With more than a dozen long branches on her back, pioneering Chinese dancer Wang Yabin bends over and moves slowly and gently in the practice room.
It's not performance art, but a scene in her latest co-production Genesis with famous Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, who scripted the dance for the Hollywood version of Anna Karenina in 2012.
"It's an integration of two cultures, and new ideas emerge out of it. Chinese audiences will find some parts familiar, while some parts are strange," Wang says.
The performance uses "the origin of creation and formation" as its theme, with the metaphor of a tree growing. The root represents the past and the branches are the future. But these branches on her back are just experimental props and won't be on stage.
"It's important for dancers to feel the wood. When I take the branches away, I ask them to move like the wood, they can do it because they have felt it," says Cherkaoui, director of the production.
Cherkaoui and Wang have been friends for several years, and their cooperation started in October 2012. It took them more than 100 days to create Genesis, working in both China and Belgium.
Wang says they experimented with different materials in the studios. To find a new way to move, dancers need to touch and feel the things first, and get their essence.
"It's very challenging for dancers to try to move in such an organic way. We try to go back to elemental energies, such as dancing like fire or water," Cherkaoui says.
"Some musicians may be inspired by the sounds of nature. We're inspired by how nature works and how we're still in a society that moves like nature," he says.
According to him, audiences will see how nature and society are connected, in both beauty and cruelty. Sometimes they may recognize this as how they live their lives every day.
Wang is bringing Genesis to the ongoing 2013 Dance Festival of the National Center for the Performing Arts, which will continue until Nov 24. Audiences can enjoy 23 performances from home and abroad, including ballet and flamenco.
It's also a part of her annual series Yabin and Her Friends, which started in 2009, with the aim to offer opportunities for young Chinese dancers.
She began to work with international teams in 2011, such as American Dance Festival instructor and choreographer Mark Haim and Chinese-American Zhou Long, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Music.
According to Wang, Western and Chinese directors have different thinking patterns. For example, a Chinese director may want dancers of the same height and similar appearances, but Cherkaoui likes to have performers from different countries.
In Genesis, the seven performers are from China, the United States and Greece.
"Each of them has their own personality. When they work together, they can learn from each other. For example, Chinese dancers know how the body has to move and are incredibly flexible," Cherkaoui says. "Our generation has many masters, who have different ideas. We reconcile all these into a new way."
For him, the biggest difficulty is that he doesn't speak the Chinese language and sometimes it's not easy to express himself. But Wang helps him interpret.
"Body language is universal. Cherkaoui has a unique understanding of body movement. As we follow his method to explore, we have cultivated our potential greatly," Wang says.
"As dancers, we try to share our vision with others. Sometimes they understand and sometimes they don't. I may be inspired by others. Like love, it's the same with art. You just give your heart to it," Cherkaoui says.
Wang is confident about their work and her dream to bring Yabin and Her Friends to other countries.
Genesis will be on stage in Guangzhou and Shanghai in late November and tour European countries such as Germany, France and Italy from 2014 to 2015.
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