Performers rehearse for the ballet performance Like Flowers. Photo: Courtesy of Shi Ren

China's top ballet troupe is set to debut a new original performance at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) from Friday to September 13. 

Staged by the National Ballet of China, the Like Flowers ballet tells a story of a volunteer who relocates to an ethnic Miao village, where he helps improve living standards by helping change the way local people think. The performance will be the troupe's first original show since the COVID-19 outbreak shut down theaters earlier in 2020. 

According to Feng Ying, the troupe's director, rehearsals and training for the performance had to be done through remote online meetings, which made preparing for the performance much more difficult. 

She said that this was a big challenge for the young dancers, who had to practice in their own homes, as well as the directors and choreographers, who needed to figure out how to best incorporate local Miao dance elements into Western ballet.