Macau casino operator MGM China Holdings announced that it will launch a resident show called “MGM Awakening Lion” at its MGM Cotai casino resort in July.

According to Monday release, it will be the first show residency for the Guangzhou Song and Dance Theatre outside mainland China. The spectacle is co-produced by the Publicity Department of the Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Guangzhou Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, and MGM China.

The 70 minute drama will be hosted at the MGM Theater. By making use of the technology available at the venue, MGM Awakening Lion will blend “ancient intangible heritage” with virtual reality.

MGM Awakening Lion was created to “showcase traditional dance drama with innovation, telling the great stories of the Chinese people with an internationalized and contemporary backdrop,” said MGM China.

The statement quoted Pansy Ho Chiu King, executive director of MGM China, as saying the show was aimed especially at “tourists of the new generation,” and was a “new milestone for MGM, as it is the very first project of the ‘MGM Lion Intellectual Property’ spectrum of tourism products in multiple categories”.

The original ethnic dance drama Awakening Lion is described as the first large scale dance drama in China using Cantonese lion dance as its theme. The original drama was named the best dance drama at the China Dance Lotus Awards.

Editing by Rachel Hu