From June 10^th to 15^th, the 2^nd  China-CEEC Arts Cooperation Forum was held in Chengdu—the “Land of Abundance”, Sichuan Province. Mr. Li Qun, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Yang Xingping, Vice Governor of Sichuan Provincial People’s Government and Mr. Luo Qiang, Mayor of Chengdu Municipal People’s Government, and cultural officials from Albania and Romania attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. BDA President Guo Lei, Vice President Xu Rui and Associate Professor Shi Bo from the Faculty Development Center also spoke at the forum.

The Forum was co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Sichuan Provincial People’s Government, Chengdu Municipal People’s Government and the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture. Themed “Contemporary Art Practice and Exploration—the Modern Value of Traditions”, the forum aims to deepen China’s art exchanges with 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) through forums, achievements exhibition and performances towards establishing closer people-to-people bond among “Belt and Road” countries and regions for sustainable partnership. Nearly 300 artists, heads of art institutions, representatives of national cultural authorities and diplomatic envoys were invited. Five parallel sessions focusing on music, dance, drama, fine arts and children’s drama respectively were held under the theme of the forum.

BDA President Guo Lei, spoke as the representative of the dance field at the opening ceremony on the achievements in dance exchanges since the establishment of the China-CEEC Dance Culture Union in 2016, and opened the discussion of the parallel session on dance by a talk on the dynamics between “tradition” and “contemporariness” and between “new” and “old” in advancing civilizations, using the vivid examples of the “mother of modern dance” Isadora Duncan of America and the “founder of modern Chinese dance” Dai Ailian. Vice President Xu Rui used the example of the Artscross/Danscross project, an ongoing international collaboration between Beijing Dance Academy and Middlesex university’s ResCen Research centre (UK) since 2009, to illustrate BDA’s creative explorations and achievements regarding the current challenges and solutions for contemporary art creation in traditional and global contexts. Associate Professor Shi Bo shared the experience from China-CEEC Summer Dance Camp, Winter Dance Camp and China-CEEC Master Workshop among other successful events of the China-CEEC Dance Culture Union in promoting dance performances and cultural and pedagogical exchanges. As one of the earliest and most vibrant platforms between China and CEECs in art, the China-CEEC Dance Culture Union was included in the Budapest Guidelines for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries in November, 2017. With the vigorous promotion and participation of union members, dance cooperation has become a shining business card for China-CEEC cultural and art exchanges.

Vice President Xu Rui gave key-note speech at the dance session

　　Associate Professor Shi Bo shared achievements

　　Dance achievements ranked first in the “Achievements Exhibition” of the Forum

The China-CEEC Dance Culture Union was initiated by Beijing Dance Academy during the 1^st China-CEEC Arts Cooperation Forum. Since establishment, dance communities in China and CEECs have carried out in-depth cooperation and exchanges, including China-CEEC Summer Dance Camp, China-CEEC Winter Dance Camp, China-CEEC Master Workshop, etc. The union has facilitated the participation of dance institutions and artists in the China-CEEC Cultural Season sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The first co-production Cradle  within the union toured art festivals in Slovenia, Macedonia and Latvia, and four Chinese cities including Beijing, Xi’an, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, and was performed during the 3^rd Ministerial Forum on Cultural Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries as an outcome of the China and CEEC Dance Culture Union. Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Beijing Dance Academy has sent three performance groups with original ethnic and folk dance dramas Nuo Emotion , Fen Mo , and Chen Xiang  on a tour to Central and Eastern Europe as part of the official Happy Chinese New Year program to high acclaim. At the invitation of the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, BDA brought its original dance drama Guo Feng  on a European tour and performed at the closing ceremony of International Baltic festival. The Academy staged a joint performance of the ballet Cinderella  with the Ballet School “Princess Ksenija” at the Montenegrin National Theatre.

This year, BDA will send its graduate students to teach at the Belgrade Ballet Academy for a term of one year among other international partnership projects. Capitalizing on the union, Beijing Dance Academy, along with China’s dance circles, has facilitated ever deepening cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries in terms of personnel exchange, performances, co-creation and academic research, etc., with fruitful outcomes ushering in the new chapter of cultural exchanges along the modern “Silk Road”.

　　（International Office  Text/Zhang Xuelian  Picture/Zhang Xuelian, Shi Bo）