00:00This is our director Ai Weiwei
00:01and this is our choreographer
00:08Well, first
00:09it's nice we get together
00:12the first day
00:13and in the next
00:16one month
00:17we'll spend much more time together
00:20Most people maybe
00:22you know I'm an artist
00:23I'm not an opera director
00:26but I do films
00:28I do different things
00:30I like to do
00:32what I'm not good at
00:33you know I like to
00:35I like trouble
00:36so I think opera is truly a trouble
00:40so first I have to tell
00:42why I got involved with this
00:44opera is 33 years ago
00:46I was working
00:48as extra
00:50in this really metropolitan
00:52torrent
00:53that time
00:55John Ching was a choreographer
00:57and she
00:59asked me to be part
01:01because I have this
01:04oriental look
01:04so they really looked at me
01:07and said okay that's fine
01:08that time I was so poor
01:11I tried to make three dollars an hour
01:13every day I get some payment
01:15so I go to
01:16I can buy hot dogs and papaya
01:19so that was the story
01:22until
01:22two years ago
01:24from opera
01:25the gentleman
01:26come to see me
01:27he said
01:27would you do an opera
01:29I said
01:30which opera
01:31they said
01:31I said yeah
01:33for that one
01:34I would like to do it
01:35because it's what a
01:36crazy circle
01:37you know
01:38I never imagined
01:41when I was in New York
01:42I never imagined
01:43I could become an artist again
01:45and also become an opera director
01:48so that's the story
01:50applause
