( CNN ) -- Tamara Rojo is so often described as the greatest dance actress of her generation , it might possibly be true . Prima ballerina with London 's prestigious Royal Ballet for over a decade , the Spaniard 's presence on a cast list is guaranteed to fill any theater in London , New York or Paris . Her graceful adagio combinations and perfectly formed arabesques may have wowed audiences across the globe , but how would the 37-year-old fare when parachuted into a dance culture she 'd never encountered ? This was the challenge for Rojo 's `` Fusion Journey . '' Over the course of 10 days , the classically trained ballerina traveled from London to Beijing to immerse herself in the traditions of Chinese dance and create a brand-new piece inspired by this meeting of east and west . Guided on her trip by a local rising star of Chinese contemporary dance , 34-year-old choreographer Fei Bo , Rojo said the experience will change how she thinks about performance forever . In her own words , this is the story of her journey . Tamara Rojo : Ballet affects everything I do . On a physical level it impacts what I eat and drink , how much I sleep , when I go out . But it also affects how I see the world . When I read a book , watch television , go to the theater , I think to myself : `` How can I assimilate that into my art form ? How would that be translated on the stage into a ballet ? '' This is one of the reasons why the thought of traveling to Beijing was so exciting for me . Classic ballet is based on very particular notions of beauty , much of which is derived from the Greek concept of harmony : Nothing too much or too little , all in perfect proportion , everything in a good relation to everything else . See also : See Beijing 's hidden culture , before the bulldozers get there . But of course , other art forms and cultures have quite different notions of beauty . The first thing I noticed about the Chinese ballet is that it is much more influenced by philosophy than physicality -- there was a lot more emphasis on meaning . These ideas are typically expressed with little gestures of the hand or head . Such movements might not be the most beautiful to my eye , but because they have a shared cultural meaning -- a meaning that is understood by onlookers because it is part of their tradition -- it 's beautiful to them . One of the main challenges I experienced out there was trying to understand this complicated and subtle language . While I could always admire Chinese and Asian dance from a distance , I felt that I could never really understand the depth of meaning -- and everything that comes with it -- until immersing myself in the culture first hand . I discovered that Chinese ballet is a relatively young art form . It was introduced by Madam Mao during the Cultural Revolution ( 1966-76 ) and , until recently , it was used as a form of propaganda for the communist regime -- with communist heroines being saved by communist heroes and so on . But that part of history is viewed with mistrust by the younger generation , so at the moment ballet is going through a sort of reinvention . What 's really surprising is that the youth of China are now obsessed with incorporating traditions from before the revolution . Unfortunately , a lot of that has been lost , and when they ca n't find what they 're looking for , they invent it . So what they call classical Chinese dance is really only 10 or 20 years old and has bits of traditional ballet , a little bit of Kung Fu , a bit of contemporary dance , a bit of everything . After a mere two days immersed in Chinese culture , Fei Bo and I combined our influences from east and west to create something new : a fusion of dancing cultures . See also : Keeping the world 's greatest dancers on their toes . The piece was choreographed by Fei Bo . He wanted to create something about a philosopher who had a dream and when he woke up he was n't sure what reality was anymore . And then I remembered a very famous Spanish play by Pedro Calderon de la Barca called `` La Vida es Sueno '' which means `` Life is a Dream . '' And it was funny that exactly the same saying exists in Chinese , in Spanish and in English , so we thought that it was the perfect fusion , the perfect combination of cultures for the title . While the choreography was made by Fei Bo , the interpretation was made by me . Imagine a performance of Hamlet by a Chinese theater company ; the actors would interpret the text through their traditions and what they know acting is supposed to be , but those words are still , of course , intrinsically English . So , in a sense , it would n't be English and it would n't be Chinese . My performance of `` Life is a Dream '' is just the same . I was doing steps created by a Chinese contemporary choreographer and I am a classically trained European dancer , so my interpretation is where the fusion occurred . I 'm not going to pretend that in one week I understand all the depth of Chinese culture or that I can really move my hands like a traditional Chinese dancer -- that would be naÃ¯ve and arrogant of me . However , I found that the need for human beings to understand the world through art and story telling is universal ; we just have different vocabularies . I like to think that , in the future , my own performances will be enriched by new ways of communicating .
Tamara Rojo principal ballerina Royal Ballet travels to China to create dance fusion . On journey Rojo seeks to understand different cultural notions of beauty . She explains how her interpretation of communist dance creates synthesis of east and west .