Review: A powerful love story unmasked in 'Masquerade'
Hong Kong Dance Company's latest production is the award-winning Masquerade, originally created by choreographer/director Ding Wei for the Guizhou Song and Dance Ensemble.
Hong Kong Dance Company's latest production is the award-winning Masquerade, originally created by choreographer/director Ding Wei for the Guizhou Song and Dance Ensemble.
Described as a "grand ethnic dance drama", it combines folk-based dance and masked performers from the Nuo tradition with a moving love story that has echoes of Romeo and Juliet and a touch of The Phantom of the Opera.
As long as director and composer stick to ... ethnic traditions, they are right on target
The show is lively, entertaining and features stand-out performances from the lead actors.
Nuo is an ancient Chinese culture whose dance and opera traditions are famous for the use of extraordinary masks - ranging from the beautiful to the grotesque - worn by the performers, who are shaman-like figures believed to communicate with both gods and men.
Masquerade's hero, Cang (Liu Yinghong), is a Nuo dancer whose mask serves a deeper purpose: to hide his scarred face. Despite this, the pretty, young Chen (Tang Ya) falls in love with him (and he with her), to the dismay of her handsome suitor Mao (Chen Jun).
When she rejects Mao and declares her love for Cang, the jealous Mao tries to shoot him - but it is Chen who is killed as she tries to protect her lover.