Dance drama captures spirit of era through individuals

Nothing can better capture the pulse of an era than the story of ordinary individuals who make relentless efforts to fulfill an entrepreneurial dream.

Dance drama Tide of Era, produced by the China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater, tries to embody China's development path over the last 40 years since the reform and opening-up into the entrepreneurial stories of a father and a son in South China's Guangdong province. The narrative of the drama is created in a chronological order based on four milestone periods: the beginning of the reform and opening-up, the 1990s, the early 2000s, and now.

Though the father and the son start businesses in different times of era and have irreconcilable conflicts that originate in generation gap and family breakdown, what they have in common is the undiminished passion for their careers and an abiding faith for the future. No matter how challenging the reality is, they march on firmly with persistence and dignity, which reflects the spirit of not only the era they live in, but also of the whole nation.

Over the last 40 years, with an indomitable spirit, China has successfully overcome the challenges posed by the flood in 1998, SARS in 2003, Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 and now the COVID-19 pandemic. The ups and downs of the protagonists echoes the typical characteristics of different era, and at large, the spiritual outlook of a nation.

In terms of the artistic expression of production, a highlight of the choreography is the group dance that dynamically displays the concept of "tides", which serves as an emblem of surging times, and more importantly, the ebb and flow of the protagonists' fortune.

Directed by the national first-class director Tong Ruirui, Tide of Era will premiere at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in March.