Hong Kong Ballet at The New York Premiere of The Butterfly Lovers

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
China Arts and Entertainment Group presents Hong Kong Ballet
in the New York premiere of The Butterfly Lovers from August 20
to 24/20/25 at the David H Cook Theatre at Lincoln Center for
the Performing Arts, 20 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC.
Performances Friday and set at 7:30 PM, set and sun at 2:00 PM.

(00:24):
Tickets start at 39 and can be purchased online at HTTPS
www.davidhcooktheatre.com Tickets and events The Butterfly
Lovers or in person at the DavidH Cook Theatre Box Office at 20
Lincoln Center Plaza. Use code Oliver to get 30% off
before July 15th. An eternal love that defies all

(00:47):
expectations. Remagined by an international
team of creative minds together with Hong Kong Ballet as
Choreographer in Residence Who Song Way, Ricky and My Ginguin,
The Butterfly Lovers is a legendary Chinese folk tale
about humble scholar Liang Shanbo and aristocratic heiress
Zhu Yingtai, who disguises herself as a boy in order to

(01:08):
study at a prestigious Academy. From innocently meeting as
students and forging a strong, immediate bond to dangerously
rebelling against centuries old forces that threatened to keep
them apart, the Lovers face unexpected challenges at every
turn as secrets are revealed anda shocking family betrayal
ultimately seals their fate. With a sweeping original score

(01:32):
by acclaimed Chinese composer Tianmi with New York City Ballet
Orchestra under the baton of El Iokiwachman, The Philadelphia
Inquirer as a startling conducting talent, this powerful
tale of forbidden love and filial duty features Academy
Award winner Tim Yip S visually stunning sets and costumes that
bring to life a world with traditional and modern elements.

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Transcendent and uplifting, The Butterfly Lovers is a glorious
fusion of inspiring dance, contemporary Chinese aesthetics
and eternal hope. This production has won six
major awards at the 26th Hong Kong Dance Awards in 2025.
Outstanding choreography. Outstanding large venue

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production, outstanding performance by a female dancer
Chen Shien as Zhu Yingtai. Outstanding ensemble
performance, outstanding set andcostume design.
Tim Yip and outstanding music composition.
Tien Mei. Creative team concept and
choreography Whose song? Wei, Ricky Libretto and

(02:36):
associate choreographer My Jingguen Music Yenmi Inspired by
he's Anhao and Chen Gang S The butterfly Lovers Violin,
concerto music and orchestral arrangement.
Jo Chu, Hang Lu Again John Koon,John Candon John Boning Set and

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costume design. Tim Yip, Design Supervisor
Jinyao. Associate Costume Designer.
Mandy Tam Costume design Assistant Lai Winky, Assistant
Set designer. Mathai Yu Chu Suming, Set design
Assistant. Katie Chow.

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TSZ Wing Video Design. William Kwok Yuki Wang Lighting
Design. UTSZ Yan Sound design.
Roy Chung Orchestra New York City Ballet Orchestra Conductor.
LIOQ Akman. For more information, visit

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hkballet.com. Artist BIOS who sang Wei Riki
graduated from Shanghai Dance School and then studied
contemporary dance at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Hip on a full scholarship. He joined Hong Kong Ballet HKB
in 2008 and was appointed Choreographer in Residence in

(04:03):
2019. His HKB commissions The Rite of
Spring 2019 and The Last Song 2022 have earned him outstanding
choreography at the Hong Kong Dance Awards.
Other choreographic works include Not Her No Carmen,
Bolero, Twins, White Lies Demonsand When You See Who Co

(04:26):
choreographed Everlasting Flowerwith his wife, Mai Jingwin for
the College of Dance at ShanghaiTheatre Academy and Yu Yi for
the Dance School of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing
Arts. He received the award for Young
Artist in Dance at 2012 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards.
In 2025, WHO and Mai Jingwin received the Outstanding

