Shanghai Ballet will take its repertoire The Lady of the Camellias on tour to Australia, presenting five shows at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre from Dec 5-8.

This will be the second time the Shanghai dance troupe tours Australia, after five successful performances of Swan Lake in 2017.

Shanghai Ballet's Camellias was choreographed by British artist Derek Deane and based on the novel of the same title by French playwright Alexandre Dumas (1824-1895). Since its premiere in 2019, the production has toured extensively around China, presenting about 50 shows.

In 2018 upon invitation from Shanghai Ballet, the Queensland Ballet of Australia performed A Midsummer Night's Dream in Shanghai. During the visit, the two ballet companies signed a memorandum for cooperation, resulting in the subsequent invitation from Queensland Ballet to its Shanghai counterparts to perform in Brisbane.

"We have been exploring new possibilities of making overseas performances, and this will be the first time we exchanged the performing art season with a foreign company," said Ji Pingping, director of Shanghai Ballet.

The tour is also part of the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the sister state relationship between Shanghai and Queensland.