"Tibetan Riddle," the follow-up to dancer Yang Liping’s "Dynamic Yunnan," will finally come to Shenzhen this week.

First unveiled at the opening ceremony of the Fifth Beijing International Dance Festival in November last year, the show has won rave reviews from audiences and critics.

With more than 3,000 costumes, traditional folk songs, and original Tibetan musical instruments, the production presents a panoramic view of Tibetan culture. It tells of an old Tibetan woman's experience during her pilgrimage.

It will run Wednesday through Saturday at Poly Theater in Nanshan District. Most of the tickets for Friday and Saturday have been booked, according to the theater, after Yang, the leading dancer and choreographer, quite impressed the local audience with her "Dynamic Yunnan" last year.

Some buy tickets to hear the songs of Rongzhongerjia, a Tibetan pop singer who won the silver medal at a national youth singing contest in 2002.

It took Yang, who is a well-known Bai minority dancer dubbed "Peacock Princess," nearly five years to choreograph the dance.

"Tibetan Riddle" comprises four sections. The first part, "six strings and long sleeves," brings together authentic Tibetan folk songs, spirited group dancing by girls wearing long-sleeved costumes, and Yang’s brandname solo dance presenting her supple body and limbs. In the mystic solo dance, Yang is first hidden in a huge lotus blossom and then makes a dazzling appearance in rich, colorful costumes.

While in "Black Hat," another dance based on folk performances from Guoluo in Qinghai Province, Yang joins six Tibetan boys in an energetic street dance.

The second part, "Highland Barley Harvest and Love Songs," is romantic and joyful. Especially amusing is a dance by 40 men dressed as yaks. The yaks dance a modern break dance to the music of the Chinese pop song "You Are My Rose" to win the heart of a female yak.

The third part, "festivals," depicts scenes from refurbishing the Potala Palace and celebrations in a bathing festival and a costume exhibition festival. As a Tibetan saying goes, Tibetans have their homes on a yak’s backs and their property on their clothing. During their annual festivities, Tibetans wear traditional clothes decorated with coral, turquoise, and other semi-precious jewels as well as silver and silk. Some dancers had brought their own costumes to "Tibetan Riddle," Yang revealed.

The final section of the show is based on religious scenes that make up an important part of Tibetan life, presenting images of vultures, Buddhist statues and monks.

A special performer, a 1-year-old lamb by the name of "Chacha," has become a star after first appearing in Beijing. Yang said she meant the lamb to join the show because Tibetans normally take a lamb on their pilgrimage, which they sacrifice on arrival. In the performance, "Chacha" comforts the old woman and lingers after she dies in a snowstorm.

Liao Xianghong, vice director of the Central Academy of Drama, said she was rocked by the show. "It is an authentic show filled with passion and purity. Although not having received professional training, the Tibetan dancers expressed their feelings so strongly that I couldn’t help shouting with them. They merge life into dance and forget all other things. Watching the show made me feel in awe of their simple life," she said.

(Shenzhen Daily January 8, 2007)