Farooq Chaudhry Named Guest Artist of the New NCPA Ballet
On 16 October 2026, Fengling Productions' Artistic Director Farooq Chaudhry was named one of the inaugural guest artists of the NCPA Ballet, a new company launched that afternoon at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing.
He was one of ten guest artists present at the founding ceremony to receive their certificates, alongside Shen Wei, Vladimir Malakhov, Xu Rui, Wang Yuanyuan, Wang Ge, Semyon Chudin, Wu Mengke, Yin Fang and Wang Jianhui. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the Beijing Municipal Government, the NCPA, Beijing Dance Academy, and directors of ballet companies from across China, including the National Ballet of China and the Shanghai, Liaoning, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Tianjin and Harbin ballet companies.
About the NCPA Ballet
The NCPA Ballet is jointly established by the NCPA and Beijing Dance Academy, and is the first ballet company affiliated with the Beijing municipality. It is the NCPA's fifth resident artistic company.
While grounded in classical technique, the company places modern, contemporary and newly created work at the centre of its programme, with a stated interest in expanding contemporary physical expression, creative thinking and stage practice. It also sets out international exchange as part of its remit.
The company will be based at the NCPA Taihu Stage Art Centre and will perform across the NCPA's three venues. Its dancers will be drawn from Beijing Dance Academy's ballet graduates, alongside artists recruited internationally, and it aims to complete its formation and give its first performance within 2026.
Farooq's appointment gives Fengling a working relationship with a major new Chinese ballet company from its founding stage. The NCPA Ballet's focus on contemporary creation and international exchange sits close to Fengling's own work.
For audiences, artists and organisations in the UK, this connection can widen access to new work from China and open routes for it to reach UK stages. It can also create opportunities for UK-based artists to work with Chinese institutions and artists, and give the UK sector first-hand insight into how China's leading performing arts institutions are developing.
Our Ongoing Work
As a UK-based company working internationally, Fengling Productions develops long-term collaborations across Chinese contemporary dance, music and theatre, and brings their value back to audiences and artists in the UK.
Much of this work centres on co-creation, with Chinese and international artists sharing the creative process, as in Ten Thousand Tons of Moonlight and Simply Love. Fengling also supports Chinese independent contemporary dance artists to present work in the UK, widening what UK audiences can see and building the context in which it can be discussed. Through sustained relationships with Chinese institutions and independent artists, it makes these connections available to UK-based artists and organisations beyond individual projects.
Looking Ahead
Fengling congratulates the NCPA and Beijing Dance Academy on the founding of the NCPA Ballet, and looks forward to following the company's first season. We will continue to build connections between Chinese and UK contemporary performance, and to bring what they offer to audiences and artists in the UK.
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