Dancing to a different tune

"The romance, hope, belief, madness and death portrayed in the novel continue to run wild in my imagination," Wang croaks excitedly through her strained vocal chords. "It will still relate to a contemporary audience, even though the novel tells a story set during the 1940s."

After its Beijing residency, A Leaf in the Storm will tour around the country, as will the company's 2015 production, Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale and the Rose, this year. Over the next five years, several productions by the Beijing Dance Theater, including Wild Grass and Haze, will hit the road and visit theaters around China.

Born and raised in Beijing, Wang started learning Chinese dance at 10 years old and graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy in 1995, before she studied contemporary dance choreography.

From 2000 to 2002 she trained at the California Institute of Arts' School of Dance in Los Angeles. She was named resident choreographer at the National Ballet of China and was invited to serve as guest choreographer at the New York City Ballet in 2003.

She is widely celebrated for choreographing the ballet Raise the Red Lantern directed by Zhang Yimou, the dance scenes in director Feng Xiaogang's movie, The Banquet, and for her part in the production of the 2008 Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony.