One dancer's journey

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Belinda Zhang
Belinda Zhang

Belinda Zhang tells Michelle Dursun about her pathway to China.

It is incredible how one can travel the world and do what they love at the same time. Dance. Since joining Guangdong Modern Dance Company last year in August, I have had some of the most amazing experiences working with different choreographers, collaborating with other contemporary dance companies and touring around the world.

I grew up in Sydney, so I found the culture in Guangzhou, where the company is based, has different unique qualities. I find that the dancers here are spiritual and articulate with movement. It is a whole new world of dance on this side of the planet. My starting point in deciding to come to China after graduating was given to me by my teachers at the National College of Dance in Newcastle, NSW. Brett Morgan, Timothy Gordon and Alfred Taahi gave me the idea to go to where my parents originated from: Guangzhou.

Training at the National College of Dance switched my mind-set to the professional world in dance and I felt very prepared after graduating to go overseas. My teachers had such an incredible background in dance. Our timetable was filled every day to the fullest, which kept me very busy when studying my Diploma in Dance. I left three days after I graduated to begin my professional dance journey. I was accepted as a trainee at City Contemporary Dance Company in Hong Kong, where I joined company class and rehearsals. The artistic director of CCDC, Willy Tsao, is also the artistic director of GMDC (Guangzhou) and also LDTX (Beijing). Then Willy offered me a position in the Ghuangzhou company.

My most enjoyable times since joining the company have been the tours. We recently got back from Tel Aviv, Israel, where we performed three sold out shows at the Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance. Our company was special enough to be offered the chance to join “gaga” class with Batsheva Dance Company. We also watched their rehearsals, which was a breathtaking experience. GMDC was lucky enough to have Ohad Naharin, master of gaga himself, teach us this style of contemporary dance. Everyone appreciates sharing arts from one country to another.

When I first joined GMDC, Expressions Dance Company from Brisbane was in the last week of a collaboration with the company, meaning I was just in time to meet all the beautiful dancers. At the end of January we came to Brisbane where both companies collaborated, performing seven sold-out shows of "Black" at the Qld Performing Arts Centre. It came as a shock when I realised GMDC was heading back to my home country. I was incredibly excited, and couldn't believe it. Collaborating and exchanging cultures from both sides, I got to see how the two merged to become one. I can see that when two companies watch each other we all learn so much from each other and some things disappear in the process to create this unspeakable force of energy – it is magical.

EDC and GMDC have now created a very close bond, as though we are one big family. The language barrier was hard for some, but dance is a universal language of the body; movement explains itself. It was handy being fluent in both languages as I helped out with the translating at some points during rehearsals. We are looking forward to EDC returning to Guangzhou in November for more collaborations and partaking in our 13th Guangdong Modern Dance Festival.

See our review of ‘Black’ at http://www.danceaustralia.com.au/review/expressions-dance-company-black

- WITH MICHELLE DURSUN

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