Full coverage: 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Red Army's Long March

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the long march, a modern dance piece by Beijing Dance LDTX premiered on Wednesday at Beijing's Tianqiao Performing Arts Center. Instead of telling a story about the epic march, veteran choreographer Ma Bo takes us on a personal spiritual journey. It's also the opening piece of this year's Beijing Dance Festival.

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the long march, a modern dance piece by Beijing Dance LDTX premiered on Wednesday at Beijing's Tianqiao Performing Arts Center.

An epic march, making the impossible possible.

This modern dance piece traces the Red Army's escape from the Kuomintang soldiers who were after them. They endured a 12,500-kilometer march through snow-topped mountains, moors and turbulent rivers from East China's Jiangxi Province to Northwest China's Gansu Province.

Entitled, "Narrow Escape---Long March", the dance piece takes audiences on a soul-searching journey through 'light', 'ice', and 'brightness', rather than recounting actual stories of the Long March.  

For choreographer Ma Bo, it's the soldiers' unbeaten spirits that will resonate with the audiences the most.

"We've decided to focus on life and death to depict the epic march, because according to historical records, only 1 out of 10 who embarked on the march was able to reach the final destination and survive in the end. I don't want to tell a specific story, instead I'm more focused on the abstract presentation, to focus on their faith and the perseverance they've demonstrated. In one chapter named "life and death", you can see there are twelve red ribbons tied from one spot on the ceiling, and each dancer is holding one. The red ribbon symbolizes life and you can see the main dancer trying to grab the ribbon of the other dancers, trying to save their lives but in vain. So it's not a specific story, I'm hoping people will savour and explore the meaning behind the Long March," he said.

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the long march, a modern dance piece by Beijing Dance LDTX premiered on Wednesday at Beijing's Tianqiao Performing Arts Center.

The dance piece has an innovative way of using light, projections and sound effects to highlight various scenes.

From climbing snow-capped mountains to trudging through marshlands, audiences get a sense of the hardship the Red Army soldiers had to endure.

Director Li Hanzhong said he was deeply touched by the soliders' demonstration of perserverance throughout the March.

"After reading the archives and doing some research on the Long March, our creation team was really amazed by how the Red Army soldiers achieved this, which really is seemingly an impossible task. And we feel obliged to tell their stories to a wider audience and inherit the Long March legacy. In a way, life itself is also a long march. Everyone must follow their own road through dark times to brighter tomorrows," Li said.

"Narrow Escape---The Long March" marks the opening of this year's Beijing Dance Festival.

Over the next two weeks, the Beijing Dance Festival will showcase more than 40 original works by artists and ensembles from China and around the world.