Classic ballet revives memories for Wuxi audiences

The Red Detachment of Women, one of the most successful ballets produced in China, debuted in 1964 and was staged at Wuxi Grand Theater July 6 to 7 by the National Ballet of China.

The Chinese ballet attracted a large audience, especially the elderly who relived their youthful memories.

The Red Detachment of Women is a full-length Chinese ballet depicting the journey of Qionghua, who escapes a life of slavery and joins an all-female Communist Party army battalion led by commander Hong Changqing on Hainan Island during the civil war in the 1930s, that combines Western dance styles with Chinese cultural elements.

A film version was released in July 1960 and was an important memory for youths of that period.

An old man surnamed Lin, who went to the show with his wife and daughter, praised the performance, and said that the first time he learned of the ballet's story was when he watched the film in the 1960s. He said the ballet version was very different from and more interesting than the film.