Soft Pastel
16″x12″

To prepare for my first art exhibition in Canary Wharf Idea Store in February, I’m launching a new series to explore cross-gender role in Peking opera, nandan 男旦 where a male actor plays the leading female role.

Chinese opera has a long history and tradition dating to feudal China more than 1,000 years ago when women were not allowed to perform onstage, sadly! So the male actors had to fill the female roles in Chinese operas.

Unlike the similar castrato role played by men in Western operas and pantomimes, the nandan in Chinese opera was never thought to be a humorous or an ironic act of a man trying to sing and act like a woman. The nandan in Chinese opera must be transformed totally and it takes years of apprenticeship from childhood to perfect the feminine gestures and mannerisms on stage. Of course some are just born with this talent but that’s not my point.

People quite often overlook the intricacies behind the scene, the art of cai qiao (踩跷) performing tip toe throughout the whole show, self make-up transformation from man to woman, elaborate headgear, and delicate water sleeves dance. Today there are only few nanda choosing this career.

My first episode is Farewell my Concubine 霸王別姬, a beautiful and harrowing classical story about political unrest, love, sacrifice and honour. It would be hard not to be entranced by this immense love story and the traumatic consequences of lost battles and pride.