GUANGZHOU: The third Guangdong International Travel and Culture Festival will raise its curtains tonight with a breathtaking opening ceremony.

The ceremony has gone through four months of preparation, with organizers calling up more than 5,000 actors and actresses to perform in it and spending more than 5 million yuan.

 

 

It will be the first large-scale theme show with multimedia technologies to be staged in Guangdong.

The show, also called the Blue Ship Tale, has drawn Ding Wei, one of China's top choreographers and the director of China Dancing Association, to act as the dance director. Yang Geyang, one of the most prestigious composers in China, is shouldering the role of music director for the show.

Shanghai-based EE Media Co Ltd designed the song and dance routines for the show. It has prepared 15 dance programs, including Yearning for the Color Blue, A Man and the Ocean, and Praising the Pearl River.

The organizers have invited a number of popular and renowned singers to perform at the show, which is different from other shows that simply combine some unrelated song and dance programs, said Yang Geyang, the music director.

He said the Blue Ship Tale is a creative show with a distinct theme and has been created by a group of talented people.

To enrich the content of the show, the organizers invited composers from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea to compose a dozen brand new songs in keeping with the show's theme and the singers' characteristics.

Yang said all the songs featured in the show are integral parts of the Blue Ship Tale. Even if some singers were to sing the songs in different circumstances in the future, they will be unable to reproduce the same atmosphere once again. Therefore, tonight's show will be the only one of its kind, he emphasized.

The stage is shaped like a huge Nanhai I vessel. To restore the brilliant scene of the sailing Nanhai I, the stage will have a fireworks display and laser light show, according to Chief Director Wang Liang.

Besides the vessel, another spectacular stage prop - Kaiping Castles -will also be seen on stage, said Wang.

Kaiping Castles, which is on the world heritage site list, will tell the world of the culture and history of Guangdong, he added.

A number of performers suspended by wires will be seen "flying" around the stage during the show, Wang further said. Such mid-air performances will help the show generate even more excitement.

The organizers have bought insurance plans to safeguard the actors and actresses taking part in the daring stunts. For example, Chinese pop singer Yu Haoming will dangle from wires to sing and dance in the air during the show. His agent company EE Media said it has bought insurance worth 10 million yuan for him. (By Liang Qiwen)

 

 

A floats parade rehearshal for this year's Guangdong International Travel and Culture Festival

Source: China Daily