IT IS one of the world's great cultures; more accurately, it is many of the world's great cultures. China is the oldest continuous civilization on the globe, a nation of more than 50 ethnic peoples and 1,500 dialects -- more than 100 languages in the province of Fujian alone -- whose traditional arts, costumes, music and metaphors embrace an almost inconceivable variety. Even in the age of video and satellite television, much of Chinese art remains mysterious to American audiences, even as its quality, particularly of its dance and multimedia art, is reaching new heights.
But not here. Throughout October, an unprecedented number of China's finest performers and visionaries, nearly 900 in all, will be on stage at the Kennedy Center. The Festival of China, four years in the making and featuring an extraordinary lineup of the most acclaimed dancers, musicians, actors, acrobats and puppeteers, is the single largest celebration of Chinese performing arts ever hosted by a single institution, even in China itself. Painstakingly assembled by Kennedy Center Vice President Alicia Adams, the schedule includes eight premieres and more than a dozen free shows as well as an open-air marketplace, exhibits and family activities, and a glimpse of what has been described as "the eighth wonder of the world," the terra cotta warriors of Emperor Qin Shihuang.
I traveled to China last year and was fortunate to see not only the warriors but several of the country's performing companies; the following "postcards" from some of the cities I visited were taken from my journals of the trip.
In conjunction with the festival, Adams has helped many of the troupes arrange appearances in other U.S. cities -- in some cases, fairly extensive tours -- because she believes that as the nation's capital of performing arts, the Kennedy Center should also serve as the doorway into America for artists from other nations.
For Festival of China schedule details and dates, see Page 36. Tickets for the performances, where needed, are available at the Kennedy Center box office, by phone at 202-467-4600 or online at http://kennedy-center.org/china .
The performances by the China National Peking Opera Company and the Beijing People's Art Theatre will have supertitles, and others will be interpreted for visually or hearing-impaired patrons. Two weeks' notice is requested to arrange for the aids, but the Kennedy Center will try to accommodate those with less time; call 202-416-8727.
BEIJING -- An hour or so before the performance begins, the actors begin to gather around a bank of makeup tables and lighted mirrors. Some are already in costume, with tissue folded carefully around the neck and sleeves to prevent the heavy silks and brocades (they are quite elaborate) from being smeared. Others wear robes or what looks like surgical scrubs. Their hair is slicked back, some braided, some under nets or skullcaps, and many have plucked not only their eyebrows but their hairlines to make their foreheads look higher and more imperious. They can increase the size of their eyes that way as well, creating dramatic brows and carrying the black eyeliner far out to the sides.
Many of the actors start with a base of white or even pale pink, expertly and evenly sponged over the entire face. Typically, the eyelids and up under the brows are shadowed in dark rose or red, and red dots painted into the curve of the nose to emphasize the corner of the eye. The lips are shaped into a bright, scarlet moue. The most stylized paintings may have flames of red and gold and black or loopy clown eyes. All this the actors draw freehanded and immaculately.
The festival kicks off with a salute to Beijing culture, nine days of mostly free and family-friendly offerings including demonstrations of face painting in the Peking opera style, martial arts, dragon and lion dancing, kite-making, seal-carving and calligraphy, plus an open-air market with handicrafts and mementos. The Inner Mongolian Chorus will make its first appearance in the United States, performing traditional a cappella music on the Millennium Stage. Musical prodigies from Shenzhen, pianists He Qizhen, Zuo Zhang and Zhang Haochen, all younger than 18, will perform two classical programs, including one with 97 other young pianists (with a little help from National Symphony Orchestra conductor Leonard Slatkin, in a program titled "100 Pianos").
Throughout the festival, the Kennedy Center will be adorned, inside and out, with contemporary arts and even a fashion exhibition, "The New China Chic." For nearly a fortnight, the Terrace Gallery will become both a showcase and a shop featuring clothing and accessories by 16 prominent Chinese or Chinese American designers, including Vivienne Tam, Shanghai Tang, Jeffrey Chow, Anna Sui and Vera Wang.
The entire building will be decorated by Tim Yip , Oscar-winning art director of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," with huge hanging banners along the Potomac River facade, lanterns and elaborate paper cuttings, all in the auspicious color of red. Contemporary sculptures by Chinese artists, both traditional and avant-garde, will be installed throughout the center and the grounds. Eight contemporary Chinese films will be screened (free tickets required), and photographic exhibits of Shanghai and Beijing will line the Hall of States and Nations Gallery.
SHANGHAI -- The Shanghai Acrobats are a lively and self-possessed troupe that takes to somersaulting through hoops and vaulting over one another in simultaneous waves from both sides of the stage, slipping through with seemingly effortless ease and extreme good humor. The pyramids of men and boys, the towers of hats tossed and piled atop the jugglers' heads like the "500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins," the girls with those preternatural hip joints that seem to rotate 360 degrees -- no longer unfamiliar to Americans, perhaps, but breathtakingly exact.