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Choreography Award at the 26th Hong Kong Dance Awards for their
work on The Butterfly Lovers. My Jingwen majored in Chinese
folk dance at the School of Dance of Menzie University of
China, and then earned a master's degree in public
performance at Jungvu Universityin Korea on scholarship.
Her notable works include The Wall, Shanghai Opera House,

(05:11):
Shiyu and Liaoning Ballet, Memory, Liaoning Song and dance
troupe, Bolero, Shanghai Dance Theatre, Yi Yi, HIPAA,
Everlasting Flower, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Never Resting,
Footsteps High school attached to the Hunan Normal University,
Look up National University of Singapore and Blood Bird.
Korean arts Festival, My won first prize at the National Arts

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Exhibition and National Outstanding choreography Awards
with her Choreographic works festival.
Sunny Girl and Don't Want to SayGoodbye.
In 2025, my and his husband who song way Ricky received the
Outstanding Choreography Award at the 26th Hong Kong Dance
Awards for their work on the Butterfly Lovers.

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Tien MI graduated from the Composition department of
Shanghai Conservatory of Music and has taught at his alma
mater. His music creation span across
various fields such as film, television, games, and stage
plays, having composed scores for multiple movies and TV
dramas, including Creation of the Gods, Full River Red and

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Ruyi S Royal Love in the Palace.Tien has also composed music for
major events like the Beijing Winter Olympics and the CCTV
Lantern Festival Gala. His works have won numerous
awards including the Hollywood Music and Media Awards, the
China National Arts Fund and theTencent GDC Artistic Achievement

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Award. Collaborating with many renowned
artists, he stands as an iconic figure in the Chinese music
industry. In 2025, Tien received the
Outstanding Music Composition Award at the 26th Hong Kong
Dance Awards for his work on theButterfly Lovers.
Tim Yip is a world renowned stage and film art director,

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fashion designer and visual artist.
He is the first person of Chinese descent to win an
Academy Award for Best Art Direction and a BAFTA Award for
Best Costume Design for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
An internationally sought after artist, he has collaborated with
world class artists and organizations including Robert

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Wilson, Franco Dragon, Akram Khan, Francois Girard, John
Yumu, Stan Lai, Yang Liping, English National Ballet, Cloud
Gate Dance Theater, ContemporaryLegend, Theater Legend, Lynn
Dance Theater, Han Tang, Yufu, Taigu Tales Dance Theater and

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Youth Theater. Recently, he earned rave reviews
for his stage and costume designs for Francois Girard S
production of Lowengren at Bolshoi Theater and the
Metropolitan Opera. In 2025, Tim Yip garnered
outstanding Set and Costume design award at the 26th Hong
Kong Dance Awards for the Butterfly Lovers.

(08:09):
UTSC. Yen is an award-winning lighting
designer and has collaborated with major Hong Kong arts
organizations and has designed for over 100 productions since
winning her first Best Lighting Design award at the 15th Hong
Kong Drama Awards with Fidra During her time at the Hong Kong
Academy for Performing Arts, Yunhas earned four more accolades

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in the same category with Iron Wiedramen Group, Attempts on Her
Life, Marriage and LE Pier Hong Kong Repertory Theatre.
In 2012, her design for Two Swallows Ode to Wu Guangzhou and
won the Outstanding Design for Dance at the 14th Hong Kong
Dance Awards. She was selected to represent

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Hong Kong at Prague Quadrennial in 2011 and 2015.
LIOQ Ahman is currently the music director and principal
conductor of Macau Orchestra, program director of Macau
International Music Festival, chief conductor of RTV Slovenia
Symphony Orchestra and resident conductor of Hong Kong

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Philharmonic Orchestra. HK Phil.
He has been praised by Philadelphia Inquirer as a
startling conducting talent and one second prize at the Third
Svetlainov International Conducting Competition in Paris
with Audience Prize and Orchestra Prize.
Having served as the first Chinese assistant conductor with

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the Philadelphia Orchestra, LIO has collaborated with many world
leading orchestras. Recent appearances include HK
Phil S Gala concert in the presence of China's President Xi
Jinping and his debut as the first Chinese conductor in a
Vienna Symphony Orchestra concert.
About China Arts and Entertainment Group China Arts

