A dance to the music of time

As an ancient performance ritual, the Xuan dance was once dedicated to the god and kings of western Tibet.

Now, courtesy of a Tibetan grandmother named Drolkar, an 84-year-old inheritor of the dance, people are still able to enjoy the beauty of the 1,000-year-old dance, which incorporates song, rhythmic movement and narration, and also a number of other elements, such as Tibetan Opera.

"It was a paid job back then. Women from every family in the village had to dance the Xuan, mostly in the monasteries during ritual performance or other celebrations," Drolkar said, recalling her original links with the dance.