Dream to Glide, China's first original ice drama that features veteran figure skaters such as Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao Photo: Sina Weibo

On Thursday, Dream to Glide, China's first original ice drama show, will debut in Beijing, the starting point of a national tour. 

Aiming to exhibit the Olympic spirit of the Chinese figure skating team, China's star figure skating pair Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao will play the leads in the show. 

The show reunites both retired veterans 10 years after they last worked together to interpret the story of a young girl, Lu Xiyun, from a remote small town as she embarks on a skating career that eventually takes her to the Olympic podium with the help of her teammates.

"I see the show as a continuation of my ice skating career. As a Chinese athlete who represented the country to compete on the world stage, I see that so much strength came from my country backing me up. I see the importance and responsibility to promote figure skating even after I retired, so this is why the Dream to Glide happened," Zhang Dan said in an interview with the Global Times reporter Zhang Wang. 

Not only have Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao joined the show, other well-known Chinese figure skaters such as Gao Chongbo, the former coach of China's figure skating ice dance team, and Zhang Min, the 45-year-old figure skating veteran who was the first athlete in China to accomplish the quadruple toeloop jump, have also joined the show. 

China's figure skaters Yu Xiaoyu (L) and Zhang Hao train ahead of their matches on 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena, South Korea, Feb. 7, 2018. Photo: Xinhua

The ice show will not only include ice skating, but also fuse with dance drama and acrobatic skating performances with the intent of igniting audiences' passion toward the winter sport. 

"This has been an adventure for me as I have never tried acting before. We [athletes and actors] are not quite sure if such a drama can be widely accepted by the public or not, but we do this because every single one of us is in love with the winter sport and hope to use the show as a medium to connect more audiences, inviting them to see its charm," added Zhang. 

"It can't get more realistic to see actual athletes show their faces in such an artistic production. I think for the public audience, such shows engaging the Olympics spirit can touch us more than competitions and scores, even though I am a 7-year fan of the pair," Xie Xinyu, an amateur figure skater in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, told the Global Times on Sunday.  

Dream to Glide in Beijing is part of the 22nd "Meet in Beijing" International Arts Festival and Olympic Culture Festival that is currently running until February 18, offering diverse cultural performances to audiences with the aim of promoting Olympic culture and amplifying the Olympic spirit among the public.  

Before the current national tour, Dream to Glide first premiered in 2019.