Discover the best things to do in Beijing with our weekly roundup of art and exhibitions, music, performances and trending activities around town. To recommend an upcoming event or activity, please contact li-ping@chinadaily.com.cn.
Stage photos of the contemporary dance piece Point One. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Contemporary dancing to enthrall dance lovers
Contemporary dance troupes from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Germany and Israel are expected to take center stage at the 2018 Beijing Dance Festival in the capital from July 26 to 31.
An international cast will perform at this year's contemporary dance festival including BeijingDance/LDTX, Taiwan's Bulareyaung dance troupe, Germany's Theater Osnabrück and Israel's Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak dance company.
BeijingDance/LDTX's Enigma is a reflection on life, expectation, depression and death. Ice Tree brings a fascinating journey of discovery from Israel. Colors by Bulareyaung represents the optimism in life after the natural disaster of typhoon Nepartak. Point One, by Guangdong Modern Dance Company, explores the true human spirit. Theater Osnabrück's Under One Sky fuses different styles of music with life. Seasons - a two-year cooperative choreography project across Hong Kong and Australia - encompasses climate and life.
Learn more here.
If you go:
8 pm, July 26-31. Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, No 9 Building, Tianqiao South Street, Xicheng district (opposite Beijing Museum of Natural History). 400-635-3355.
Tickets: 80 - 300 yuan ($10-45)
[Photo/chncpa.org]
Romeo and Juliet opera celebrates Gounod anniversary
The National Center for the Performing Arts is bringing a new theater piece to the stage from July 18 to 22 - an opera adaptation of Romeo and Juliet in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of French romantic composer Charles-François Gounod.
The five-act opera Roméo et Juliette is one of Gounod's masterpieces. The libretto was adapted by Jules Barbier and Michele Carra in 1867 from Shakespeare's classical play Romeo and Juliet, and debuted in Paris that April. It has become one of Gounod's most famous works.
Learn more here.
If you go:
7 pm, July 18-22. Opera House, National Center for the Performing Arts, 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district. 010 -6655-0000.
Tickets: 100 -880 yuan
[Photo/VCG]
Strolling in the universe
Over the past few years, Beijing-based artist Zhao Xu has moved from a figurative approach to a semi-abstract style, inspired by his deepening interest in the cosmos and the stars. His mixed-media paintings, often stretching more than 1 meter in length and height, overwhelm the audience by depicting myths, illusions and grandeur.
His works are on show at a solo exhibition called Wandering in Space at the National Art Museum of China. Some of the paintings are projected onto the walls and the ground, creating a space for meditation by visitors, and allowing them to feel the energy of the universe.
Get a sneak peek here.
If you go:
9 am - 5 pm, through July 22. Hall 6, National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Avenue, Dongcheng district. 010-6400-1476.
Tickets: Free
[Photo provided to China Daily]
Faces from reality
As a humble rural artisan from northern China who rose to become one of the country's leading portrait painters, Xin Dongwang shared many of the hardships and setbacks faced by migrant workers moving to the city and the compassion he felt for them quickly became his hallmark.
The exhibition Psyche: A Portfolio of Xin Dongwang's Works shows a collection of his drawings and paintings at the Tsinghua University Art Museum.
Learn more here.
If you go:
9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays, through Aug 8. Tsinghua University Art Museum, Tsinghua University, Haidian district. 010-6278-1012.
[Photo/National Museum of China]
Embracing the Orient and the Occident
The exhibition Embracing the Orient and the Occident: When the Silk Road Meets the Renaissance brings together 200 cultural relics and artworks collected from dozens of Italian and Chinese museums to tell a story of commonality between East and West - and all the communities in between - woven together by the exchange that took place over centuries along the ancient Silk Road.
Learn more here.
If you go:
9 am -5 pm, closed on Mondays, through Aug 19. National Museum of China, 16 East Chang'an Avenue, Dongcheng district. 010-6511-6188.
Tickets: 50 yuan (20 yuan for students)