The Beijing Dance Festival has just wrapped up yesterday. Founder Willy Tsao will be joining us later on in the hour to talk about  the festival. And one of the pieces highlighted at the this year's festival is a modern dance by Beijing Dance LDTX. It  commemorates the 80th anniversary of the long march, and premiered at Beijing's Tianqiao Performing Arts Center on Wednesday.  Instead of telling a specific story about the epic march, veteran choreographer Ma Bo takes us on a spiritual journey of the  soldiers.

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.

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.

"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.