On the afternoon of December 2, 2021, the 5th Annual Meeting of the China-CEEC Dance Culture Union was successfully held online. Liu Jin, Chinese ambassador to Montenegro, Huang Kan, first-class inspector of Beijing Municipal Education Commission, Han Lixin, director of the Eurasian Department of the Bureau of International Exchange and Cooperation of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Guan Xin, cultural counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Bulgaria, and Buslig Szonja Andrea, cultural and educational counselor of the Hungarian Embassy in China, attended the annual meeting. Xu Mei, the pacesetter in scientific research and the director of the Dance School of Yunnan Arts University, and Hou Yunfeng, the director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, attended the meeting on behalf of Yunnan Arts University, and Shen Dailing and Wu Na, staff members of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, were present.
Under the joint initiative of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Beijing Municipality, the China-CEEC Dance Culture Union was established in 2016 under the leadership of the Beijing Dance Academy. It aims to promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges and strengthen dance cultural cooperation between China and CEE countries. At present, the members of the union include 40 dance art universities or institutions from 16 countries.
2021 marks the fifth year of the establishment of the China-CEEC Dance Culture Union. More than 50 representatives from the National Dance Theatre of Budapest, Hungary, Zagreb Dance Center, Croatia, Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Romania, Ballet School of Montenegro, Latvian Cultural Institute, Dance Association of Bratislava, Slovakia, Beijing Dance Academy, Beijing Normal University, Minzu University of China, Nanjing University of the Arts, Yunnan Arts University and other members attended the online conference.
At this year's annual meeting, five dance universities and institutions, including the Delta Dance Center in Bulgaria, the Kalamata Dance Festival in Greece, the University of Sibiu in Romania, the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Krakow, Poland, and the Polish Academy of Music and Dance, joined the union as new members.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Guo Lei, the Chinese chairman of the Union, gave a keynote report and issued membership certificates to the new members of the Union. Afterward, Xiao Xiangrong, dean of the College of Arts and Media of Beijing Normal University, Constantin Chiriac, director of the Sibiu International Theatre Festival in Romania, Risima Rishimkin, director of the Skopje Dance Festival and Dance Theatre Arts in North Macedonia, and Xu Hang, dean of the Dance School of Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, delivered keynote speeches on "Cooperation and Development of Dance under the COVID-19 Pandemic". Ms. Xu Mei from Yunnan Arts University carried out in-depth communication with the participants on three aspects: resource sharing, cooperation and exchange, and collaborative innovation. Based on these aspects, Ms. Xu Mei put forward proposals for cooperative exhibitions, academic seminars, thematic forums, international dance weeks, and international student funding, seeking mutually beneficial and win-win projects, forming a long-term interaction mechanism, effectively carrying out exchanges, and continuously deepening the internationalization of the dance discipline at Yunnan Arts University and expanding its international influence.
Yunnan Arts University, as one of the member units, will be committed to implementing the spirit of national education opening up to the outside world, enhancing artistic and cultural exchanges with the help of a high-quality and high-level platform, and serving the overall situation of national opening up to the outside world.
