The ballet, The Red Detachment of Women, was adapted by Li Chengxiang from the movie of the same name. Created and performed by the Ballet Troupe of the Central Opera and Dance Theater, it stars Bai Shuxiang, Liu Qingtang and Wu Jingshu. The whole play is divided into six scenes except the prologue***. It tells the story of Qiong Hua, a slave girl in the family of Nan Batian, a big landowner, who can't stand the oppression and torture and escapes from the earth prison, then defects to the revolutionary base and joins the Company of Maiden Scouts, eventually defeats the enemy and leads the Maiden Scouts to continue to advance. The play is a masterpiece of Chinese ballet that is loved by the Chinese people and renowned both at home and abroad. The Red Detachment of Women, premiered in 1964, is a masterpiece of the Chinese Ballet. The story is based on the heroic achievements of the Red Army's Red Detachment of Women on Hainan Island in the 1930's. It has been performed for 40 years, and has been a big hit on tours all over the world, creating a myth of the Oriental red ballet classics.
The artistic achievement of "The Red Detachment of Women" lies in the fact that it is able to utilize ballet to successfully portray Chinese characters and show the plot and conflict of the dance drama. The characters of the dance drama all have expressive specific dance styling and movement vocabulary. Secondly, the play draws on Chinese dance elements and innovative ballet vocabulary according to the needs of the characters and the plot. In addition, the whole play has both intense plot development and perfect group dance design in line with the development of the plot, coupled with the amazing effect of the stage art design and the music melody which is both catchy and in line with the law of dance drama performance. All this makes the play a bright pearl of Chinese ballet, and occupies an extremely important position in the history of Chinese ballet and world ballet.