XI ZHAO received her MFA in Performance and Choreography from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and her MA in Dance Choreography at the School of Dance, Minzu University of China. She is the founder and artistic director of The NEW-Beijing New Dance Festival. The festival has successfully invited over 100 international artists from more than 25 countries to perform and to teach in Beijing, introducing many contemporary dance artists and companies from central and Eastern Europe to China for the first time. It has hosted over 10,000 participants and spectators from all over China. Zhao was a tenured lecturer at the School of Dance, Minzu University of China for 12 years. In view of Ms. Zhao's contributions to the contemporary dance scene in China, she was commissioned by China's Ministry of Culture as the dance expert assisting the visit of the CEEC (Central and Eastern European Countries) Dance Festivals and Choreographers delegation in 2014. In 2016 she was invited to be a keynote speaker at the Chinese Government's "16+1" initiative, the China-CEEC Arts Cooperation Forum. She has given keynotes and panel discussions about Chinese contemporary dance development at many international dance festivals. In 2019 she was a Visiting Guest Artist in the Dance Department at Webster University in St. Louis where she currently serves as the Visiting Assistant Professor and the Artistic Director of Webster University Dance Ensemble. Ms. Zhao has actively engaged in the Chinese community through her teaching and service and has worked as the Artistic Director for the annual St. Louis Lunar New Year Galas. She has worked as an independent choreographer worldwide and is a member of China Dancers Association, the leading association of dance professionals in China. In April, 2019 Ms. Zhao received the "Award MENADA for Extraordinary Achievement in the Field of Contemporary Dance" from the Dance Fest Skopje in North Macedonia.