"When I returned to China, the city of Beijing seemed like a place, which was both familiar and unfamiliar. I had to make changes in my own life to start again," says Wu.

"The dancers for the new work are from other parts of China. None of them are local. We all have to adjust to the tempo of a big city like Beijing and to fulfill our dreams means overcoming hardships. The dancers also put their own experiences into the work."

With music excerpts from German composer Max Richter and Icelandic multi-instrumentalist and composer Olafur Arnalds, Wu also edited the music for the piece.

As the mainland's first officially registered private contemporary dance company, Beijing Dance/LDTX was co-founded in 2005 by Willy Tsao and Li Han-zhong. LDTX is a shortened version of lei dong tian xia, which translates to "thunder rumbles through the universe".

Though contemporary dance caters to a minority taste, the company has built an enthusiastic fan base and launched training classes for amateur dancers.

The classes reopened on Monday after being closed for months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Another new piece, Traveler, which was choreographed by Zhang Xuefeng for the same company, will be livestreamed on Friday for free.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn