The Theatron of the Hellenic Cosmos of the Foundation of the Hellenic World will host on January 23, 2018, at 20:00, an exceptional dance-drama performance, on the occasion of the Greece-China Year of Cultural Exchanges and Cooperation of Creative Industries.

Under the auspices of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, a group of artists from the historical and award-winning Hangzhou Opera and Dance Theatre, troupes from which have performed in many countries around the world, from the USA to Lebanon, will present one of its most recent masterpieces, the dance drama To Meet the Grand Canal.

Using a unique visual and dance vocabulary, this performance recounts the two-thousand-year history of China’s Grand Canal

Using a unique visual and dance vocabulary, this performance recounts the two-thousand-year history of China’s Grand Canal that connects the country’s Northern and Southern provinces, running through Beijing and Hangzhou. This production has toured the world in 2016. Although the story related is Chinese, the narrative language employed is one of truly international reach: cultural heritage itself. The Grand Canal is utilized to shed light on various aspects and periods of Chinese history, and seeks to illuminate the daily lives of simple people residing in the areas it crosses through and influenced by it. This dance drama incorporates several modernist expressive means, and enriches dance by borrowing techniques from the theater and performance art; it combines the traditional with the modern; past with future; it expands the limits of dance and theatrical art in a bold and innovative manner.

Greece and China are two countries with long histories; in Greece another emblematic canal, the Corinth Canal, has had an important contribution to the country’s development. We believe that this show constitutes an outstanding and characteristic example of modern Chinese dance art.