RIGA, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The artists of the Beijing Dance Academy put on a successful show here on Wednesday during the 24th International Baltic Ballet Festival, and are slated to give a master class in classical Chinese dancing on Thursday.
Introducing the dance show entitled "Beauty beyond Words" at VEF Culture Palace in Riga on Wednesday, the Chinese Embassy's Charge d'Affaires, Sun Yinglai, said that the "language of dance is universal, it does not need translation to be understood."
The show offers a rare insight for the audience in Riga into the philosophy, history, myths, beliefs and legends of various regions of China, he said.
The dancers took the audience on an exciting journey to the Mogao Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northwest China's Dunhuang, which is home to a huge collection of Buddhist art, including more than 2,000 colored sculptures and 45,000 square meters of frescoes spread over 735 caves, and introduced the audience to the Dunhuang legends depicted in the murals of the Grottoes.
Lita Beiris, a former ballerina and founder of the International Baltic Ballet Festival, said she had been familiar with Chinese classical dance for a long time already and wanted to introduce Latvian audiences to this form of art.
"I found the colors and emotions of this show very inspiring ... The performance of our guests had everything, from classics to avantgarde -- acrobatics, smoothness of movement, ballet technique, martial arts," said Beiris, who is also the festival director.
"That's where I see the purpose of our festival -- to show everything that is unusual, unique, that comes to us from other countries. Classical Chinese dance is something special," Beiris said.
She noted that four artists from the Beijing Dance Academy already performed at last year's festival, but this time the Chinese dance school was represented by 36 dancers.
In the coming days, the Chinese artists are slated to perform their show in several other cities of Latvia.
