The Mark Morris Dance Group is back in China. The American modern dance troupe greeted their fans in the capital on Friday with their latest productuion, "Music in Motion."

The curtain opens horizontally, unveiling dancers in motion, bringing to mind strips of celluloid film as they move across the stage. Set to the music of Felix Mendelssohn, "Words" is a dance with a spirit that is uplifting and playful at the same time.

The program also includes the classic "Grand Duo," a piece created twenty years ago and set to the music of American composer Lou Harrison. But for their Asian tour, the Mark Morris Dance Group decided to add something new to the mix.

"We do a relatively new dance called 'Socrates' which is to music of Eric Satie," Mark Morris, artistic director of Mark Morris Dance Group, said. "It's a wonderful setting of philosopher Plato talking about Socrates. So it's a very beautiful, calm, somber piece about the death of Socrates."

The Mark Morris Dance Group was founded in New York City in 1980 by artistic director Mark Morris. A prolific choreographer, Morris has created nearly 150 routines for the company and 18 ballets since 1986. Through Access and Mark Morris Dance Group programming, the company also offers educational opportunities in dance and music to people of all ages and abilities at home and while on tour around the world.

"I've been out for about five weeks, traveling in Southeast Asia, ending here," Morris said. "We've been doing an enormous about of teaching, performances and sharing with local dance teachers, various communities. Several people in my company are staying in another week and traveling in various cities to visit undervisited communites, working with dancers, kids."

An audience member once said, "with modern dance, you can never guess where the dancers are moving from one second to the next. Whether it's on stage or in the community, there're clearly no bounds for the Mark Morris Dance Group."