Turning point

While he may have initially harbored romantic notions of the countryside with its golden wheat fields and oil-painting pastoral scenery he had seen on his travels abroad, he was soon brought back down to earth by life in a forgotten town in rural Hebei.

Almost continually shrouded in smog and littered with discarded garbage, Duancun was about as far away from the rural idyll of his imagination.

But what was even more disturbing to Guan after he started his ballet classes, was the sudden realization that what he was harvesting in the local area was not a longing for beauty and love, but rather resentment, misunderstanding - and the communal cold shoulder.

As to why should the children in rural areas study ballet, Guan's answer is idealistic. "I hope that art can become a part of their lives. She can grow up to be a farmer or an entrepreneur. But when she sits in front of the TV and watches Swan Lake, she will be able to understand it," he says.