Can a shared appreciation for music and dance help ease the longstanding strain between two countries?
It’s been a decade since the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) set foot in China. On Thursday, 85 dancers from the New York troupe performed “Classic Old and New” at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. The program is composed of three works that feature a range of classical to more modern choreography.
After four nights of performing in Shanghai, the dancers will move to Beijing to stage Giselle, a classical romantic ballet.
Susan Jaffe is the artistic director for ABT. “Ballet is a universal language,” she says. “For Americans to be able to share this love and this universal language with the Chinese people at this moment in time of cultural exchange I think is a very healing experience for everyone—for us, and we also hope for the Chinese people.”
China will also host performances by the Philadelphia Orchestra starting this week. The series marks the 50th anniversary of the orchestra’s first visit to China in 1973.
Relations between the United States and China are tense on many fronts. The two countries have very different positions on security, trade, human rights, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the political status of Taiwan.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping in mid-November at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, California. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Washington, D.C., in late October. He warned that the path to a meeting between the two presidents would not be “smooth sailing.”
Nicholas Burns is the U.S. Ambassador to China. On October 30, he attended an event celebrating American World War II veterans who helped China fight Japan. He noted that both countries want more opportunities for people-to-people exchanges.
“We’re at a difficult moment in the U.S.-China relationship,” Burns says. “We are in many ways rivals, strategically. . . . But the two peoples of the countries have always been together.”
Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. — 1 Peter 3:10-11
