Canberra dancers from Legs Performing Arts are soon heading to the 2024 Tianjin International Children’s Festival, the only Australian delegation to be invited this year.

According to founder-director of the company and dance school, Michelle Heine, Legs have been attending the festival in the Cathay Future Centre in Tianjin, northern China, since 2000 but have not been since 2018 because of covid closures.

When I dropped in on the Legs centre in Hume on Thursday, I found the China Team busy rehearsing, but they paused to show me their opening routine, which they danced to the Men At Work number, Down Under.

They also performed part  of their 20-minute show, which comprises jazz, lyrical, contemporary, Broadway, hip-hop, commercial and tap styles, often with cleverly-managed instant costume and shoe changes.

The powerful young dancers went through their steps  sometimes smiling and sometimes not, according to the mood of the piece — contemporary and hip-hop, Heine explained, demanded more serious facial expressions.

The Canberra team she said, was always exceedingly well-received in China because of their versatility in style, as compared to other national teams who specialised in, say, just folk dance.

The  20 dancers, aged 13-17, will  travel with one dance teacher, three parent chaperones and Heine as head of delegation.

She said they would be mixing with other children from more than 35 countries around the world and would also take the opportunity to watch and support one of the Legs graduates, Mia Cachia, who is currently performing at Universal Studios in Beijing.

The festival was founded in 1998, providing a platform for children’s art exchanges in various countries.

It is a non-competitive festival and involves a variety of arts, visual and performing. Taiwan is even entering a skipping troupe.

The participants pay for their own air fares, but once there, the festival provides free meals, lodging and ground transportation.

The 2024 Tianjin International Children’s Culture & Art Festival, July 22-26.

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