Making a song & dance about it

"It's a mutual experience for all of us and they also have something to say through the dance work," says Wan.

The rehearsal went smoothly. In one afternoon, she finished designing the structure of the dance piece and the choreography came along with the rehearsals.

"She told us to open up ourselves and be honest with ourselves during the rehearsals. For me, dancing since I was a child, dancing is a combination of my heart and my body. It is my last dance piece before graduation," says Wang Xinping, one of Wan's students.

Wan has been a top student as a dancer. She learned a variety of styles, such as Chinese folk, traditional Chinese and ballet. As a dancer, Wan worked with the Singing and Dancing Troupe of Jiangsu Province during the 1980s.

She came to study ballet at the Beijing Dance Academy, where she was introduced to contemporary dance in 1991.