Debra Li

THE National Ballet of China (NBC), the nation’s most prestigious classical ballet troupe, will perform “Pink Floyd Ballet” in Shenzhen for the first time on Sunday night. “Run Like Hell” and other numbers will move both rock and ballet fans.

“Pink Floyd Ballet” is something unique. It was very modern 30 years ago and is still fashionable today.

Roland Petit first choreographed the ballet in 1973 in Paris after he happened to listen to an album by Pink Floyd, a legendary rock group in the 1970s and 80s.

Petit said he hated rock music at that time and when his daughter recommended a Pink Floyd album, he didn’t want to listen to it. But his daughter insisted and put it on his desk.

To his surprise, Petit immediately fell in love with the music. He flew to London to meet the band, and decided to create a ballet using Pink Floyd songs.

The 90-minute pure-dance ballet consists of 18 sections using 12 pieces from the renowned albums “The Wall,” “The Dark Side of the Moon,” “Meddle,” “Relics,” and “Obscured by Clouds.”

The ballet includes a variety of solos, duets, trios, and ensemble dances.

The dancers all wear white. The sound of fierce wind separates different sections. The lighting, done by Jean Michel Desireis, is particularly striking.

More than 50 NBC dancers and an all-star cast including Zhu Yan, Sun Jie and Zhang Jian will perform the show at Shenzhen Grand Theater.

The world premiere of “Pink Floyd Ballet” was held in November 1973 by Ballet de Marseilles — which Petit created not long before — to the sound of the band playing hits from their albums.

The choreographer had this “rock ballet” revived by the Asami Maki Ballet Company of Tokyo in 2004. He created some new movements for Japanese dancers.

The NBC premiered the show in China on June 24 last year at the Beijing University Memorial Hall, where it was well received. The troupe has also taken it to Shanghai, Moscow and other cities.

The ballet is regarded as a modern wonder. The movements appear so natural that they seem not to have been designed by a choreographer but flow from the dancers’ hearts.

It’s a show that both rock fans and ballet fans should watch.

“Six pieces of the music the rock band created especially for Petit had never been included in their albums. So local rock fans will be able to listen to them for the first time. Unlike some boring, suffocating contemporary dance, this magnificent ballet is very entertaining and keeps you watching,” said Huang Minxuan, deputy director of the NBC at a news briefing Friday.

“It is a beautiful ballet with many symbols of the relationship between man and nature, and it inspires our Chinese choreographers and dancers,” he said.

Huang explained “Pink Floyd Ballet” combined contemporary dance and classical ballet. “It’s more abstract than classical ballet which is often based on a storyline, but it is still elegant — with ballet’s basic elements,” he said

As the ballerina Zhu Yan has put it, young people and those no longer young but who treasure the memories of their youth will love it.

“It made me feel free and unconstrained. I felt a passion to dance,” she once said. “You can express yourself with the rhythms. We are very active in this ballet and can feel the passionate feedback from the audience. It’s very exciting.”

Wu Yan, who will appear in the opening solo dance “Run Like Hell,” said it was more demanding than classical ballet pieces. “You cannot take a breath here, the movements are an inseparable one-piece. But when I’ve finished, there’s the feeling of great accomplishments, as I am also creating part of the dance and bringing out what I feel about the music,” he said

To increase its appeal to Chinese audiences, Petit has added a section with movements borrowed from hip hop and Chinese kung fu.

“We had even invited hip-hop dancers to give us instructions for that section,” Huang said.

Praised by Petit as one of the “top five” ballet companies in the world, the NBC has been focusing on three areas: Introducing classical productions from abroad like “Sleeping Beauty” and “Romeo and Juliet,” creating pure Chinese productions like “Yellow River” and “Butterfly Lovers,” and also experimenting with modern productions like “Pink Floyd Ballet.”

Next year, the company hopes to bring another contemporary ballet to Shenzhen, which it calls “three-in-one” and is based on three very different pieces of music.