A Ballet in Two Acts, based on the Original Novel by Cao Xueqin

National Ballet of China Production

Composer: Ye Xiaogang (Guest)

General Choreographer: Tong Ruirui (Guest)

Scriptwriter: Feng Li (Guest)

Stage Designer: Liu Xinglin (Guest)

Costume Designer: Yang Donglin (Guest)

Lighting Designer: Liu Zhao

Make up & Style Designer: Xu Bin

Choreographers: He Tao(Guest), Zhang Zhenxin, Zheng Yu

Prop Design & Stage Design Assistant: Wang Duo

Production Consultant: Li Dong (Guest)

General Coordinator: Zhang Tianyu

Academic Support from The Society of A Dream of Red Mansions and Research Institute of A Dream of Red Mansions, Chinese National Academy of Arts

Repetiteurs: Wang Qi, Du Jichao

Long Sleeve Dance Supervisors: Shao Weiqiu, Ju Shishi (Guests)

Sheng Dance of the Kun Opera Supervisor: Shao Zheng (Guest)

Stage Production Supervisors: Zhang Bingzhi, Yue Jianhua, Zhang Jianhua

Stage Manager: Qi Jinsong

Costume Production Supervisor: Yue Songshan

Make up & Style Design Assistants: Li Ziyi, Lv Jun

Production Coordinators: Ma Xiaoran, Cheng Su, Zhou Chaoran

Post Design and Production: Shi Ren, He Yuyun

Costume Design Group: Wu Shaohua, Yi Zhouhong, Xia Yue,

                                       Wang Fan, Zhong Manwen, Zheng Qiongyao

Synopsis of A Dream of Red Mansions

Prelude

In a boundless field, Jia Baoyu sets out on the path to retirement from the material world. The past lives of the girls from the Grand View Garden appear as souls of flowers, flying around him like wraiths. He could almost see the preincarnations of himself and Lin Daiyu -- Deity Shenying and Fairy Crimson Pearl – dancing with affection.

Act I Scene I

Under Jia Baoyu’s gaze, the past prosperity of the Rong Mansion reappears. It is grand and prosperous.

The little boy Jia Baoyu is the star of the family. Accompanied only by the sound of oars and the light of the moon, the little girl Lin Daiyu has traveled through courtyards and winding corridors. At the first sight of the two little ones, it seems that they remembers the banks of the Sacred River, where Fairy Crimson Pearl fell so deeply in love with Deity Shenying…

Act I Scene II

In the room attached to Grandma Jia’s, little Lin Daiyu and little Jia Baoyu grow up together. Innocent and intimate, they are inseparable childhood friends. Everyone welcomes little Xue Baochai who comes to join the family. The gold lock hanging on Xue Baochai’s breast seems to match the jade lock on Jia Baoyu’s. Lin Daiyu feels sad and lonely. Jia Baoyu could not satisfy both of the girls.

Act I Scene III

Jia Baoyu has been instructed by his father to read books. He begins to yawn and soon falls asleep. He feels a deep love, and the burden that comes with it. The time flies, Imperial Concubine Yuan, who was Jia Baoyu’s sister and had married into the imperial family, appears. This represents a moment of the highest glory for the family.

Act I Scene IV

Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu reads the book Romance of the West Chamber together. They tasted the first love and the melancholy comes with it.

A butterfly flies over; Xue Baochai is chasing after it. Flowers bloom in the Grand View Garden. The girls are as blooming and free as the flowers. Jia Baoyu is like a butterfly in the sea of flowers, playing merrily with the girls.

Yet Lin Daiyu feels pity for the withered flower petals. She buries them as a way to commemorate their life:

Can I, who these flowers’ obsequies attend,

Know how soon my own life will end?

Let others mock this flower funeral.

In another year who will be the one to bury me?

Act II Scene I

Jia Baoyu gathered his friends and his rebellious acts enrage his father Jia Zheng, who punishes him in the hope of “making him good.” Lin Daiyu pities him with her heart aching. Jia Baoyu delivers a handkerchief. Lin Daiyu knows what he means and writes down a poem pouring out the depths of her love through the tip of her pen.

Act II Scene II

At night in the Yihong Courtyard, everyone is celebrating Jia Baoyu's birthday. Ignoring the hierarchies, unrestrained and euphoric, as though they are celebrating the last of their youth.

Outside the Yihong Courtyard, Jia Mansion is being searched under an official order. Under the sad and fearful atmosphere, another bad news strikes - Imperial Concubine Yuan has passed away. Overwhelmed, Jia Baoyu laughs in misery. He has lost his jade and his sanity at one and the same time.

Act II Scene III

To rescue Jia Baoyu, Wang Xifeng suggests let him marry Xue Baochai to help him return to normal. To the sound of the wedding music, Jia Baoyu smiles at his bride in her red bridal veil. At the same time, Lin Daiyu is burning all her poems in sorrow and anger. Jia Baoyu lifts the bridal veil only to find it is not his dream bride Lin Daiyu. He runs away in madness...

Epilogue

Jia Baoyu walks alone in the world of illusion with the souls of flowers flying around him. He meets the people whose fate intertwined with him again, and bids a solemn farewell to each of them. It seems that all has been no more than a dream, but the moment of love in the dream becomes eternal.