Shanghai Ballet: 'Butterfly Lovers' combines ballet, Chinese dance

Photo courtesy of CAMI

A woman disguised as a boy falls in love with a man she can never have - it's the stuff of romantic tragedies from Shakespeare to "Yentl" and beyond. In ancient China, a similar legend took on fame as the tale of "The Butterfly Lovers" and this weekend, the Shanghai Ballet will bring this classic story of star-crossed love to Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall on the UC Berkeley campus.

"There are four great legendary tales in Chinese culture and 'The Butterfly Lovers' is one of them," says choreographer and company director Xin Lili by e-mail. "I was drawn to it because it is a beautiful love story - it expresses universal emotions."

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