Take it to street

Hip-hop street dancing goes viral among Chinese college students who tap into it fully as a way to sweat and try out their ideas.

He collaborated with Peking Opera performer Qiu Jirong on a show, which combined the iconic Peking Opera character Monkey King with street dancing in the Spring Festival gala aired by Beijing Television early this year.

"It was a really fascinating time when I started dancing. I just imitated the dancing steps from music videos. When the music is playing it's automatic for me to move to it," Xiao says.

With friends who shared the same passion for street dancing, Xiao danced for hours every day.

"Street dancing is a great platform for young people to mingle and communicate. They love street dancing for its own sake," he says.

Xiao's mother didn't approve of him becoming a hip-hop dancer－a culture often considered unhealthy and seen as linked to drugs and crime－until she realized that he was serious. In 2003, Xiao came to Beijing to study dancing at Capital Normal University for two years.

In 2007, when an annual hip-hop dance competition held in the United Kingdom came to China to recruit Chinese candidates, Xiao applied and won first prize, which enabled him to compete in the UK.

Now, Xiao has his own studio, teaching and choreographing. He says that only when Chinese dancers present their original street dancing choreography works could they be recognized worldwide.