The dudou (Chinese lingerie) craze is upon Shanghai again! But this time, instead of heating up the summer fashion lines, dudous will be the focus of the dance drama A Journey towards Feminine Civilization, which traces the essence, and origins of this ancient lingerie -- an embodiment of Chinese women's wishes for love.

Produced and staged by the Shanghai Theater Academy as the final performance of the upcoming 10th Shanghai International Fashion Festival during March 18 to 27, the play offers a refined blending of dance with a brilliant cultural legacy.

The story starts in a closet, where a beautiful young girl, who is getting ready for her first date with her dream lover, is searching for something suitable to wear. Gradually impatience and exhaustion overcome her, and she falls asleep, and begins dreaming. In her dream, she crosses over the boundaries of time, and meets four young women of her age. The women are all famous figures in either classic literary works or traditional plays, here portrayed at the dawn of love, who, in sharp contrast with the modern girl's uneasiness, are calmly embroidering all their passion and imagination into their dudous.

This is the first time in the festival's history that the closing ceremony has not been capped by a fashion show. The novel approach of a play about fashion is, says director Gu Yian, a groundbreaking move both for the city's fashion industry and the theatrical community. "Most people here are desperately trying to catch up with the latest fashion trends in Paris, Milan and London, but they have ignored these invaluable art pieces, created by our own people," Gu says. "Meanwhile, local playwrights have seldom considered antique fashion a potential theme."

Pioneering playwright Cao Lusheng, who has a doctorate in performance research at the New York University, also hopes that the play will raise audience awareness of how urban pressures are eroding the belief in and innocence of love. "Worn as a woman's second skin, the dudou was also called 'xin yi' (dress for the heart) in ancient times," Cao notes. "The most fascinating part is that almost every dudou was unique in terms of pattern and shape, as each one was designed and embroidered by the owner herself. Such a placid mind and lifestyle is a rarity nowadays."

With dance drama still a comparatively new genre on local stages, choreographer Yu Xiao has introduced elements borrowed from drama and Peking Opera, like designing short monologues for different characters and poetry recitations, hoping that it will help enhance the interactive communication between the performers and the audience.

A mini exhibition in an adjacent hall will feature several antique dudous from the sponsor's collection, a bonus for theatergoers. All the exhibits are state-of-the-art handicrafts and each of them also mirrors the local conditions and artistic tastes of different historical periods. The jury is still out on how audiences will react to the play, but it seems very likely that, with summer on the horizon, the theme of reviving this ancient fashion will bring the dudou back once again, as outerwear.

Performance Details:

Time: 7:15pm, March 26-27

Venue: Shanghai Grand Theater, 300 People's Ave

Tickets: 100-500 yuan

Tel: 6372-8702, 6320-3311

(eastday.com March 4, 2004)