The end of the hour-glass: alternative conceptions of intercultural exchange between European and Chinese operatic forms

This article discusses the findings of a large EU-supported cultural collaboration project with an experimental intercultural performance laboratory between Europe and China at its heart. It draws on interviews with artists from Shanghai and the United Kingdom, performance documentation and process observations to propose an artist-centred and individualized conception of intercultural exchange, with specific reference to the traditions of Chinese indigenous song–dance theatre and European opera. Conceived as a series of layers, the article argues for greater recognition of the necessary intracultural core to projects such as this and proceeds to examine the methodological challenges faced by artists with diverse and sometimes opposing training. In doing so it offers a further critique of Pavis's hourglass model of intercultural exchange, placing this in a wider theoretical context, and concluding with some reflections and considerations for future exchange projects rooted in creative practice.