Soulful Sissi

Dance drama about legendary Austrian queen set to launch this year's Meet in Beijing Arts Festival, Chen Nan reports.

The Austrian film Sissi, based on the legendary life of Empress Elisabeth, became popular in China after it was screened here in the 1980s.

The 1955 film, directed by Ernst Marischka, has Romy Schneider in the lead role as the beautiful yet sad queen.

Her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1854 made her the empress of Austria at age 16. She eventually also became the queen of Hungary.

A dance drama titled Sissi, which is adapted from her life story, will make its debut in Beijing soon. It premiered in Budapest in 2013.

As the opening performance of the 17th Meet in Beijing Arts Festival, which begins on Thursday, the dance drama will be staged by Hungary's ExperiDance Production.

It focuses on the queen's connection with Hungary and her romance with Gyula Andrassy, a Hungarian official.

The queen, also known as Sissi, had a carefree spirit before she wed the emperor, and was at odds with her new life at Austrian court.

But she found happiness in Hungary when she went there for the first time a few years after her marriage.

She was crowned the queen of Hungary in 1867, because she helped to create the dual Austria-Hungary monarchy that year.

The director and choreographer of the dance drama, Sandor Roman, has added a fictional role - that of a gypsy girl - to the plot. He has also integrated the queen's tales into the story, such as learning Hungarian language, embroidery and her contribution to the construction of Budapest.

Nearly 30 dancers from ExperiDance Production troupe will perform in Beijing.

"As a dancer it is a challenge to form the personality of Sissi," says Anna Lazar, who plays the title role.

She says the troupe members use their dance moves to exhibit feelings like inner conflict, and the smallest of gestures matter.

In the show, she performs a combination of classical ballet, contemporary dance and Hungarian folk dance.

She says the film helped her to prepare for the role, which she has been performing since 2015.

"We can see a woman fighting her emotions - who doesn't forget the obligations of her status, so she suppresses her own feelings," says Lazar, who studied folk dance in college.

Roman, who has been dancing since he was 10, and received his training in the United States and Europe in folk dance, classical ballet and modern dance, founded ExperiDance Production in 2000.

With Hungarian folk and modern dance, the dancer-choreographer has created a special dance language.

The company has staged more than 20 productions worldwide, including 1001 Years, Revenge and Time of the Gypsies.

"We, Hungarians have dance traditions that have become famous and popular all over the world, making our country well-known, too," Roman says on his company website.

He adds that dancers today face a bigger challenge than their predecessors did as they need to popularize old traditions in a way that relates to people with fast-changing tastes.

The power of live music will also be on display at the Meet in Beijing Arts Festival, with around 20 soloists from Budapest Gypsy Symphony Orchestra expected to play classical melodies, such as Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody, Mantovani's Spanish Gypsy Dance and Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dance No 5.

According to festival coordinator Mu Wen, the major annual cultural event's theme this year is Silk Road, following China's Belt and Road Initiative launched in 2013.

The festival runs through May 31, with more than 500 artists from 22 countries expected to give indoor and outdoor shows in the capital.

Many of the participating countries are related to the Belt and Road Initiative, including Hungary, says Mu.

"We hope the Chinese audiences will gain more knowledge about these countries through art."

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn

If you go

7:30 pm, Thursday-Friday; 2 pm, Saturday. Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, 9 Tianqiao South Street, Xicheng district, Beijing. 400-635-3355.

(China Daily 04/24/2017 page21)