SAN JOSE, Calif., April 28 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
Ballet San Jose of Silicon Valley will feature three talented Chinese dancers in a May through June goodwill tour that will perform in eight cities; Shanghai, Hangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Beijing, Shenyang, and Ningbo. The three dancers, (Bo Hao of Beijing, Chen Shuai of Shandong and Zhang Jing of Shanghai) are all returning home to China to dance in front of their families and friends for the first time since joining the professional dance company based in California.
“This is so exciting for us to come back to our homeland and perform these wonderful dances,” said Jing Zhang, who joined the company in 2005. “It is a dream come true.” Zhang studied at Shanghai Dance School and Shanghai Theatre Academy before winning numerous competitions in China and the United States. Hoa Bo will star as the Prince in THE FIREBIRD. He studied dance at the Beijing Dance Academy and performed with National Ballet of China before joining BSJ in 2003. Shuai Chen joined Ballet San Jose just last season after spending a year at Tianjing Ballet Company and dancing for three years with Singapore Dance Theatre.
Ballet San Jose of Silicon Valley is the eighth largest ballet company in the United States and performs seven months a year in one of the largest theaters on the West Coast, just south of San Francisco. This tour, named “Goodwill Tour From Silicon Valley,” will include performances at the Grand Theater in Shanghai and the Poly Theater in Beijing. Programs will include fully staged productions of some of the largest ballets in their repertory including THE FIREBIRD and CARMINA BURANA plus additional ballets by George Balanchine and Dennis Nahat. This is the first time the company will have been seen in Asia.
“We will be the first American dance company to perform this extensively throughout China in the newest and grandest theaters,” said company Artistic Director Dennis Nahat. ”In Shenzhen, the newest theater of them all, we will be the very first ballet company on that stage. These theaters are the centerpieces of their cities, where millions of people pass daily. We will be reaching out to the public with 'Ballet by Day,' a special educational program with our Chinese dancers acting as moderators. We are very excited to showcase them in their own country. They are beautiful performers. We will also work with local schools and professional ballet companies incorporating young dancers into our productions. All rehearsals and classes will be open to the public. We want people to see how we work.”
ABOUT BALLET SAN JOSE: Ballet San Jose’s goodwill efforts have received formal recognition by the Beijing Polar Bear Culture Development Company. Major sponsors for the tour include American Express, Fry’s Electronics, Coca Cola, EVGA Corporation, Swann, Memorex, Coby, Corsair, Linksys, Haier, Harman Kardon, JBL, Pandigital, YY Sports, and Shanghai Grand Theatre. Tour schedule with dates and performance repertory posted on our website at www.balletsanjose.org. Photos of some of the theaters and from THE FIREBIRD, CARMINA BURANA, SERENADE, ONTOGENY, SWAN LAKE, THE NUTCRACKER and MENDELSSOHN SYMPHONY may be downloaded from our website Press Room, or we can send email images, at your request.
