Bach and the ballet at pianist Xue Yingjia's recital

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 延安东路523号，上海音乐厅

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.