New hub will give national ballet a stage for excellence

Since it was founded in 1959, the company has been headquartered in Hufangqiao, Xicheng district, of downtown Beijing, with its current major performance venue, Tianqiao Theater, situated nearby.

"The birth and growth of the National Ballet of China has been connected with the development of the country. The company has endured many challenges in its history and is a successful, confident and innovative company today," Feng, a former ballerina, said in an interview marking the company's 60th anniversary in 2019.

When the company was founded, Dai Ailian, or Ailien Tai, then 38, an overseas Chinese ballerina, was appointed as its first president.

Dai was born into a Chinese family in Trinidad and learned ballet in London. She returned to China in 1940.

The establishment of the company is also closely connected with the country's first institute of dance, Beijing Dance School (now Beijing Dance Academy), which opened on Sept 6, 1954.

In its early years, under the instruction of Russian experts, the National Ballet of China staged Le Corsaire and Giselle. In 1964, China's first original ballet production, The Red Detachment of Women, premiered in Beijing. It is best known in the West as the ballet performed for former US president Richard Nixon during his visit to China in 1972.

The growth of the company is based on two key missions, adapting Western classical ballet works and producing original Chinese ballet works, according to Feng.

Since 2010, the company has been holding annual workshops, aiming to inspire and nurture China's young dancers and choreographers, and launched a ballet school to cultivate young talent.