Dance of hope

According to Nunn and Trevitt, the company canceled 27 performances at 24 venues throughout Britain because of the coronavirus. They are looking at re-booking some of the venues for a UK autumn tour and they are also exploring different options to bring the show, Deluxe, to China.

Xie is working on her new piece, titled Touching, which is inspired by her experience during the outbreak.

In early January, she toured as a dancer with the dance drama, titled The Hotel, choreographed by Li Xing, and visited cities in Hubei province, such as Wuhan and Huanggang. On Jan 21, she had a fever and the second day, her 10-month-old daughter also had a fever.

"I was devastated because all the symptoms were similar to that of COVID-19. I was very scared and nervous," recalls Xie, who went to the hospital and was told it was just the flu. Fortunately, her baby also tested negative for the coronavirus.

"It was such a relief for me. I didn't expect that I could be so fragile. Motherhood changed me somehow," Xie says. "I couldn't help thinking of people who were infected. They suffered from the disease physically and mentally. When I watched news on TV, I was heartbroken because people were dying every day as a result of the virus. They didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to their families."

Born in 1985 in Ji'an, Jiangxi province, Xie learned traditional Chinese dance from her mother. In the beginning, she didn't want to become a dancer, but was later drawn to the idea of expressing herself with body movements. In 2004, she graduated as a contemporary dancer from the Guangdong Dance School and has worked with contemporary dance theaters that include Guangdong Modern Dance Company, Jin Xing Dance Theater and Beijing Dance LDTX.

In 2014, she founded her own theater, Xie Xin Dance Theater. As a choreographer, Xie has won a number of awards, including the gold award at the 14th International Dance Competition in Rome, Italy in 2015, and the gold award at the Seoul International Dance Competition in 2016 in South Korea.

While hunkering down at home in the face of COVID-19, Xie found a rapt audience on social media. She has been sharing videos of her doing exercises at home. One of her videos has been watched more than 1.4 million times.

"I work out every day. I didn't expect that I could reach out to so many people on social media," says Xie.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn