Dance has the moves to help beat pandemic blues

Veteran dancer-choreographer Luo Bin, who is a professor of the China Dancers Association, also shared his own story during the forum. With diabetes and coronary heart disease, the 57-year-old Luo began dancing again during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Life in the time of coronavirus can be scary, stressful, and isolating. Now that I had lots of time staying at home, I danced regularly everyday, which not only improved my health condition but also made me relaxed," says Luo, who learned to practice Chinese folk dance as a child.

Young Chinese dancer-choreographers, including Wang Yabin, Xiexin and Wu Shuai, have moved to online platforms to connect with their fans since theaters have been closed for months due to the viral outbreak.

"It's both a new challenge and an opportunity for us to break the conventional habits for rehearsal and performances in theaters," says Wang, who graduated from Beijing Dance Academy and received training in classical Chinese dance, ballet techniques and contemporary dance. She is a member of the Youth Dance Company of the Beijing Dance Academy.

International collaborations have been a driving force in Wang's Yabin and Her Friends project. For example, she collaborated with choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui from Belgium on Genesis in 2013; and choreographer Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on Dream in Three Episodes.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, she had to cancel all her performances during the first half of the year, including her trip to Dusseldorf, Germany and her collaboration with Berlin State Opera, known in Germany as Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

"I made some dance videos and shared them online, which received lots of warm feedback. It made me realize that people need dance, which gave them power to survive,"Wang says.

From September, she started touring national wide with her choreographic pieces, Moon Opera and World.

After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many schools have launched online classes and meetings to keep teachers and students engaged."How can you possibly teach dance online?" has become a mutual issue for art schools.