A Woman’s Journey of Self-Discovery

Presented in the Year of the Snake, Lady White Snake offers a contemporary interpretation of one of China’s great folktales—long retold in theatre, film, and television, and now reimagined as a two-act dance drama. The story follows a wife’s awakening consciousness and her struggle for freedom against the forces that seek to confine her. Running two hours and twenty minutes, this large-scale spectacle clearly features leading international dancers alongside the Shanghai Opera House Dance Ensemble. Artistic Director TAN YuanYuan and Director ZHOU Ke fill the Koch Theater’s expansive stage with striking design, sweeping music, and a sizeable ballet company—drawing inspiration from the elegance and traditions of Jiangnan culture.

While shopping, Lady White, a dutiful wife (AO Dingwen) feels an independent spirit rising within her—embodied by a fierce, vibrant Green Snake, Xiao Qing (TAN Yimei)—and her world tilts to anarchy against expectations society had taught her. Concerned by her erratic behavior, her husband (WU Husheng) seeks help from a psychiatrist (SONG Yu) who, through hypnosis, attempts to restore her “old self.” What follows is a surreal journey through dreamscapes and subconscious battles, where Lady White ultimately embraces her true identity—reconciling with, and becoming one with, her inner Green Snake. The narrative, at once metaphysical and psychological, gains further weight from its roots as one of China’s four great folktales, offering a window into cultural archetypes of morality and transformation.

Choreographer WANG Peixian skillfully merges Eastern and Western traditions, blending classical ballet with modern dance. Lady White often dances en pointe, yet the corps de ballet executes sharp, staccato head and shoulder movements, popping arm gestures, and floor work more akin to modern dance than classical ballet. The result feels fresh and unpredictable. A pas de deux fulfills classical lifts but also includes throws, wraps, and inventive partnering. Solos include acrobatics, jumps, and kicks. All of which are athletic and psychological in equal measure. When the choreography uses the full corps—a dozen couples in all—it’s exhilarating, particularly the sweeping passages of synchronized motion.

XU Zhong’s original score, recorded by a symphony orchestra, shifts between cinematic lushness and symphonic grandeur. Lush strings and resplendent brass swell unexpectedly, then give way to intimate moments led by piano and flute. Only in the second act do traditional Chinese tonalities and instruments enter the soundscape, lending a subtle cultural grounding. Over two hours, the score maintains dramatic tension and a close relationship to the unfolding story.

GAO Guangjian’s set design underscores the tension between reality and illusion. The opening scene in a supermarket—complete with dancers pushing weight-bearing shopping carts—immediately establishes a surreal, contemporary tone. Seven distinct scenes follow, with inventive use of a bridge upstage that eventually splits in half, separating Lady White and Lady Green’s inner conflict. Railings are added to dress the bridge as a cruise ship in Act II. Most striking is the enormous three-dimensional iron bell (at least 15 feet tall), which descends dramatically from the flies; Lady White even climbs to its peak.

Lighting and Projection designer XIAO Lihe bathes the stage with symbolic shifts of green and white. Also, she integrates act and scene titles and vivid visual motifs with bold colors. In the supermarket, projections of monochrome bottles and towering shelves accentuate the emptiness of the women shopping. Both GAO and XIAO work closely with video artist FENG Jiangzhou, who adds rich layers of animated imagery that seamlessly merge with the physical set—storm clouds encircling a luminous moon with various strikes of lightning, and later an ethereal underwater current projected onto a front scrim, with the female corps de ballet upstage appearing to glide far below surface.

Costume designer Viola ZHANG moves fluidly between classical ballet silhouettes, sleek modern dancewear, traditional Chinese dress, and contemporary evening attire. Her vibrant palette and textural variety — from airy, flowing fabrics to strikingly tailored designs — enhance the storytelling with clarity and elegance.

The expert dancing, combined with the unusual telling of a timely story, prove to be lyrical, stirring, and deeply human. And in the end, certainly, very satisfying. Lady White Snake’s subtitle — Be Real. Be You. — aptly captures the production’s thematic core: a celebration of self-discovery, resilience, and the transformative power of becoming who you truly are. Impressive for a tale with origins dating back to the Tang Dynasty of 618-907 AD.

Lady White Snake
Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
ends on July 27, 2025
for tickets (start at $27) visit Koch

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Gregory Fletcher is an author, a theater professor, a playwright, director, and stage manager. His craft book on playwriting is entitled Shorts and Briefs, and publishing credits include two YA novels (Other People’s Crazy, and Other People’s Drama), 2 novellas in the series Inclusive Bedtime Stories, 2 short stories in The Night Bazaar series, and several essays. Website, Facebook, Instagram.