Stop putting off the 2009 Shanghai Dance Festival

For 90 percent of the population, the words “dance festival” hardly inspire backflips of unbridled joy. However, the Shanghai Dance Festival, which began on September 25 and runs though run through October 11, proves an exception to this rule. (Hello, five more percent!)

Now in its fourth season, The Shanghai Dance Festival is again collaborating with the Jin Xing Dance Theater and the Austrian troupe Liquid Loft to present audiences with five shows by artists from as many countries ranging from Austria and China to Israel, South Korea and the UK.

What’s remarkable about the Shanghai Dance Festival is not only the talent it brings to the city, but also its founder, Jin Xing.

Her talent is well-recognized in China and internationally, but Jin Xing is also known for being one of the country’s most well-publicized sex-change cases. The dancer, choreographer, actress and singer was formerly a colonel in the People's Liberation Army who underwent much-publicized gender-reassignment surgery in 1996.

As artistic director, Jin Xing explains that she has a simple goal for The Shanghai Dance Festival: to fast-forward cultural development in China by collaborating with other cultures, thereby fostering greater international appreciation for China's cultural tradition.

With its mix of local and international performance groups and a broad variety of shows, this year’s festival -- which also marks the 10th anniversary of Jin Xing’s own troupe -- is set to do just that.

 
"Solo Colores" & "Into the Light", Shanghai Theater Academy, 630 Huashan Lu, near Wulumuqi Bei Lu 华山路630号, 近乌鲁木齐北路 , Oct. 10-11, RMB150, 7:30pm, +86 21 6327 0578