"I had never seen such Chinese modern dance performance. I am very impressed by the beauty of the choreography and the outfits, as well as by the artists' rigor," said 20-year-old Belgian Clemence Gillion.

Gillion was among the audience for a grand show presented by China's Guangdong Modern Dance Company (GMDC) in the southern Belgian city of Namur on Tuesday night. The Chinese dance company had come to Belgium on the occasion of the ongoing Europalia China art festival.

Founded in 1992, the GMDC was the first professional contemporary dance company in China. As time goes by, it has gained worldwide fame.

Artistic Director Willy Cao of the GMDC has brought two contrasting works to the festival: "Upon Calligraphy," created by famous choreographer Liu Qiu, and "Sticks," choreographed by Tibetan artist Sang Jijia.

"I wanted to show a very contrasting program that could reflect the spectrum of contemporary dance, combining both traditional and avant-garde aspects," Cao said.

"My intention was to show that modern dance has the capacity to offer different artistic styles," he added.

"Upon Calligraphy" is a poem of movements based on the evolution of Chinese writing. The dancers' bodies evoke the five different writing styles. Like a calligrapher brush, their moves express the tardiness of the bone script, the elegance of the seal script, the harmony of the official script, the strength of the regular script and the energy of the cursive script.

"Sticks" is a common dance training method. The work of Sang Jijia illustrates the author's youth and passion for dance. This performance alternates powerful moments, during which artists show their talent with strength and elegance, and silent moments, giving the opportunity to the audience to share intimate feelings with the dancers.

"The structure is a bit difficult to understand, but I really enjoyed the performances," said Sara Lemaire, who majored in Asian studies in college.

Nicole Tilquin, another audience, said: "We are not used to seeing this kind of dances. But I was really impressed by the aesthetic quality of the performances."

The performance ended amid enthusiastic cheers and thundering applause from the overwhelmed audience.

Dominique Thierry, a modern dance aficionado who traveled from Brussels to Namur just to see the performance of the GMDC, said the trip was worthwhile.

"I have already seen lots of contemporary dance performances, but this one is absolutely fabulous," she said.

From Oct. 8, 2009 to Feb. 14, 2010, the Europalia China art festival presents about 50 exhibitions and 450 art performances and cultural events in more than 70 cities in Belgium and four neighboring countries, namely the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg and Germany.

It is a cultural project jointly organized by Europalia International and the Chinese Ministry of Culture.

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