Chinese dancer Xin Ying. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Xin's life in New York started from a small studio at West 34th Street. The first few months were hard, since she had no friends and could not speak English.

"When I went to do laundry, I could not even tell which was detergent and which was softener," she recalls.

"New York is such a busy city where excitement mixes with indifference. People with earphones walk fast in the street. Every day you could hear bizarre stories."

On sleepless nights, she rode a bicycle along the Hudson River, finding many like herself who cycled or jogged alone.

But whenever she entered the rehearsal room, she relaxed and became focused. That's not only because dancers come from different countries and races, but also they all come for the same purpose.

In her youth, she says, she mostly just learned technique and copied the coaches' gestures or movements. Though she loved dancing, "I just received everything passively", she says.

"But in the Martha Graham School and Company, the feeling is so different. Everybody knows clearly what he or she wants and why he or she dances. And everybody dances aggressively and passionately. I feel I am absorbing nutrition every minute.

"Martha Graham used to be a name in my college books. But now I really dance with coaches such as Eilber who once worked closely with her. The feeling is like myself becoming part of the history of contemporary dance."