China: The Art of a Nation
September-October 2011
In cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, the Kennedy Center revisits the flourishing arts of one of the 21st century’s world powers. During the Center’s Festival of China in 2005, Washington witnessed a watershed moment as hundreds of China’s traditional and contemporary artists came to America, many for the first time. Now we invite audiences to reconnect with Chinese culture.
The Beijing Olympics in 2008 introduced the world to a modern China, where investment in the country’s arts and infrastructure has intersected in the creation of many new performing arts complexes across the country, most notably Beijing’s iconic National Centre for the Performing Arts, affectionately known as the “Egg.” The arts are flourishing in China and this series is an opportunity for Washington audiences, six years later, to reconnect with the country’s most creative traditional and contemporary offerings, with nearly 300 artists spanning all genres of the performing arts. Highlights include a free Millennium Stage performance by the Tangshan Shadow Puppet Theatre; the improv comedy of the National Theatre of China’s Two Dogs’ Opinions on Life; the Kennedy Center debut of the Beijing Dance Theater performing their imaginative work, Haze; a celebration of Chinese symphony and opera; and an outdoor exhibition of sculptures by some of the nation’s best artists.
Presented by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China in cooperation with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
International programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts.
