1 April 2014
On 30 March 2014, a grand opening ceremony was held at the largest theatre in Holstebro, marking the commencement of the 2014 Denmark International Children's Theatre Festival, the largest and most long-standing children's theatre gathering in the world. A 26-member delegation from the Chinese Traditional Opera School affiliated to Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) participated in the festival at the invitation of the festival organizers and gave more than three performances. The delegation was headed by Guo Yu, Vice President of STA, who is concurrently Dean of Chinese Traditional Opera College and Principal of Chinese Traditional Opera School.
As the world's largest gathering of children's theatre, the Denmark International Children's Theatre Festival was first held in 1971 with 25 performances from 15 theatrical companies, which has now grown into over 100 theatrical companies, 150 - 200 different production teams and 500 - 600 performances annually. The festival this year coincided with the 50th anniversary celebrations for the founding of the Odin Theatre by Eugenio Barba, the internationally famous Danish theatrical master, whose charisma and power of inspiration attracted the theatrical professionals including some leading artists from around the world to come together for the festival's activities such as exchange activities, performances, seminars and cooperation discussions. The theatrical performances staged during the festival featured diversified topics and different styles and were full of innovative ideas and good surprises.
It was worth mentioning that the organizers had thoughtfully arranged for the students of STA Chinese Traditional Opera School of STA to stay in the homes of Danish students so as to allow the Chinese children to experience the Danish culture and family care in the homes of their Danish "parents" and, at the same time, provide the Danish parents and children with the opportunities for a different experience of artistic exchange.
At the opening ceremony of the festival, the students of the STA Chinese Traditional Opera School put on an excellent show in which they successfully interpreted pop master Michael Jackson's music with the artistic elements of the Chinese traditional opera, displaying a perfect combination of the traditional and modern as well as their own talent and passion. The audience responded with a burst of applause and three curtain calls in appreciation of the students' efforts and the elements of Chinese traditional culture that they had demonstrated fully in their performance. The students devoted themselves fully and took a pains-taking effort. They overcame the language barrier and cooperated successfully with the foreign teams. Their performances were very well received by the audience and highly appraised by other participating groups, winning great honor for STA.
Photo: STA performers take a group photo with Danish audience
Photo: STA performers take a group photo with Danish performers
