"Only Green" was staged in Beijing for 1,000 performances and has reached nearly 90 cities at home and abroad

China News Service, Beijing, October 6 (Reporter Ying Ni) The first performance of the 1,000-show commemoration of the dance-poem drama "Only Green" was staged at the "Water Cube" of the National Aquatics Center on the 6th.

That night, the "Water Cube" was transformed into an immersive art space, and the "layers and mountains" of thousands of miles of rivers and mountains spread out in the light and shadow of the venue's architecture. The Central Opera House Symphony Orchestra built a rich and layered auditory world for the whole play.

On the stage, seven chapters are laid out in sequence: unrolling scrolls, asking about seal scripts, singing silk, searching for stones, practicing brushwork, tempering ink, and entering into paintings. From the moment when the unroller begins to look at each other in time and space, to the craftsmen appearing one after another, to the shocking moment when "Ximeng" puts pen to paper and "enters the painting", the dancers use body language to convey the elegance of Song Dynasty aesthetics and the persistence of Chinese craftsmen.

In the special curtain call of the Thousand Shows, the male version of the female official and the female version of the Hanlin Painting Academy painter broke the stereotype and was refreshing.

Before the performance, Zhang Han, the dancer who plays "Ximeng", told reporters that after thousands of performances, his partners have gained a deeper and deeper understanding of the role and stage experience. He said that in Taiwan, an audience member burst into tears and said to director Han Zhen, "I have been waiting for you for five years." In the United States, a local audience member wore an evening gown and shook hands with the actors one by one during the book signing to express congratulations; during the curtain call at the Kremlin in Russia, more than 6,000 people stood up and applauded together. "The applause like a mountain and sea moved us beyond words."

In 2021, "Only Green" will be screened for the first time at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Over the past five years, the show has traveled to nearly 90 cities at home and abroad, repeatedly breaking box office records for domestic dance dramas in China, and winning multiple national-level artistic honors.

"Green" actor Meng Qingyang said that there may not be another role in life that can be played so many times. He is grateful for the growth the role has brought to him and cherishes it.

It is reported that there will be three more performances in the near future to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the show.