National Ballet of China - Raise the Red Lantern

Happy New Year

Returning once again as part of the Kennedy Center's 2019 Lunar New Year celebrations, the National Ballet of China bring back their internationally renowned masterpiece - Raise the Red Lantern. Last seen in D.C in 2005, the work marked a turning point for the company, seeing western dance meet Chinese traditions, and blooming into its own stunning creation. Among the production from Zhang Yimou (adapted from his 1991 movie of the same name), the story is told through spectacular choreography (from Wang Xinpeng and Wang Yuanyuan), operatic elements, puppetry and more in a beguiling audio and visual experience sure to take your breath away.

Based on the novel Wives and Concubines by Su Tong Raise the Red Lantern sweeps us back to rural China in the 1920s where a young girl is sold as a concubine by her mother. But, unbeknownst to her mother and her new husband, her heart already lies elsewhere - in the arms of a lover, a singer with the Peking Opera...