Waltz Premiered in Beijing International Youth Theatre Festival
photo of Waltz
photo of Waltz
From September 5th to 25th, the Fourth Beijing International Youth Theater Festival came just as expected. There were 57 plays that were put on the stage for more than 100 performances during the festival. Ever since the Third Beijing Youth Theater Festival was renamed as Beijing International Youth Theater Festival, the international characteristic of the Festival has been given an increasing prominence. Among 57 plays of this Festival, foreign plays made up half, including the unit of "Taste of Avignon". It was the first time to put the participant items of Avignon Theater Festival on the stage in China, which included 3 plays produced by Chinese youth drama directors who took part in Avignon Theater Festival in July this year. "The realization of 'the international characteristic' of the Festival is to invite foreign plays to China and introduce Chinese plays to the world." Shao Zehui, the Chief Director of Program of the Fourth Festival, the organizer and participant of all Beijing Youth Theater Festivals told the journalist.
All those invited foreign plays were world-known performing troupes' works that exerted influences and earned high recognition. For example, the plays at the opening ceremony of the Festival were "Collective Journey" and "Waltz", the dancing theater plays of Amsterdam Modern Dancing Troupe. When they were staged at the National Center for the Performing Arts, the effects of plays were described as "very shocking".
Besides, it will be the trend of times to carry out the external cooperation and exchange for the Festival. The fruit of the cooperation between the Festival and Avignon Theater Festival is to present the unit of "Taste of Avignon”. Nowadays, the Festival has begun to contact and communicate with European important arts festivals such as Brussel International Arts Festival of Belgium, Edinburg Arts Festival of Britain and Berlin Arts Festival of Germany over the issues of cooperation. Just as Huang Ying, the Chinese youth theater director has remarked, "The ultimate end is not to carry out the exchange with international arts festivals, but toenable Chinese theater creation, or even cultural construction to be more ideal and energetic than before, which is the mostimportant."
Autumn is a season of exchange for Chinese drama stage. During the season, new plays were put on stage one after another by national drama institutes and troupes; new Chinese and foreign dramas were performed in turn at the 2011 Beijing International Youth Drama Festival; the 18th BESETO Theatre Festival focused its attention on East Asia theatre; the 2nd International University Students Theatre Festival of the World Union of University Theatre School and Academy presented its program with rich academic flavor; the first Summit Forum of Asian Theatre Artists paid close attention to the stage presentation backed by forces behind the curtain; the 33rd World Congress of the International Theatre Association was held in Xiamen under the auspices of the ITA, China Theatre Association and other organizations, many theatrical artists, playwrights, organizers and managers from China and abroad made joint efforts to set up the platform for international cultural exchange and cooperation, so as to strengthen communication and cooperation between theatre artists of all countries in the world and promote the development and prosperity of the world theatre arts to a new and higher level.
Drama conveys culture and friendship; art brings about beauty and harmony. This magazine has selected multifarious aspects of theatre activities in order to reflect frequent contacts and diversity of international theatre exchange and the new vitality brought by the development of such exchanges.
