21/07/2025
During the 2025 summer vacation, the selected version of the dance drama National Treasures in has been being staged in the multi-function hall of Liaoning Provincial Museum. The dance drama is planned and coordinated by Liaoning Provincial Public Cultural Service Center, and co-produced by Liaoning Song and Dance Ensemble and Liaoning Provincial Museum. It will last from July 19 to August 31, with one performance each day from Tuesday to Friday, and two performances each day on Saturday and Sunday during this period.
In 2024, Liaoning Song and Dance Ensemble successfully held the dance flash mob activities of Nymph of the Luohe River and Auspicious Cranes at Liaoning Provincial Museum. After earning warm praise, Liaoning Song and Dance Ensemble and Liaoning Provincial Museum jointly created the dance drama National Treasures in Liaoning, which has been selected for the China National Arts Fund Large-Scale Stage Funding Project in 2025. This performance is a selected version of the dance drama, presenting dance programs such as Collection of Calligraphy Copybooks in Wansui Tongtian Period, Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers, Auspicious Cranes, Blue-and-White Octagonal Jar with Pine, Bamboo and Plum Patterns, and Gold Shimmering Headdress.
These dance programs draw inspiration from the cultural relics of Liaoning Provincial Museum, and adopt the innovative form of “dance + folk music + vocal music” to allow audiences to feel Liaoning’s profound historical and cultural heritage via an immersive experience. Building upon the artistic empowerment on cultural relics, and the innovative integration of culture and tourism, the in-depth creation of a new cultural consumption scene that is “viewable, appreciable, and perceptible” can not only enrich the supply of cultural and tourism products, but also realize benign interactions between the cultural and tourism industries, providing visitors with an “all-in-one” cultural experience. This will further enhance the influence of Liaoning’s cultural and tourism brand, attracting more people to explore the “enlivened” charm of cultural relics in the museum.
The dance drama National Treasures in Liaoning has been evoking a sensation since its premiere on May 18. Each of its first-round performances was sold out, with related topics garnering over 10 million views on social media. Compared with performances in theaters, the on-site performance creates a more immersive ambience. Its “exhibition + performance” model breaks through the limitations of traditional cultural and museum exhibitions. The dance drama National Treasures in Liaoning is not only a stage artwork, but also can be seen as a “dynamic annotation” to the exhibition of cultural relics. After the on-site performance, it will start a national tour to bring Liaoning’s cultural treasures to a broader stage.
D**g Baohou, deputy curator of Liaoning Provincial Museum, said, “Calligraphy and painting cultural relics have a limited exhibition period. When the categories of cultural relics, such as Auspicious Cranes, were exhibited before, the audience had to wait in line for a long time, but was just offered a short viewing time. However, on-site performances can allow cultural relics to ‘extend their lives’ in an artistic form, and meet the public’s increasing demand for traditional culture.”