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and Entertainment Group CAEG wasfounded in April 2004 and it's
two major subsidiaries, China Performing Arts Agency CPAA and
China International Exhibition Agency CIEA, were established in
1957 and 1950 respectively. As China S only central state

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owned cultural enterprise that has performance and exhibition
business worldwide. CAEG has developed a nationwide
market network of international performing arts, art
exhibitions, and culture and tourism and theater operation
and set up branches in major cities in China and some
European and American countries.CAEG was elected one of the Top

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30 China Cultural Enterprises for 8 consecutive years since
2009. CAEG stages over 5000 different
kinds of performances, exhibitions and other cultural
activities at home and abroad every year.
Based on 20 theaters that directly owned and managed by
the CPAA Theaters, CAEG has initiated and organized a League

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of domestic Theatres with 70 CPAA Allied theatres across 27
provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and the Silk
Road International League of Theatres.
Thrilled for countries involved in the Belt and Rd. initiative.
Caegs productions include several multimedia shows such as

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Airing Intersection of Time, Shaolin Warriors, the original
opera production Marco Polo, andthe Chinese version of world
classic musicals Mamma Mia and Cats, which pool domestic and
foreign resources and cater to both domestic and overseas
markets. Since 2009, CAEG has presented a

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series of productions in the US such as Forbidden Fruit Under
the Great Wall, Kennedy Center, 2010.
Silk Road, Kennedy Center, 2011.Lincoln Center, 2013.
The Peony Pavilion, Lincoln Center, 2012.
Ching, Ming, Riverside, Kennedy Center, 2013.

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Wedding of Ordeau's Kennedy Center, 2014.
The Red Dress, Lincoln Center, 2014.
The Legend of Mulan, Lincoln Center, 2015.
Dragon Boat Racing Lincoln Center, 2016 Kennedy Center and
Kimmel Center, 2018. Confucius Lincoln Center and

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Kennedy Center, 2017. Soaring Wings, Lincoln Center
and Box Center, 2018. Princess Isaiah John, Box Center
and Lincoln Center, 2019. Mulan Box Center and Kennedy
Center, 2023. Dongpo, Life in Poems Kennedy

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Center and Lincoln Center, 2024.About Hong Kong Ballet One of
Asia's premier ballet companies,Hong Kong Ballet HKB is
internationally recognized as a vibrant arts institution that
represents Hong Kong as unique character.
Established in 1979 and led by Artistic Director Septimuebra,

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HKB has a dynamic repertoire performed by nearly 50 dancers
from all over the globe and award-winning education and
community programs with celebrated restaging of the
classics, neoclassical masterworks by George Balanchine
and others, and original balletscreated for HKB and about Hong
Kong. HKB additionally performs works

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by its Artistic Director Septum Weber and some of today as most
sought after choreographers including Alexei Ratminsky,
Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor, Justin Peck, Uri
Kailian, Nacho Durato, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, as well
as innovative new works by its choreographer in residence who

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sang Way Ricky and numerous emerging Hong Kong
choreographers. HKB serves as one of Hong Kong's
most prominent cultural ambassadors, sharing its unique
repertoire and style with audiences in Europe, North
America, Mainland China and Asia.
With over 50 international tourssince its founding this year,

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HKB will have performed or presented immersive works in
Macau, Venice, NY, London, Seouland Shanghai.
HKB maintains the Hong Kong Academy of Ballet, a
professionally oriented ballet school, as well as a full
schedule of award-winning community programs and crossover
collaborations throughout Hong Kong to ensure that ballet is

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accessible to all. HKB has also produced engaging
original videos and dance films that have collectively garnered
over 10 million views online, connecting with ballet lovers
worldwide. Recently, Septim Weber's The
Nutcracker, a Hong Kong adventure, notably one UNESCO
Star of Outstanding Award. HKB maintains an active schedule

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of community initiatives throughout Hong Kong to ensure
that ballet is accessible to people from all walks of life.