Chinese Modern Dance: From Stalin and Mao to Now - A Conversation with Xiao Suhua 肖苏华 Сяо Сухуа
Xiao Suhua - Distinguished Professor, Beijing Dance Academy; Emeritus Senior Visiting Scholar, Bolshoi Ballet
Prof. Xiao Suhua (肖苏华 Сяо Сухуа) ranks among China’s foremost choreographers and teachers of contemporary dance. Born in Moscow in 1937 to agents of China’s underground Communist Party, he trained in Soviet dance academies and returned to newly-established Communist China after the 1949 revolution. Prof. Xiao began his career pioneering Beijing-Moscow cultural exchanges, a role lasting until the Communist bloc split in the early 1960s. He survived persecution during the Cultural Revolution to emerge as one of China’s most influential shapers of contemporary dance. His choreography combines Soviet dance idioms with traditional Chinese tales like Dream of the Red Chamber and White Snake. A frequent collaborator of Bolshoi Ballet Master Yuri Grigorovich, he is currently developing a dance drama based on the story of Empress Wu Zetian.
This event will be in Mandarin and Russian, with English interpretation.