21st Meet in Beijing International Arts Festival to kick off

The Kiev Grand Theater Ballet will perform its contemporary piece, Children of the Night, which premiered in 2018. The Gyeonggido Dance Company will showcase South Korean folk dances with its dance production, Lotus Rebirth. And the Kibbutz Modern Dance Group from Israel will perform the contemporary-dance work, If At All.

The international troupes will present their music on such Chinese streaming platforms as iQiyi, Youku and Bilibili.

This year's festival theme will celebrate the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

"Audiences anticipate and celebrate the Meet in Beijing International Arts Festival every year," says Li Jinsheng, president of the China Arts and Entertainment Group, the event's organizer.

"It brings together artists from all around the world in (China's) capital. Though this year's event has to be rearranged because of the outbreak, we still want to provide audiences with a diverse selection of events through online programs."

He adds that the festival has attracted over 30,000 artists from 120 countries and regions and more than 4.3 million audience members since 2000.

Public art-education activities about the Winter Olympics will offer diverse choices of events related to winter sports and the Games' culture, especially for younger people.

Dancer-choreographer Shen Wei, who's known for his work on the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, will speak at a forum at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center on Jan 14 and 15.

The New York-based artist choreographed the breathtakingly beautiful dance piece, Scroll Painting, in which dancers performed on a constantly changing LED scroll of Chinese ink-and-wash paintings, depicting the evolution of China since ancient times.

"Many of my works have been staged at art festivals around the globe. I believe art festivals help create conversations across cultures," says Shen, who will share his views about the relationships among art festivals, cities and the public.