An imaginative world of youth unfolds at the rehearsal of the modern dance The White-Night. Zou Hong / China Daily

Artists make modern dance a multimedia show with young performers. Chen Nan follows the choreography.

When Willy Tsao met Wang Yuanqing, who was studying at Beijing Dance Academy majoring in modern dance choreography, he was impressed by the young man's unconventional vision.

Wang sat on a desk, that has four wheels. He slid around to the sound of music, with a devotion that reflected the music's strong religious flavor. The movements were simple.

"His approach was very different from the traditional choreography at Beijing Dance Academy then. It could be considered weird at that time," recalls Tsao, an influential figure who has pushed the development of modern dance in China. "I was sure that his choreography wouldn't pass the test, but I bore him in my mind and knew I would cooperate with him one day."

Tsao is the founder and artistic director of the Hong Kong City Contemporary Dance Company, Beijing Dance/LDTX as well as the managing director of Guangdong Modern Dance Company.

Trained in the US, Tsao has conducted intensive modern dance workshops since 1987 in China.

Though it's still a minority taste. Tsao has seen the potential of modern dance in China while watching works of young choreographers and dancers like Wang.

Years later, Tsao has invited Wang, who is now working as both graphic designer and choreographer, to create a modern dance production, The White- Night, which will be staged from April 12 to 14.

"It's been eight years since Beijing Dance/LDTX founded, and it's a platform to mix artists with different personalities and art visions to come together," says Tsao. "Wang is such an artist, with a clear art language and courage to experiment."

The latest modern dance, a performance around 70 minutes, features nine young dancers of Beijing Dance/LDTX, who range from 20 to 28 years old.

"I took a long time discussing it with the dancers before we got started because I want to listen to their thoughts, which inspired me," says Wang, 25.

The dance is an imaginative world of youth, who express themselves through a humorous and straightforward movement style, says Wang.

"The White-Night represents two extreme situations, like black and white. It's also a work telling about making choices and breaking habits," says Wang.

In one scene of the dance, all nine dancers make movements in front of mirrors, free and improvisational.

Wang explains that it's a process of talking to yourself. "The other self in the mirror could be a subconscious self," he says. "It is not prepared. It just shows emotion at the moment."

The cutting-edge choreographer Wang also invited two friends, musician Li Tieqiao and art designer Zhang Zijian, to join hands, giving the audiences and the dancers an experience that combines visual, audio and body language.

Li is a saxophonist who has started the performance series Shengdong Jixi in 2007, a fusion of Eastern and Western musicians and their instruments. Li not only composed music for the show but also created several installations for the stage.

"One of the installations is a device which projects shadows on the wall. The shadows change shapes according to different sounds the device registers," Li says.

The choreographer describes Zhang, who has been a longtime friend of Wang, as a Net friend, now that they communicate a lot online rather than seeing each other.

Wang likes Zhang's oriental vision as a designer. He uses his romantic, quiet, and reserved approaches in the stage design for The White-Night.

"Music, design and dance all express emotions. We three people joining together is like the fusion of three different colors, which will be surprising and interesting," says Zhang.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 04/07/2013 page15)