PierreCardin Presents

 Marco Polo – The Last Mission

 Three Acts Ballet – 60 performers – 2 hours

Book by Fang Fang and Sylvie Zhang adapted from “The Travels of Marco Polo”

 A Production of Pierre Cardin and Shanghai Ballet

 Choreography and Staging: José Martinez

 Music: Daniel Walker

 Set & Costume Design: Pierre Cardin

After more than ten years working for Mr. Pierre Cardin, not only we admire his great talent in fashion and his passion for art in various forms, we are especially very touched by his contribution forChina. He is the first Western designer who brought colors intoChinawhile everywhere was deep grey; he is the first culture ambassador who brought Western culture to the country when the road to the outside world was still sealed off.

Marco Polo, Venetian, traveled far to bring back oriental culture home;PierreCardin, Venetian, is named Marco Polo of our time. That is the key of our inspiration for this ballet.

Different from Pierre Cardin last year’s musical production: Marco Polo – The Imaginary Voyage, which gives a conception of Marco Polo’s imaginary journey from Italy to China through forms of contemporary dance, mystic songs and animated images, Marco Polo – The Last Mission is a neo-classic ballet that reveals a dream of his spontaneous love for a Chinese princess, while accomplishing his last mission given by the Chinese Yuan Dynasty Emperor on his way back home – Italy Venice…

The Travels of Marco Polo has been told in many different languages, through many different forms, most of which show the heroic side of Marco Polo and his contribution in history. Yet the mysterious love story of Marco Polo, hidden behind his last mission had only been conjured after his death, through a feminine object belonged to a Chinese royal family found in his belongings. This is where the idea of this romantic ballet comes from.

It is a great pleasure to work with one ofChina’s top ballet companies - Shanghai Ballet, and we would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Opéra de Paris, especially to Mr. Pierre Cardin, who has always given us his support and trust through all these years.

Fang Fang and Sylvie Zhang