National Ballet of China

A Ballet in Two Acts

The Light of Heart

Production and Presented by National Ballet of China

Executive Director, Producer: Feng Ying

Director, Librettist: Fei Bo

Composer: Guo Wenjing (Guest)

Composer's Assistant: Chen Xinruo(Guest)

Choreographers: Fei Bo, Wang Sizheng, Wang Qi

Co-Stage Designers: Michael Simon (Guest), Gong Xun

Lighting Designer: Liu Zhao

Costume Designer: Chang Suk Ping William (Guest)

Make-up and Style Designer: Xu Bin

Assistant to Make-up and Style Designer: Li Ziyi

Multimedia Design and Production by Hu Tianji (Guest)

Artistic Consultant: Huang Minxuan

Consultants of Dunhuang Arts: Fan Jinshi (Guest), Wang Xudong (Guest)

Visual Arts Advisor: Lou Jie (Guest)

Script Editor: Fu Hualin (Guest)

Executive Coordinator: Qi Jinsong

Coordinators: Ma Xiaoran, Peng Kejia

Stage Supervisors: Yue Jianhua, Gong Xun

Costume Pattern Maker: Lu Jie (Guest)

Costume Supervisors: Li Kun (Guest), Yue Songshan

Special Thanks to Duhuang Academy China

                             Chang Shana,Xu Qi, Hou Liming

World Premiere: September 18th to 23rd, Beijing Tianqiao Theater

The Light of Heart

In the course of thousand years,

Empires rose and fell, cities thrived and perished…

Yet the devout faith in equality of all beings,

The enduring passion for benevolence,

And the strong yearning for the true meaning of life,

Were carved in the divine caves of Dunhuang,

In the form of great beauty by humanity.

This lyrical verse of the unwithering human ideal transcends time

And reveals itself at the peerless grottoes of Mogao…

Main Characters:

Nianyu: A Chinese composer who lives in France

Wuming: one of the protectors of Dunhuang

Shuiwen: Wuming's assistant

Monk Painter: the epitome of painters and monks of Dunhuang in the past times

Flying Apsara: the very important image in Dunhuang frescoes, also called Gandharva

Synopsis of The Light of Heart

Prelude

Above the boundless sand sea, the Monk Painter carries a light, and the Flying Dunhuang Apsara summons the mortal beings from the past and the present...

Nianyu, a female composer, continues her music creation after leaving Dunhuang. During pauses of her writing, the images of Dunhuang people and Dunhuang art characters emerge in front of her eyes, just like the musical notes popping up on the music sheets. Flashbacks of her memories thus reveal the lover of her life in Dunhuang and her ever-lasting love for Dunhuang.

Act I 

Scene I

On the site of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, there is an impressive busy working scene. Young Nianyu arrives with her beloved violin. Shuiwen and other Dunhuang protectors warmly welcome her. Nianyu can't wait to go into the caves for the first time. The beauty of Dunhuang art is far beyond her imagination.

Nianyu is attracted by a large shadow of a concentrated painter on a painting board. It is Wuming, a young and talented painter.

Wuming introduces Nianyu to the caves. In the artistic palace of thousands of years, Nianyu and Wuming fall in love. The vivid images of frescoes inspire Nianyu. She turns them into vibrant musical notes.

Scene II

Under the vapor lamp, Wuming, Shuiwen and several protectors are having a lively discussion about the techniques in copying frescoes. Their excellent skills give life to Dunhuang characters on the painting: the Kalaviuka jumps, the Huxuan dance with exoticism and the Buddhist pilgrims piously move forward on their ways…

Nianyu is drawing an end to her musical creation. She excitedly suggests Wuming go to Paris with her. However, Wuming hesitates because Dunhuang is crying out for conservation.

Scene III

After Nianyu's leaving, a disaster suddenly descended on the Mogao Caves, during which the people of Dunhuang have experienced the vicissitudes of life.

A magnificent undiscovered fresco appears after the disaster. Dunhuang's history of more than a thousand years condenses on the back of the fresco, the Monk Painter from the past is lighting a lamp and drawing calmly…

Act II

Scene I

In the lonely nights of Dunhuang, the memories with Nianyu pass through Wuming's mind over and over again. But he is even more worried about the rapidly vanishing colors of the newly discovered frescoes. Wuming and Shuiwen try their best to copy without eating and sleeping, but the colors fade regardless of their effort. Finally, Wuming falls sick in front of the fresco.

Scene II

A bright light across thousands of years comes to Wuming's rescue in his desperation. Wuming meets the Monk Painter out of time and space. Led by the light of heart, he enters into the frescoes world at its origination. Inside the world, the flying Apsaras takes off. All the figures of Dunhuang arts burst into bloom. While outside, Dunhuang art is fading…

Scene III

In a moment of enlightment, Wuming receives the light of heart from the Monk Painter. He returns to the reality with some inspiration and devote all his life to retain the beauty of Dunhuang.

Epilogue

Nianyu comes back to Dunhuang after many years. Memory and reality overlap. Under the yellow sand and blue sky, Nianyu looks back in time with tears in her eyes. A glamorous world gradually reveals… Through time and space, Wuming stands among the protectors.

Everything in the world turns into immortal spirits like sands in the desert.

The desert may be full of danger and hardship,

but it never stops people's desire and pursuit for beauty.

So many lives, once as colorful as frescoes, now rest in the sand sea in peace.

The spirits of these people, their utter devotion, gather together and form a bright light,

following which generations of Dunhuang protectors keep moving forward…