of contemporary society. The repertoire includes: Stirred from a Dream, a dance-drama adapted from the Kunqu opera Peony Pavilion; Diary of Empty Space, an energetic triple-bill and the company’s opening performance; Haze, a contemplation in a time of crisis; Prism, a triple-bill featuring work by choreographers from Sweden, Denmark, and Canada; The Color of Love, a sensual exploration of the emotional landscape of women in their 20s, 30s and 40s; Harvest, a collection of WANG Yuanyuan’s short dance pieces; Martlet, which depicts life in Beijing; and Middle, a collaboration with French choreographer Anthony Egea that integrates the movements of ballet, hip hop, and Tai Chi.
Commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2011, BDT premiered Golden Lotus to critical acclaim at home and abroad. It was followed by Wild Grass which premiered in Suzhou and Shanghai in 2012, Germany in 2014, and back to BAM’s Next Wave Festival and The Kennedy Center in the same year.
FENG Xiogang invited WANG Yuanyuan to work on his film The Banquet, based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This inspired Wang to create a ballet telling the story of Hamlet through the eyes of the melancholy prince, who struggles with power, family, revenge and love. Stunningly choreographed with brilliant sets and dancers and with music written by world-renowned composer TAN Dun. Prism received Mexico’s distinguished LUNAS award as 2013 Best Modern Dance Ensemble.
