A series of ice-dancing shows created by the famous Chinese skating pair Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo will be performed in June in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Shenzhen. The show, called "Artistry on Ice," has been held annually since 2010. It aims to entertain as well as nurture the development of ice dancing at home.

"Artistry on Ice" was first performed in September 2010 with a wedding ceremony theme by ice dancers Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo.

The two are the show's major designers who also have supplied the creative ideas for the 2011 and 2012 shows. They have decided that the theme of this year's tour will be "red temptation."

At a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday, Shen Xue told reporters that she and Zhao Hongbo were studying at the Beijing Dance Academy as a new source of inspiration for the upcoming "Artistry on Ice" shows.

"I feel we've given full play to what we've learned in the "Artistry on Ice" show during the previous two years. This year's show will be a great turning point. In order to improve our understanding of art, we are continuing our studies in choreography at the Beijing Dance Academy."

Echoing her statement, Zhao Hongbo said the pair would add elements from the Chinese folk dances they have studied at the academy.

"I'm considering adding elements of our Chinese nationality throughout our ice dancing shows, like folk dances, including a Tibetan folk dance and northeast China's Yangge dances. It will need time and a process as well as an innovative design to realize our ideal."

Besides the famous Chinese ice-skating couple, Kim Yu-Na, a South Korean figure skater who was the 2010 Olympic champion in the ladies' singles event, and Evgeni Plushenko, a Russian figure skater who was a 2006 Winter Olympics gold medalist, will perform in the "Artistry on Ice" series.

Yang Dong, director of the Figure Skating Department at the Chinese Winter Sport Federation, says the series of ice dancing performances will certainly play a role in exploring ways to nurture the country's figure skating industry and find a market for it.

"Frankly speaking, at present there's a large space to improve the level of popularity of figure skating among Chinese citizens. China's breakthrough as an Olympic medalist is just a beginning. The driving force behind China's figure skating sport lies in an exploration of ways to cultivate the domestic market as well as form and perfect the entire industry chain for figure skating."

The 2012 "Artistry on Ice" show will open in Taipei on June 9th, then move to Beijing on June 12th. The spectator sport will debut in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on June 15th, and its final stop will be Shanghai in June.

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