An ancient Chinese tale was told on the stage. For two nights only, September 23rd and 24th, China Arts and Entertainment Group brought the legend of Mulan to Boston for its US Premier. Winner of the 2018 Lotus Award for a Dance Drama, Mulan explores the folk story of a young woman who goes on a journey of self-discovery, taking her elderly father’s place in the army in the fight against the Huns. Mulan disguises herself as a man and fights shoulder-to-shoulder with the soldiers, at the same time falling in love with the army general. In time, she is true to herself and her family. Many people may be familiar with the Disney cartoon and live-action versions of this folk tale—this dance drama was not the childish Disney version, this drama called back to the story’s roots. It resulted in a more tragic tale than the ones told by Disney, while also being much more poignant.
The lead role in the dance drama was performed in a truly spellbinding performance that combined her classic dance training with martial arts. Ruoqi is the principal dancer for the China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater. She hit all the right notes with her dancing at once elegant and heartbreaking and with her martial arts being dynamic, crisp, and powerful. When asked how her training with the martial arts differed from her dancing she responded “It came with some difficulties because in dance everything is smooth, gentle, and elegant. In martial arts, there are some moments where I must be very sharp and strong. So, I set up a special time to study martial arts.” She went on about what it means to her to portray Mulan in the production, “Mulan, the story is not just for Chinese people, the story is known all over the world. for me as a dancer, I use dance in the Mulan dance drama to represent the spirit and also promote the story.” She continued, “This role is very important to me. I have done this same dance for 7 years and from doing this for so long I have received a lot of inspiration for Mulan’s character. I became stronger and more detailed.”
The dance drama began with a lone figure rising onto the stage, bathed in red light. Mulan stood before the audience holding a sword. The story continued to Mulan’s village where she lives happily with her father. Then war comes. The idyllic world is upended with the men of the village being sent off to the war. Mulan decides she will go in her father’s stead. The training scenes were amusing with Mulan initially struggling to learn the martial arts that the soldiers needed to know. There was a scene with the soldiers sleeping and seemingly rolling across the stage in their sleep while Mulan tries not to be caught out that was delightful and elicited a lot of laughter from the audience. Mulan slowly began to fall in love with General Wei who oversaw her training. There was one battle scene with red fog that was incredibly intense and heightened tensions. Mulan encountered an orphan boy– a bright spot in the story, with her protecting the child. The war intensifies with a heart-rending battle scene that leaves everyone in the audience on the edge of their seat. Eventually, Mulan reveals herself as a woman and later returns to her village and seeks peace.
The costumes in the production were well done with many different villager costumes, soldier costumes, Mulan’s beautiful reveal outfit, and her striking red battle uniform. The immersive and dynamic music guided the production from scene to scene. There were a few backdrops used, all with a circular theme, sometimes merged with projections. One backdrop had a large crescent moon that slid across the sky. The stage had a rotating circular portion that the dancers used to masterful effect with its cyclical motion representing life, death, and remembrance. This unique stage setup made for some surprisingly intense battle scenes with people seemingly floating on and off the stage.
This production of Mulan included 45 dancers, performing excellent choreography by Zhou Liya and Han Zhen. The dancers all did a wonderful job of creating this 4th-century world for the audience with quite a few standouts including Xia Tian as the vigorous and graceful General Wei, and Wang Zheng as Mulan’s loving father.
Mulan is the first Chinese dance drama that has returned to the United States since 2020, as a part of China Arts and Entertainment Group’s Image China cultural exchange initiative. This is an initiative that aims to introduce traditional and contemporary Chinese performing arts to audiences around the world with performances at well-known venues in New York and Washington D.C. as well as New Zealand, Australia, Italy, and Germany.
From the first glimpse of a fierce Mulan in the opening scene, to the closing credits, this dance drama kept the audience enraptured by its quality. The dancing, acting, stage design, costumes, story, and music merged, causing the audience to suspend disbelief, and transporting the viewers to another time and place. A place where Mulan’s honor, grace, agility, and heroism shine forever. It was a performance that will not soon be forgotten by anyone who attended.
