Choreographer-dancer Ma Bo's latest production, Narrow Escape－The Long March, will open the Beijing Dance Festival on Wednesday.

Disagreement is a duet about differences between lovers, while Modus is a 20-minute solo performance about the strength of the human spirit.

Speaking to China Daily about taking part in the festival, Korolenko, who started dancing at 6, and teaches contemporary dance in Novosibirsk, says: "I traveled to China when I was young and I have been interested in Chinese culture ever since. I am familiar with Chinese choreographer Hou Ying's works, which are very different from Russian contemporary dance works.

"It is a pleasure for me to work in China with the (non-professional) dancers."

Csaba Buday, the lecturer in contemporary dance and resident choreographer for dance in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology, in Australia, has been taking part in dance festivals in China even before the Beijing Dance Festival was launched.

His ties to dance festivals in China go back to 2008, when Tsao held a week-long contemporary dance festival in Guangzhou.

At that time, Buday traveled to China with 14 students from the Queensland University of Technology to perform at the Guangdong Modern Dance Festival.