ChinaBalletNYC

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Les Ballets de l'Opera Chinois de New York, Inc.

315 W. 61st Street #11N Tel. (212) 977-1038 New York, NY 10023 U S.A
Chen Min Lipman, Director

Les Ballet Chinois in New York was founded in 1995 as a not-for-profit corporation in New York City, with the goal of introducing Chinese ballet to an audience of Western ballet lovers. Its purpose is to use the difficult and complex traditional ballet techniques as a medium for introducing Chinese culture to a Western audience. It also performs Western classical and contemporary ballet.

The company has used professional dancers form American Ballet Theater and New Jersey Ballet, and students from the School of American Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet School, and other local schools.

Les Ballets Chinois in New York performed for the first time on August 19, 1995 at City Center in New York. They performed a variety of Chinese and traditional ballets including three dances choreographed by Ms. Lipman.

They next performed in October 1995 at Town Hall in New York City at the invitation of the Chinese Consul in New York. They performed excerpts from Ms. Lipman's Dream of Dun Huang.

In February 1996, the company was invited to perform at the e work Chinatown YMCA. They performed excerpts from Faust choreographed by Ms. Lipman.

The company next performed in June 1996 at the Children's Ballet Showcase presented at Fordham University in New York.

Ms. Lipman is currently choreographing a fUll-length Turandot which she plans to present with dancers furnished by the Beijing Dance Academy and musicians from the Beijing Conservatory of Music. She plans to premier in Beijing and then bring the production to New York.

In May 2006, Chen Min Lipman attempted to introduce traditional Chinese culture to her American ballet audience, she added Beijing opera to its repertory, and changed the name of her company from Les Ballets Chinois in New York to Les Ballets de l'Opera Chinois de New York. On September 16, 2006, as part of the Chinese Cultural Festival NY 2006 in Battery Park, Ms. Lipman's company presented her newly choreographed production of the "The Spider Witches" which is based on the famous Ming Dynasty novel "Journey to the West." This is the first time that "Journey to the West' has been performed combining Beijing opera and ballet and indeed is the first time that the two art forms have been fused. Musical director for this production is Mr. Valery Gergiev, Director of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is hoped that this new performing art form will show a new face of Chinese culture and will playa role in improving the cultural contacts and relations between China and America.