Setting up a new body of work

This year, along with two young ballet dancers, Zheng Yu and Wang Qi, Li has choreographed a new work, symphonic ballet Ode to Joy, to the fourth movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125.

Star dancers, such as Ma Xiaodong and Zhan Xinlu, perform in the ballet piece. The piece explores the issue of humanity and delivers ideas about building a shared future.

Cells for Good, a ballet piece by choreographers She Zhaohuan and Teng Jiankai, both dancers of the company, was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. Abstractly, the piece displays the imagination of the choreographers, who portray a war between white blood cells and the virus. Music from Polish composer Henryk Gorecki's String Quartets No 2, Op 64 and Easy Listening for the Hard of Hearing by composers Boyd Rice and Frank Tovey are featured in the ballet piece.

"It's the first time I have participated in the workshop, and I didn't expect my work to be staged at the gala, which makes me happy and proud," says Teng, who graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy in 2011 and joined the National Ballet of China the same year.

"The piece features movements that display a sense of humor. It is a fun piece, and we simply want to wish everyone good health by presenting it.

"The goal of presenting a piece onstage is to communicate with the audience rather than focusing on expressing ourselves. I enjoy the transition of communicating with the audience as a dancer and now as a choreographer," Teng adds.

According to Feng, this year's youngest participant is 13-year-old Zhang Muzi, a student of the company's ballet school who brought her work titled Detective.

"She is in her second year studying at the school. When the dance had its debut, the novice choreographer impressed us," says Feng.

Performed by Zhang, the work displays the dancer's techniques as she portrays a detective working on a case.

Sun Haifeng's work, One to Two, combines ballet movements with lingzi, a symbolic headwear of Peking Opera, a traditional art form. The long headwear, usually made of pheasant feathers, is used on warriors' helmets or officials' hats, displaying rank.

"The beautiful headwear is new to me. It became an inspiration when I choreographed my work. The headwear is traditional and the chemistry with the ballet movements is interesting," says Sun, who made his debut last year with Before the Next Move.

"With the experience of participating in the workshop, I learned to think as a choreographer. It was more like a training process, which was rewarding," says Sun.