The Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition, featuring top-class dancers and choreographers as judges, will be closed by two performances over Aug 12-13 at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Beijing serves as a weeklong global platform for top ballet and choreography talent. Chen Nan reports.

On Aug 4, the world's budding ballet dancers and choreographers began flocking to the Chinese capital in a bid for that first big break under the watchful eyes of some of the best practitioners of their art.

The Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition, the fourth of its kind in six years, aims to uncover the dancers and choreographers of the future. The event is also positioned as a major platform for enhancing dance communication between China and the rest of the world.

"One of the highlights of the competition are the top-class international dancers and choreographers who are invited to be our judges. They will share their professional experience," says Zhao Ruheng, vice-president of the competition's committee. Zhao was also a dancer with the National Ballet of China and its former director, as well as one of those who initiated the event. "The judges are genuinely looking for the stars of the future. So what the contestants present has to be more than just techniques."

The competition consists of two categories－classical ballet and choreography－and it is open to contestants aged 14 to 22 for ballet and those aged 18 to 40 for choreography. It runs through Aug 11 and will be closed by two performances on Aug 12 and 13 at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Dance works include Flames of Paris (pas de deux), choreographed by Vasily Vainonen; and Adagietto, by choreographer John Neumeier.