(Eventually, some Chinese Modern Dance performers did move on to America or Europe, including China's biggest Modern Dance celebrity, Jin Xing. Jin [a former colonel in the People's Liberation Army], studied at the Guangzhou Dance Academy as a man, before moving to America, then later returning to Shanghai as a woman, after a sex change operation in Beijing. Now mother of an adopted child, she runs the Xing Dance Theater in Shanghai. Some of Jin Xing's contemporaries at the Beijing Dance Academy also founded the Beijing Modern Dance Company [though only Guangzhou and Beijing now have full time dance companies] in 1995, which Willie Tsao became director of in 1998.)

　　Despite a perpetual lack of funds and decreasing government support, the Guangdong Modern Dance Company is thriving. Choreographer Yunna Long started her own private dance company in Guangzhou this year, which offers lessons in Modern Dance to anyone interested, and the troupe just finished a critically-acclaimed tour of Europe in October, with another planned for next year. Yet their biggest wish as a company, they say, is to win the elusive hearts of their Guangdong home audience. "Our dream," says 23-year-old Lou Meng Han, "is that more people will come to understand Modern Dance and not just shake their heads and say, 'What's this about?'"

　　Richard Baimbridge learns how to be a Modern Dancer

　　"The first time I ever saw a Modern Dance performance, I thought it was so beautiful, but that I could never do it myself," says 28-year-old Guangzhou fashion designer, Li Ying Tao. Four years later, she's twisting on the floor and leaping gracefully through the air. Li is one of my classmates tonight at Yunna Studio, owned by Guangdong Dance Company choreographer Yunna Long. Composed entirely of amateurs (though some are more amateur than others), the twice-weekly class is open to anyone who wants to study Modern Dance. Presently, there are about a dozen students, mostly girls in their 20s.

　　Class begins with yoga stretches, and builds up to more complex dance moves. Though most of the time I'm comically out of step, there are a few incredibly exhilarating moments when I feel like a real dancer. "Ugliness is just another side of beauty," Long says encouragingly. "The most important thing about Modern Dance is to free your body." The highlight comes once a year when the students put on their own public performance. Though none of us will be touring Europe any time soon (least of all me), it still fulfills a dream. "I know I'll never be a professional dancer," says Li Ying Tao. "But it's something I love."

　　The Yunna Studio is located at 13 Shuiyin Road in Guangzhou. Rates for Modern Dance instruction range from 50 yuan per class to 2,400 yuan per year.

　　Tel: (020)8704-7657

　　www.kayoumin.com/yunnastudio