Hope in the moves

A Chinese woman, whose life changed after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, now teaches Martha Graham's dance techniques, Chen Nan reports.

Xin Ying has been busy lately. As the principal dancer of the Martha Graham Dance Company, she gave seven performances at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the longest-running international dance festival in the United States, from Aug 14 to 17, and then as a choreographer, she worked with dancers of the American Ballet Theatre in New York on a new piece. She flew back to China for two weeks earlier this month, traveling between Sichuan province and Beijing.

Xin is 18 weeks pregnant.

"Although I have pregnancy symptoms like vomiting, I don't feel like slowing down. I have many ideas as a dancer and choreographer. I won't stop working until my body tells me to do so," the 34-year-old says during her recent stay in Beijing.

While she lives in New York, Xin visits China every year, mainly as president of the dance department of the Sichuan College of Culture and Arts in Mianyang, a small town in the province where she helped to launch the first modern dance major.

And the Xin Ying International Dance and Art Center is ready to open in Shanghai by the end of the month.

"I am fulfilling my dreams with such projects," she adds.

Xin was born and raised in Yichun, Heilongjiang province. She has been dancing almost every day since she was 6 years old. Her mother sent Xin to receive traditional Chinese dance training in the provincial capital, Harbin, when Xin was 7 years old. She was admitted to the first choreography class in Nanjing University of Arts, where she learned contemporary dance at age 15, as the youngest student in the class.