Amateur dancers embrace performing at Beijing festival

Students from Beijing Dance Academy perform in two Chinese dances, Chen Xiang and Fei Tian. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Now, as a teacher at the School of Arts of Peking University, Tong not only offers students dance training and dance theory, but also takes them to participate in the festival.

This year, she will lead around two dozen students who study different majors at Peking University.

They will perform a dance work titled Dainty Beauty.

Tong says that the work is inspired by a trip in 2015 to Midu county in the Dali Bai autonomous prefecture located in western Yunnan province.

Tong spent about a week there with five students, visiting villages and learning the local dance and music.

The typical dance of that region sees performers dancing with fans and flower-decorated lanterns.

In Dainty Beauty, students will preserve the authenticity of the dance while creating a contemporary take on those dance moves.

"Art education is vital for the development of a student. The primary focus of the Beijing College Student Dance Festival is to support and promote the talent and the students' creativity in college and university. It is an exciting and inspiring experience for our students," says professor Pan Zhishou of Beijing Dance Academy, one of the main organizers of the dance festival.