Vitas and Chinese Ballet

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying Vitas is doing Chinese ballet or anything close. The reason for the title is that I've bought 2 DVD this afternoon, 1 Vitas concert DVD and 1 Chinese ballet DVD. Both DVDs were bought from The Commercial Press (Shangwu) at North Bridge Centre, a place I have not been to for ages as I'm getting more and more disappointed with this place as days go by. Why do I say that? For those who do not know, The Commercial Press once have the widest variety of Chinese opera VCDs a few years back. Most of the Yueju VCDs, plus those of some other exotic and less well-known genres, were purchased from there. Now, however, you're considered lucky if you can find a Chinese opera VCD/ DVD in there (Yang Lihua/ Ye Qing's Taiwanese opera are exceptional, but they can be purchased in many places nowaays anyway).

Vitas concert DVD and Chinese ballet "The Moon Reflected in Two Spring" DVD

Back to my DVDs. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Vitas concert DVD on sale at The Commercial Press, for I thought nobody in Singapore would know of him. Being a fan of him, I decided to buy it straight away, only to find out later that the DVD a disappointment. Not that the concert was bad, but the video quality is terrible (I suspect the video footage was obtained from some unofficial sources, therefore the quality has been compromised), typical of China-produced DVDs. The only thing I like is the packaging, but not without complaints either. The boxed set looked sturdy, but removing the tray out of the box was a complete hassle as the box was wrapping the tray too tightly. I think I'd have to keep thr tray ou of the box, and now the DVD set took up two times the space of it's original size; simply waste of storage space!

The inner tray of the Vitas concert DVD; this ribbon here is to let one pull/ yank the tray out of the box, but damned the box is too small, and no way am I going to ever put the tray back into the box!

A nicely designed booklet in the DVD set. I read in the booklet that in 2000, when Vitas had his first performance in Kremlin, his powerful voice caused a crystal star decoration on the ceiling to break into pieces!

A poster of Vitas, but damned it was folded again!

The Chinese ballet show, titled "The Moon Reflected in Two Spring" (二泉映月) was a better DVD in comparison. "The Moon Reflected in Two Spring" is performed by Liaoning Ballet Troupe, and is part of China's National Project to the Distillation of the Stage Art for 2005-2006. This performance depicts the story of 2 young lovers, Quan (not that "Quan" from Hana Kimi!) and Yue'er, who faced challenges from a wealthy rookie who had been lusting over Yue'er. The couple lost the fight; Yue'er drowned herself in Er-quan Spring while Quan became blind. I feel that the choreography of the dance was very well-done. Although it's a ballet performance, there were traces of contemporary drama in it as well (this might be normal in western ballet as well, I don't know). The ballerinas not only execute ballet moves, but also inject contemporary drama moves and emotions. I think it's a bit hard to balance all these together. Like for example in the final scene where the male lead was crying in agony after losing the female lead, I find it hard to act crying, but not make a single bit of crying sound (not quite the same like acting as a mute crying silently). The dancer taking on this lead role did it successfully, anyway.

DVD casing for "The Moon Reflected in Two Spring"; less impressive, but less hassle too!

I've finished both 2 DVDs already, within a span of a few hours. It's a sad anticlimax for me as now I have got nothing new to watch. Perhaps I should go rummage through my cupboard of DVDs and VCDs to see what's worth rewatching again. Not now, of course!