The dance programme of this year’s Asian-themed Edinburgh International Festival got of to a lavish start on Saturday, with the first of three performances of The Peony Pavilion by the National Ballet of China. Adapted from the 20-hour Kun opera completed by Tang Xianzu in 1598, it is a tapestry of Western and Far Eastern dance conventions, and, in its score, of pieces by five big-league European composers. Fusion indeed.

Visually, too, this musing on love, loss and sexual awakening is a blend of cultural sensibilities, with the lustrous silken costumes by Japan’s Emi Wada sitting beautifully against the spare, architectural geometries of Michael Simon’s sets and Simon’s and Han Jiang’s lighting. These well suit this tale of a wealthy woman (Du Liniang) who dreams of a perfect lover (Liu Mengmei), dies broken-hearted, but is ultimately allowed by an infernal court to return to the land of the living to marry her love. (Shades there initially of its almost exact contemporary, Romeo and Juliet.)

The first act is the more successful, with shimmering introductions — playing out against the suitably erotic languor of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faun - to the three images of the heroine. There is Liniang herself, in white; the Flower Goddess Liniang (her sensuous side, in red); and Kunqu Liniang, her self-restraint, played not by a dancer but by an opera singer, performing in Chinese yet sounding intriguingly Schoenbergian.

Fei Bo’s choreography — western-balletic but with added Eastern articulations - serves much of the story well. The willowy steps for the two dancing Liniangs often echo one another, but the Flower Goddess’s extensions are higher, faster, sexier. There are also attractively etched clusters of Flower Fairies, and MacMillanesque flashes of abandon in the duets between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei.

By contrast, Act 2’s generally more up-tempo, underworld crowd scenes rather outstay their welcome, and overall The Peony Pavilion probably engages the senses more than it does the emotions. Still, there were committed performances all round from the first-night cast (especially Lu Na, a highly desirable Goddess), and the response of the capacity Festival Theatre audience was rapturous.

The Peony Pavilion, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

The Independent Aug,16 2011

In The Peony Pavilion, the National Ballet of China layers western ballet and traditional Chinese arts. The clash of styles can be startling. Kunqu opera singing overlaps with a lush burst of Debussy. A heroine in pointe shoes pleads with a fierce god in crimson beard and silk robes.

The ballet is based on a Chinese love story. Du Liniang dreams of love, then dies of a broken heart when she wakes up. Taking pity, the gods of the underworld return her to life, to be united with her dream lover.

The storytelling is sometimes confusing. The staging is striking. Emi Wada's costumes range from delicately-coloured chiffon dresses to sumptuous embroidered robes. Michael Simon's design puts stark props – a branch, a huge peony – on a bare stage. Guo Wenjing's score quotes western composers, but brings in Chinese flute and voice.

The dancers share a fluid, floating style, all smooth lines and long phrasing. Fei Bo's choreography uses conventional ballet steps, with some distinctive touches. Du Liniang's lover removes one of her pointe shoes, stroking her foot; she and the corps often dance with one foot bare. Wang Qimin was a touching heroine, waking sensuously from her dream.

Kunqu opera performer Yu Xuejiao was dazzling as Liniang's alter ego, wrapped in gorgeous silks and moving in a purring glide.