Plateau taps its way onto the stage

To keep the sound of that vocabulary alive, the team also experimented with live stage sound, using specially designed tap shoes, so that audiences could hear the dancers' footwork more clearly and directly. The aim was to keep the creation recognizably Tibetan even as it moved to a more contemporary theatrical form, Wei adds.

The story spans two generations. It follows an aid doctor, his daughter and a Tibetan family whose lives remain intertwined across time through sacrifice, memory and inheritance. According to Liu Shizhong, deputy head of the publicity authorities of Xizang, the work seeks to tell a Chinese story of unity, dedication and inheritance through dance.