"I was like, honestly, shocked. That is so different from what we do," Xanthe told Xinhua after the performance, recalling the very moment when she embarked on her learning of martial arts.

"We had five Zoom lessons with Hong Kong Dance Company, while the first two were definitely very challenging," she said. Having been practicing contemporary dance for about 12 years, Xanthe described the Chinese martial arts as "a new language to our bodies."

She took the precision of punching as an example. "Your energy is not expended until that last second when you're actually hitting the target. That's very challenging," Xanthe said, adding that it took her two to three weeks to digest and get comfortable with the body movements.