On 31 October 2020, jointly sponsored by the China Dancers Association, the Shanghai Theatre Academy and the Shanghai International Dance Center Development Foundation, the 2020 Dance Higher Education Discipline Construction Forum & Yangtze River Delta Dance Education Development Forum was held in Shanghai International Dance Center. The forum was divided into one main forum and seven sub-forums, bringing together experts, scholars and teacher representatives from more than 20 universities and specialized research institutions including the Chinese National Academy of Arts, the China Dancers Association, the China Education Federation of the Arts, the Shanghai Theatre Academy, the Beijing Dancing Academy, the Minzhu University of China, the Nanjing Arts University, the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, the Beijing Normal University, the Northeast Normal University, the Shandong University of Arts, the Shanghai Normal University, the Jiangnan University, the Anhui Normal University, the Anhui University of Arts, the Harbin Conservatory of Music, the Northwest Normal University, the Shenzheng University, the Jilin College of the Arts, the Zhejiang Vocational Academy of Art, the Dance School affiliated to Shanghai Theatre Academy etc.

The opening ceremony of the forum was presided over by Chen Jianian, Dean of the Dance College of Shanghai Theatre Academy. At the opening ceremony, Zhang Ping, Executive Deputy Director of the Dance Art Center of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Executive Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the “Dance” magazine, Zhang Weiling, Deputy Party Secretary and Vice President of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and Wang Yan, Chairman of the Shanghai International Dance Center Development Foundation, delivered speeches on behalf of the sponsors.

The keynote speech session of the forum was presided over by Tang Kun, Director of the Theoretical Research Department of China Dancers Association. Professor Jiang Dong and Professor Mao Hui from the Dance Institute of Chinese National Academy of Arts, Professor Wang Wei, Former Vice President of the Beijing Dancing Academy, Professor Xu Rui, Vice President of the Beijing Dancing Academy, and Zhang Ping, Executive Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the “Dance” magazine, made keynote speeches.

The round table forum was co-chaired by Zhang Lin, Secretary of the Party General Branch and Deputy Dean of the Dance College of Shanghai Theatre Academy, Zhou Bei, Deputy Dean of the Dance College of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and Xu Wei, Deputy Dean of the Dance School of the Nanjing Arts University. Experts and professors from the Minzhu University of China, the Northeast Normal University, the Nanjing Arts University, the Beijing Normal University, the Shandong University of the Arts, the Beijing Dancing Academy, the Shanghai Theatre Academy and the Music College of Shanghai Normal University shared their experiences. In the discussion session, experts and professors from the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, the Shanghai Normal University and the Zhejiang Vocational Academy of Art expressed their opinions respectively.

The sub-forums in the afternoon continued with key subject matters and collision of thoughts during the main forum, and were divided into six subject-specific sessions including Chinese classical dance, Chinese folk dance, ballet, dance choreography, international ballroom dance and dance music, which were conducted by way of case presentation and analysis, free speech and theme discussion etc. Experts, scholars and teacher representatives from all over the country shared the experience of their respective institutions and conducted in-depth discussions. The atmosphere was warm and enthusiastic in the various sessions, and the participants spoke enthusiastically.

Finally, Zhang Lin, Secretary of the Party General Branch and Deputy Dean of the Dance College of Shanghai Theatre Academy, made the concluding remarks. This forum has received close attention and enthusiastic response from the academic community and provided a high-level communication platform for researchers and front-line teaching staff of dance higher education, and will certainly play an important role in promoting the new development of Chinese dance higher education and improving the quality and level of dance discipline construction.