‘Am I dreaming or is this for real?’ That’s what poppet asked me a couple of minutes into Zhang Yimou’s live show Impression West Lake. I wasn’t sure how to answer because I felt like I was hallucinating myself. The performance takes place on the West Lake of Hangzhou. And I mean actually on the lake. Performers emerge from the darkness and walk on the water. Sometimes a single figure or a couple glides past, at other times what seems to be 100 performers charge through the water so that it splashes around catching the light forming crystals and making patterns. In the background willow trees are gently illuminated by beams of coloured light. Structures, the size of a building, emerge from the water and then disappear underneath again. The costumes are traditional Chinese dress of deep red, emerald green, lively pinks, yellows and earthy browns and greys. A two storied house floats past with dancers and a bride. The music shifts from long swooning tones to loud dramatic drumming and back again. Everything is ghostly. And until today it still feels like a dream to me. I want to return to see if it’s real or just an impression.

We were on the lake ourselves. Sitting enclosed in glass on a Chinese barge that was moored on the edge of the lake. Watching the performance through the glass panels of the boat sometimes produced the effect of watching early cinema, except in colour.

Impression West Lake is the creation of Wang Chaoge, Fan Yue and Zhang Yimou. Zhang directed the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics. He’s also one of China’s most famous directors. His last few films like Hero and House of the Flying Daggers have also been hits in the West. I prefer his earlier films like Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou because they’re more intimate. In any case they are all very visual and have a hypnotic quality. I have never experienced anything like Impression before and find it almost impossible to describe. Words and photos cannot even begin to capture the spectacular and yet dreamy quality of the event, however, that is all I have so I leave you with a few photos.