{"id":83284,"date":"2026-09-08T20:27:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T12:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=83284"},"modified":"2026-09-08T20:27:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T12:27:06","slug":"hong-kong-ballet-takes-on-chinas-mogao-caves-in-dunhuang-in-search-of-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=83284","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong Ballet takes on China\u2019s Mogao Caves in Dunhuang: In Search of Light"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/09\/08\/14f0e656-1939-4f02-90ab-7198f4254ae9_83ec2556.jpg?itok=OdOHVLGc&amp;v=1788857704\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">When Hong Kong Ballet\u2019s resident choreographer Ricky Hu Songwei and his wife, fellow choreographer Mai Jingwen, were assigned to create a new production inspired by Dunhuang for the company, they had what they describe as \u201can immediate headache\u201d.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Dunhuang, in northwestern China, is known for the <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Mogao Caves<\/span>, a Unesco World Heritage site on the ancient Silk Road featuring more than 1,000 years of Buddhist rock art. Over the years, its murals and statues have inspired numerous dance productions across China, all bringing the site\u2019s wall paintings to life by blending classical ballet techniques with Dunhuang dance movements.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThere are so many dance dramas based on Dunhuang themes already, so how could we create something different from theirs?\u201d Mai says.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Audiences often arrive with fixed stereotypes of the murals or feel they need academic preparation, she adds. \u201cThat\u2019s why we were bashing our brains to find a story that would genuinely resonate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The two, with the Hong Kong Ballet team, visited the caves in October last year to look for inspiration for <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">Dunhuang: In Search of Light<\/em>, set to premiere on October 16 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The show is co-commissioned by the Greater Bay Area International Theatre Festival, which will run until December, and is co-produced by the China Arts and Entertainment Group. Plans to run <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">Dunhuang: In Search of Light<\/em> in the rest of the Greater Bay Area have yet to be announced.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/arts\/article\/3366747\/hong-kong-ballet-takes-chinas-mogao-caves-dunhuang-search-light?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Hong Kong Ballet\u2019s resident choreographer Ricky Hu Songwei and his wife, fellow choreographer Mai Jingwen, were assigned to create a new production inspired by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":83285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[5952,29692,6292,29693,3569,5231,536,29691,1506,1013],"class_list":["post-83284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-ballet","tag-caves","tag-chinas","tag-dunhuang","tag-hong","tag-kong","tag-light","tag-mogao","tag-search","tag-takes","wpcat-33-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}