Bach and the ballet at pianist Xue Yingjia's recital

Pianist Xue Yingjia will play music that will be physically interpreted by dancer and choreographer Wu Husheng. Photo provided to Shanghai Star

Award-winning pianist Xue Yingjia's recital at the Shanghai Concert Hall will be a treat for the eyes as well as the ears, with some of the city's top dancers performing alongside the musician.

Dancers from the Shanghai Ballet will bring something different to pianist Xue Yingjia's recital at Shanghai Concert Hall on Jan 16.

But just how intimate will Xue get with the dancers?

"As long as the dancer doesn't crawl underneath my piano and get in the way between my feet and the pedals, I will be playing just fine," says Xue, 36, an international award-winning pianist from Shanghai.

"It is like a dialogue between the dancers and the musician. Dancers will make the music visible to the eyes," says Xin Lili, director of Shanghai Ballet. "The collision of artists' souls will sparkle colorful flames."

Xue will play three pieces by Bach for the first half of the concert and then move on to music of the Romantic and Impressionistic period, playing works of Debussy and Scriabin.

"I used to search for dance videos on Youtube with Bach's music, in order to help me understand the pieces," Xue says. He found that in different cultures, Bach's music was danced to, and not just in royal courts and ballrooms. "His music provides lots of creative space for choreography."

Wu Husheng, a principal dancer with the Shanghai Ballet, has choreographed most of the performance for the concert. The 29-year-old has danced leading roles in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and modern ballet theater, Jane Eyre.

"It's a luxury to dance to live piano," Wu says. The dancers will be performing a few feet away from the musician. "It is as if I can feel his soul. A dancer presents music through his body what the pianist creates on his fingertips," Wu says.

But Xin says the performance is, first of all, a piano recital. "We have chosen some episodes of the music suitable for dancing."

The choreography will be diverse in style. Dancers will perform en pointe and bare foot.

Bach's pieces, with rhythms distinctive of the Baroque period, are highly suitable for dancing, Wu says. "I'll make more effort to present the light and shadows, and changing colors of Debussy and Scriabin."

This is the second time Shanghai Concert Hall has brought together classical music and ballet. The first attempt featuring a piano trio and ballet won high praise from audiences, says Shen Yanshu, the programming manager of Shanghai Concert Hall. The success encouraged Shen and his colleagues to present another concert featuring ballet this year.

If you go

7:30 pm, Jan 16, Sennheiser Shanghai Concert Hall, 523 Yan'an Road East, Huangpu district, 4008-918-182

80-280 yuan

Program

Three pieces by Bach: French Suite No. 6 in E major (BWV817), Prelude and Fugue No. 9 in E major (BWV878) and English Suite No. 5 in E minor, BWV810; three by Debussey: Deux Arabesques, Suite Bergamasque, and Joyful Island, and by Alexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 4 in F major.