Sporting skimpy outfits and glistening smiles, the women dancing in a Beijing gym could be cheerleaders for any US sports team. Only the colorful fans and nunchaku gave them away.
One month before the Beijing Olympics, hundreds of Chinese women are flocking to a gym in the suburbs of the capital to learn how to jump, flip and cheer for the tens of thousands of spectators who will attend this summer's Games.
Cheerleading is a quintessentially American tradition but has become more and more popular in China, thanks in large part to the phenomenal success of US basketball among China's youth, who are not shocked by scantily clad dancers.
Olympic organizers have embraced the dance teams as a colorful way to keep spectators happy during breaks in play in basketball, beach volleyball and some of the other sports.
Some of the women are professional dancers, others come from dance schools around the country.
Training sessions will run until July 27, but last week, the women working out in Jingdong, an hour's drive from Beijing, learned from some of the best - the cheerleaders for the Super Bowl runners-up, the New England Patriots.
"They're a lot like Americans - they use pompoms, they do flips," 20-year-old Patriot dancer Corie Mae Callaluca said.
She is every bit the stereotypical cheerleader with long blonde hair and blue eyes.
When the Patriot squad launched into one high-energy routine after another during a demonstration, their Chinese students watched with wide-eyed admiration and envy.
For 22-year-old university graduate Pei Qiyu, working out with Callaluca and her teammates was a great pre-Olympic confidence builder.
"We're learning this new skill. Our sessions with foreign cheerleaders have really been a great way to learn. We like their style, and what we're learning from them," Pei said.
Organizers are hoping the lala dui, as they are known in Chinese, will enchant spectators with their signature style, mixing elements from traditional Peking opera with typical US hip-hop routines.
"We use a lot of moves and props from Chinese folk dances, like fans," Pei, who will entertain the crowd at the Olympic basketball venue, said.
Pei says she hopes the Olympic cheers will help spectators learn more about Chinese dance.
