Debra Li

AFTER its phenomenal success of the internationally acclaimed “Raise the Red Lantern,” created seven years ago with Zhang Yimou as director, the National Ballet of China (NBC) has adapted “The Peony Pavilion” from the most romantic story in Chinese literature.

The show, which premiered in Beijing in May, will come to the Shenzhen Grand Theater early next month.

The stellar international production team includes Academy Award-winning costume designer Emi Wada. Choreographer Fei Bo rises to the challenge of adopting stylized Kunqu opera movements into Western classical ballet. This visually stunning piece retains the purity and drama of both forms and is enhanced by German stage designer Michael Simon’s starkly effective set design.

Li Liuyi, a veteran director with the Beijing People’s Arts Theater, serves as the director, and composer Guo Wenjing wrote the compelling music.

Besides using his own compositions, Guo has refashioned the Kunqu opera arrangements and borrowed from Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloe,” Debussy’s “The Afternoon of a Faun,” Respighi’s “Roman Festival,” Holst’s “The Planets” and Prokofiev’s “Scythian Suite.”

Along with established ballerinas, such as Zhang Jian and Zhu Yan, 19-year-old Cao Shuci is a newer talent that will wow audiences. Among the new male dancers is 18-year-old Xing Liang.

Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) wrote this classic tale about love, death and resurrection during the Ming Dynasty. Much more than a love story, “The Peony Pavilion” affirms the regenerative power of true emotions.

It is the story of Du Liniang, who falls in love with a man she meets in a dream and then pines away when she is unable to recapture the enchantment of that dream. It has a happy ending, but not before facing ghosts, a trip to hell, life-risking adventure and all the other hallmarks of a good romance.

The adapted ballet version, the first of its kind, can be considered a sort of exploration. The original script has been primarily performed as drama, such as the Kunqu opera.

Director Li said that Tang Xianzu left us a dream. “Over the past 400 years, so many people have tried to interpret it. Now we are trying to dance into the dream,” he said.

In two acts and six scenes, Li devotes most of his energy exploring Du Liniang’s psychology, centering around her dreams.

“Dreams are the expression of a person’s subconscious, formed by fragments,” said Fei Bo.

Therefore, the audience will encounter three stages of Du Liniang: first as the teenage girl in her dreams, second as her subconscious self as a flower goddess full of vigor and desire and, finally, a character clad in Kunqu opera costumes to remind the audience of the story’s background.

“You will not see a Du Liniang following the rigid steps of classical ballet. It’s the consensus of our team that Du is a modern spirit,” the 28-year-old choreographer said.

The overall style of the dances is modern, and to go with it, the music is rather impressionistic, focusing on the psychology of the antagonists.

Wada, designer for Zhang Yimou’s 2002 movie, “Hero,” uses black and strong colors like white and red to bring out the stark contrast between life and death, dream and reality, which is echoed by the impressive stage set by Michael Simon.

Defining his first attempt at ballet as postmodernist, director Li arranges for the story to end at a wedding between the ghost of Du and her love, Liu Mengmei.

“Personally I believe that’s where the story comes to its climax and captures the talent of Tang Xianzu,” Li said. “Later developments, such as Liu excelling in the imperial exam, resurrecting Du and marrying her with help from the emperor, have that stale smell of feudalism.”

It took NBC seven years to make “The Peony Pavillion,” partly because of the huge success of “Raise the Red Lantern” and in part because of the difficulty in creating a new play,

Zhao Ruheng, president of NBC, said the company could have turned out more original works if she had not been so meticulous about the details and exacting for perfection.

Tang Xianzu is sometimes compared to William Shakespeare, and “The Peony Pavilion,” translated into several languages, is widely known in Japan and some Western countries.

“What Tang and Shakespeare shared was their deep understanding of how passion plays out among mortals, and how it can transcend social norms and defy tradition,” Zhao said.

Zhao, a ballerina herself in the 1960s, has made painstaking effort to bring innovation to the ballet company.

Since 2000, NBC’s adapted versions of “Butterfly Lovers,” “Nutcracker” and “Pink Floyd Ballet” in collaboration with Roland Petit have all won rave reviews and raised eyebrows.

Many love the new productions. Some have criticized them for focusing too much on stage effects and neglecting the aesthetics of ballet — the beauty of bodily movement.

“I’ve always hoped to hear authentic criticism, which is much more helpful than unanimous acclamations,” Zhao said.

Since its birth in 1959, NBC has emerged as a leading company in the world of ballet and absorbed contemporary works, marking a long journey from the era when its colorful productions were infused with political implications.