Lifting higher

A personal tragedy inspired choreographer Ma Cong to create an emotional piece of work that is now touring China. Chen Nan reports.

In 2014, Chinese choreographer Ma Cong was thinking of ideas for his new work for the US-based Richmond Ballet when his mother passed away.

The loss came to inspire that work, titled Lift the Fallen, in which Ma explores the process of grieving, healing, continuing on with one's life and even becoming stronger.

The ballet premiered in May 2014 in Richmond, Virginia.

Now Ma, along with dancers from the Richmond Ballet, is touring China as part of the ongoing 15th Meet in Beijing Arts Festival, one of the country's largest art festivals, which runs through May 28.

"The work is a very personal ballet for me. I wanted to create a work that can encourage and lift the fallen," says Ma.

"The work pays homage to the folk dances of my homeland, China, and to the great love for my mother, my best and most beloved friend."

The choreographer was also inspired by the music of Max Richter's Memorybook compositions, which he describes as "very emotional image that it gave to me was like ocean waves. Human emotion is almost like the waves, waves that hit you".

"I want to show the audiences, who have experienced this kind of emotional hit, that they can also recover and move forward," says Ma, 37, who danced with the National Ballet of China from 1995 to 1999.

Ma moved to the United States 15 years ago. He has choreographed for different companies, including Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet and New York City Ballet.

He has choreographed three works for the Richmond Ballet since 2010 - Lift the Fallen, Luminitza and Ershter Vals.

"Ma's choreography is based in the classical ballet style, but it is infused with a contemporary edge that makes the mood of his work both timeless and accessible to audiences today," says Stoner Winslett, artistic director of Richmond Ballet.

"Despite having lived in the US for more than a decade, Ma remains deeply connected to his Chinese heritage, and you can see his reverence for Chinese tradition in this work. Ma also borrowed steps from traditional Chinese dance which appear throughout the work."

It will be the first time that Richmond Ballet has performed in China. Four short works will be featured in the program, called Made in the USA: Traditions and Innovations, including two ballets by American choreographers - Valse Fantaisie by George Balanchine and After Eden by John Butler - and two ballets commissioned and premiered by Richmond Ballet - Swipe by Val Caniparoli and Lift the Fallen by Ma.

"To us, China seemed to be a whole new realm, and we considered the invitation to tour throughout China very thoughtfully," says Winslett, who became the founding artistic director of Richmond Ballet in 1980.

Besides Richmond Ballet, two other contemporary dance troupes will visit China in May during the Meet in Beijing Arts Festival.

They are Skopje Dance Theater, the first professional contemporary dance company in Macedonia founded in 2011 by Macedonian choreographer Risima Risimkin, and Accrorap, a dance company from France founded by choreographer Kader Attou in 1989, who will perform The Roots, a dance work with its roots in hip-hop.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn