The experience of working with dramatic actors must have struck a chord of inspiration within the dance choreographer.

For Wang, the bold project will also mark the 10th anniversary of her company-the Beijing Dance Theater.

"We wanted to do something different," she explains, her voice low and husky. "For the company, it was time to try something new. We wanted to combine contemporary dance with many other art forms, like musicals and opera."

She continues, "The line between different art forms is quite blurred these days and audiences are open to them."

Wang first encountered A Leaf in the Storm-which was published in 1941, and is about the lives of several characters in Beijing during the Japanese invasion-about ten years ago.

What drove her to adapt the novel into a piece of contemporary dance were the vivid characters like Yao Boya, a wealthy, married man who is facing a crisis in his relationship with a woman named Danni.