-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The National Ballet of China, under the Artistic Directorship of Mme. Zhao Ruheng, is one of the world's supreme ballet ensembles. Chinese audiences first saw Swan Lake fifty years ago in a production by the National Ballet of China – and they took it to their hearts. Since then, generations of Swan Lake casts have laid the foundation for the history of Chinese ballet. In a bold move, the National Ballet invited Natalia Makarova to create a new production for them, which opened in the Spring of 2007. Ms. Makarova, one of the greatest living interpreters of Odette-Odile, stages classical ballets for the world’s leading companies.

It helped that Wang Qimin is an uncannily supple dancer, with a technique so precise she can create whatever physical metaphors she chooses. Ripples of sorrow travelled in delicate undulations along her spine, her feet beat a terrified flutter. But it was the look of destroyed blankness on Wang's face that was so arresting, suggesting that all memory of being human had been erased from her. For the rest of the evening, Wang performed equally beautifully - her diminutive body possessing an expected grandeur of scale and power.