Dance drama "Sissi" to open Meet in Beijing Arts Festival

Austrian dance drama "Sissi" is set to open this year's Meet in Beijing Arts Festival on Thursday.

The performance, scheduled to be staged by Hungary's ExperiDance Production, is based on the life of the legendary Empress Elisabeth.

Her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1854 made her the empress of Austria at age 16. She eventually also became the queen of Hungary.

The plot focuses on the queen's connection with Hungary and her romance with a Hungarian official.

The dance drama premiered in Budapest in 2013.

Sissi played by actress Romy Schneider in the 1955 film [Photo: mtime.com]

The 1955 film with the same title was directed by Ernst Marischka, and had Romy Schneider in the lead role as the beautiful yet sad queen.

The story first became popular in China after the movie was screened in the country in the 1980s.