Steppin’ OutFeature
Stanford presents U.S. debut of
China’s Jin Xing Dance Theatre
By NICOLE LIEURANCE
As the United States prepares
to send its top athletes to Beijing
for the 2008 Olympics, one of
China’s own treasures is making
her U.S.debut.Jin Xing,renowned
contemporary dancer and chore-
ographer, brings her dance com-
pany to the Bay Area for its first
U.S. performance.
Stanford Lively Arts presents
the Jin Xing Dance Theatre April
26 at 8 p.m. and April 27 at 2:30
p.m.at Memorial Auditorium,551
Serra Mall, Stanford University
campus.
Jin Xing, a former soldier who
underwent a sex change in 1995,
will lead her company in perform-
ances of Half Dream, Red and
Black and Carl Orff’s Carmina
Burana as part of Stanford’s Pan-
Asian Music Festival. The per-
formances will feature the Stan-
ford Symphony Orchestra, con-
ducted by Jindong Cai, and the
Stanford Symphonic Chorus under
the direction of Stephen M.Sano.
Carmina Burana is a scenic can-
tata composed in the mid-1930s,
based on a collection of medieval
poems by the same name.Jin Xing
says, “The music of Carl Orff hit
me when I was listening to it [by
chance]. I started to explore the
historical background and found
the rich culture behind the
medieval chants that were the
base for Orff’s composition.”
Choreographed by Jin Xing in
2000,the troupe’s Carmina Burana
was performed in 2005 to 11 consec-
utive full houses in Paris,at the Palais
de Congrès.Most famous for its first
movement,“O Fortuna,”Carmina
Buranaspeaks to the unpredictabil-
ity of fortune, something Jin Xing
can certainly relate to.
Born male, Jin Xing always
identified with a more feminine
sense of self, and after many years
of consideration decided to under-
go surgery to become a woman.
The surgery was successful, but
Camera 3 Entertainment opens
April 25 marks the official
opening of Camera 3 Enter-
tainment at 288 S. Second St.,
San Jose.The Camera Cinemas,
ComedySportz and Café Too!
Are partners in this mini-com-
plex, which will offer patrons a
choice of movies or live improv-
The Jin Xing Dance Theatre performs ‘Half Dream.’
because of doctor neglect, blood
flow to one of her calves was inter-
rupted long enough that she
feared she might never walk
again, let alone dance. Jin Xing
worked tirelessly at recovery and
now dances as well as ever.
The Jin Xing Dance Theatre is
bringing 12 dancers to Stanford,
including Jin Xing herself,who will
dance the lead female role.The lead
male role will be danced by Han
Bin. Jin Xing says that all of her
company dancers are Chinese and
most have a background in classical
folk dance,in addition to their con-
temporary training.“Some of them
[have worked] with me for more
than seven years and represent a
continuity of development inside
my company which is exceptional
[at least] in China,”she says.
Half Dream, which the dance
company will also perform, was
commissioned for the 1991
American Dance Festival, where
it won the Best Choreographer
Award. The other piece, Black
and Red, premiered in 1995 and
won the 1998 Chinese Ministry of
Culture Award.
Jin Xing has been dancing since
the age of 9,when as a boy,he con-
vinced his parents to let him join
the People’s Liberation Army in
order to get classical dance train-
ing. It may seem a strange place to
turn to become a dancer, but Jin
Xing says she benefited immense-
isational comedy, with in-the-
ater dining. Short improv com-
edy shows may also precede
some film screenings.
Film tickets are $7-$10;com-
edy tickets are $12-$15. For
more information, visit www.
cameracinemas.com.
ly from her education there and
the sense of discipline she took
away from the military experience.
Of what inspires her, Jin Xing
says, “Inspiration can come any
moment.It happened that I was in
a restaurant and I looked at the
interior design like a stage setting—
I was inspired.” Jin Xing’s autobi-
ography,Shanghai Tango,was pub-
lished last year by Atlantic Books.
Besides her many other current
projects,Jin Xing says she is work-
ing on establishing her dance com-
pany not only in Asia and Europe,
but also on other continents.The
Stanford performances are an ini-
tial step in this process.
Stanford’s Pan-Asian Music Fes-
tival will also feature a variety of
other artists, including Chinese
rock‘n’roller Cui Jian, the
Xianghua Buddhist ceremony
group from southern China, erhu
(Chinese violin) master Wang Guo-
Tong,the Jiaotong University Cho-
rus,and Stanford’s own musicians.
Tickets for the Jin Xing Dance
Theatre performance are $24-$50.
For more information, call 650.
725.ARTS or visit http://panasian
musicfestival.stanford.edu.
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