The charm of Chinese dance never fades. Performed over 1,000 times on stage, theatre "Liberation" proves that in quite a convincing way.

Directed and choreographed by Zhang Jigang, the shuo-chang theatre "Liberation" made its debut in 2009, and recently wrapped it's commemoratory in September at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

The show is about women's feet and her social freedom.

"Your feet do not belong to yourself"

The stage play tells the story of foot binding, an old tradition for women which ended with the falling of Qing Dynasty over a century ago in China. Village girl, Xiaoxiao suffered from the twisted social institution, she was told at a very young age that "girl's feet do not belong to herself." Xiaoxiao tries to fight against the practice.  She gives in binding the feet to chase her love under overwhelming social pressure. It's a tragic story with a happy ending and strong message: Women finally see the day of freedom when the size of their feet no longer measures their beauty.

Foot binding raised up from royal palace since the southern Tang Dynasty in China and lasted for a thousand years. Girls had to bind their feet when they were five or six years old. This practice was meant to secure a good marriage in the future. The smaller the feet, the better the husband would be.  Women never had the ability to follow their will during that time.

"I came up with the idea when I saw my mom's bound feet, a pair of feet shocked me from within," said the director Zhang Jigang.

He told CGTN it's his mother who gives him endless inspiration in the choreography of "Liberation." The 90-year-old woman used to carry her son on her back in the field, singing folk songs while doing farm work. The strong rhythm of her bound foot touching the ground penetrated in Zhang Jigang's mind as a child. It was first memory locked on Zhang's heart, and provided him with the most real feeling and experience during the creation of "Liberation."

"Most of my artistic creation is rooted deeply in sympathy. 'Liberation' shows my profound sympathy and love to women like my mother.  (Her) generation suffered a lot but became incredibly strong. And I believe arts emerged from this kind of natural and simple emotion could be powerful."

but became incredibly strong. And I believe arts emerged from this kind of natural and simple emotion could be powerful."

When asked how to teach today's young girls to dance like foot-binding women, Zhang Jigang told CGTN they designed a series of classes to train the dancers on how to walk, pose and breathe.  Secret devices were installed in the dancers' legs to keep them dancing in an unsteadily tottering way. It's not hard to imagine a bunch of young girls practicing over and over again in the studio to dance like women with bound feet from old time.

If we say dancing can bring people various experience from different time and space, then the dancers of "Liberation" is sharing with us their own understanding of the struggle and freedom of female.

First Shuo-chang theatre in China

"Liberation" is the first Shuo-chang theatre in China. Shuo-chang means storytelling and singing in Chinese. As the name suggests, "Liberation" is a new kind of performing art that integrates opera, folk music and traditional Chinese storytelling together to accentuate the dance parts.

Zhang Jigang said it's a brand new kind of performing form rooted in Chinese traditional arts, creatively combining different art style into one play and bringing audience fresh new experience.

"It is key to solve the problems of transition," the director said he tried a lot of ways to make the connection points between different art forms natural and smooth.

How to arrange the storytelling and to sing organically is something Zhang Jigang worried about before creating the stage play. In his 40 years of working in theater, he has directed Chinese opera, dance drama, folk musical and big gala. This time, he decided to go a new road to try something entirely creative, by extracting artistic factors from different segments and associating them more dramatically.

"It seems not so bad," Zhang added, reflecting on the moments he struggled with this "experiment."

Zhang Jigang's perfection and 'limitation'

As an internationally acclaimed director, Zhang Jigang's works include the world-renowned performance "Thousand-hand Bodhisattva", and the opening ceremony and closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Beijing Paralympics.

His career as a director and choreographer took off in 1987 when he won the first national dancing prize for his hometown, north China's Shanxi Province. Focusing on creating classic stage images, Zhang can always dig up the essential, however sometimes ignored, Chinese cultural elements, and embody these elements with new-era art trends.

"I set a limitation for myself," Zhang said so when explained his philosophy of art creation.

"If I do a dance-themed thousand-hand bodhisattva, my choreography will be about hand gesture only. Meaning I'll control the impulse to add other techniques and spot arrangement. Likewise, 'Liberation' is all about the feet, so I spent a lot of time inventing new foot gestures," Zhang believes repeating himself is being lazy, and that's why he always sets a limitation to squeeze himself out of the comfort zone.

The theatre "Liberation" is a result of Zhang's persistence to pure art. After performing on the stage for nine years in a row, the play can always nourish itself by taking in diverse artistic factors and bring new thoughts to the audience.

"This form of art will expand itself, given the charm it naturally owns," Zhang said, adding that he's very proud to see the mass accepts Shuo-chang theater.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up. More than economic development, arts in China also witnessed enormous progress. "Liberation" reveals how society transformed in the past years. Women's feet are undoubtedly a symbol of the uplift of civilization in China.

As Zhang Jigang said, it is today's society that enables him to open the outlook when exposing himself to the hall of arts. He is not the hero, but he considers the history as one.