This is a work aiming to deconstruct the Chinese opera.  It begins with 

the dancers, like a group of young contemporary Chinese dressed in 

metallic and fashionable costumes, coming onto a stage enwrapped by 

the loud and traditional sound.  They follow the structure of the opera, 

and try to re-enact the storyline. The movement, the dynamic and the 

substance, however, seem to be totally estranged…   

Choreography

Willy Tsao, Li Han-zhong, Ma Bo

Lighting

Godzilla Tan

Costume

ZHAO Jia-pei

Program duration

80 mins

Premiere

2000.01

Choreographer Introduction

Willy TSAO

Willy TSAO is an influential figure in China’s contemporary dance development as a 

choreographer, educator, curator, manager and director. As a contemporary dance 

pioneer in China and Hong Kong, TSAO founded the first and only professional modern 

dance company, City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC), in Hong Kong in 1979 

and has been its artistic director for thirty years from 1989 to 2019; and in 2019, he 

founded FLSH, a group to further promote the inter-exchange between Hong Kong 

and mainland modern dance. In Beijing, TSAO co-founded a civilian-run professional 

modern dance company, BeijingDance/LDTX in 2005, and had served as its artistic 

director since founding. In 2017, TSAO initiated the “China Dance Stations”, an alliance 

that connects modern dance organizations with a common aspiration towards the 

prosperity of modern dance in China, constantly contributing to the effective sharing 

of information, consolidating resources and creating better synergy for exchange 

and collaboration. 

LI Han-zhong

A native of Yunnan (China), Li Han-zhong graduated with a bachelor ‘s degree from the 

Division of Chinese Ethnic Dance at the Beijing Dance Academy in 1991. Upon graduation, 

he joined the Guangdong Modern Dance Company where he performed as a dancer, and 

served as an artistic assistant and choreographer. He toured with the company to the United 

States, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Korea, Singapore, and the Philippines.  In 

1996, he received the Asian Cultural Council Scholarship to study at the American Dance 

Festival for three months.  

MA Bo

Born in Mizhi, Shanxi Province, Ma joined Shanxi Provincial Song and Dance Theatre in 1985. 

She received a bachelor’s degree from the Beijing Dance Academy in 1991, and soon after 

joined the Academy as a faculty member. Ma has performed with Guangdong Modern Dance

Company and went on to perform with Beijing Modern Dance Company in 1999. She has 

collaborated with choreographer Li Han-zhong on previous modern dance works. Her works 

includes, Variation of Red, Helpless, Gone with it in Multi-Color, Garden of Memory, and The 

Cold Dagger and others.