A French connection

"Technological development has made people's lives much more convenient, but it has also complicated our lives. We probably need to learn a new skill every month to keep up with the times, we might become more greedy or competitive, and other issues have arisen such as environmental damage," Dai says.

"The information society has two sides. Our pursuit of progress is also restricting or stifling us. One day, Xiao proposed the concept of the Mobius strip, which can concretely demonstrate the transition between the positive and negative aspects of a cycle."

Consisting of three parts — order, manipulation and celebration — the production aims to present humans moving between reality and the virtual world, and inspires the audience to reflect on its relationship with artificial entities such as manufacturing, technology and information.

The collaborations between the two institutions began in 2014, when representatives from Beijing Normal University visited the French conservatory. In 2019, the institutions made a plan to deepen exchanges among their students and teachers, and jointly produce cross-cultural works.

The institutions have since been exploring ways to cooperate in various aspects, including curricula, seminars, workshops and artistic creation. Over the past two years, teachers and students from both institutions cocreated the production and rehearsed online.

"In this production, one can see the beautiful and precise body language of dancers, but also the casual or even flashy movements often seen in clubs or on social media. We have incorporated all these different types of body language because they present a diverse picture of contemporary culture," Dai says.

"Modern dance is not just a genre with a specific body language. It is a sense of open-mindedness, inclusiveness, catharsis and individual choice. We are exploring ways to give more space to the performers and the audience."