The National Ballet of China revives John Cranko's signature production Onegin in Beijing.

Reid Anderson, artistic director of Stuttgart Ballet, hesitated to give the copyright of John Cranko's signature ballet Romeo and Juliet to the National Ballet of China in early 2006 when its president Zhao Ruheng visited him.

Anderson was not sure whether the Chinese company could do it justice.

Six months later, however, the National Ballet of China premiered the work in Beijing with great success and even Anderson was impressed.

"I have never come across any other company (that) could revive Cranko's Romeo and Juliet so wonderfully and in such a short time," he says about the performance he saw in October 2006.

"They convinced me so quickly that I decided I had to return as quickly as possible."

Anderson kept his promise and returned to Beijing last summer with another of Cranko's great pieces, Onegin.

South African-born choreographer John Cranko (1927-73) created three magnificent full-length ballets that have become modern classics: Romeo and Juliet (1962), The Taming of the Shrew (1969) and Onegin (1965). And for the most discerning Cranko enthusiast, Onegin is the most ravishing, compelling and challenging to performers. It requires expressive dramatic performances, brilliant dance technique and a deep sense of expression for individual characters.

"I believed in them and I really wanted to return to rehearse Onegin with them," says the 59-year-old ballet master. "I wanted to follow the swift development of these talented dancers."

Six months on, another great ballet is born, with the National Ballet of China's premiere tomorrow of Onegin at Tianqiao Theater in Beijing.

Cranko originally created Onegin for his Stuttgart Ballet but since its premiere in April 1965, the dazzling drama has been performed to great critical acclaim around the world and is a favorite of numerous leading companies.

In three acts, the dramatic and emotional work is based on Alexander Pushkin's novel-in-verse about arrogant aristocrat Onegin, who rejects the love of the naive young Tatiana, only to realize later that he made a terrible mistake in throwing away his one chance of happiness. The story inspired a Tchaikovsky opera of the same name and several movies.

Cranko set his ballet to a number of Tchaikovsky's piano and orchestral works arranged and re-orchestrated by Hurt Heinz Stolze.

"In 1980 when the Stuttgart Ballet toured Beijing with Onegin, I watched all five shows, so moving and appealing was it to me," says Huang Mingxuan, vice-president of the National Ballet of China.

"Pushkin gifted Cranko characters with great complexity and the choreographer responded with movements that speak as eloquently as words," Huang says. "The characters are never caricatures, always real people. Cranko's absolute mastery of the art of the pas de deux is highlighted to great effect in the emotional work."

Prima ballerina Zhu Yan, who plays Onegin's lost love Tatiana opposite Huang Zheng, adds: "Cranko's choreography allows audiences to touch the very souls of the characters through the luminescent portraits he paints."

Stuttgart Ballet coach Jane Bourne, who also helped the same cast rehearse Romeo and Juliet in 2006, is delighted with them. "They've made obvious progress over the last two years," she says. "They surprised me when I worked here on Romeo and Juliet and now they are even better. They have shown they know what Cranko wanted to express."

The National Ballet of China will give four shows at Tianqiao Theater until Dec 22. Zhang Jian-Hao Bin and Wang Qimin-Li Jun are the other Onegin-Tatiana pairings.

(China Daily December 18, 2008)