Beijing has seen the ancient Silk Road brought back to life! Thanks to some of China's top dancers combining traditional and contemporary forms, audiences at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center enjoyed a spectacular journey through time and space.

Lights, colour, wind and sand - lots of sand! These are just some of the ingredients creating the spectacular effects of 'Silk Road', an original dance drama inspired by the famous historic route.

For the first time in 30 years, the Shaanxi Song and Dance Troupe is combining acting and dance in a show designed to appeal to both local and international audiences.

There are six main characters, including a traveler, a guide, a guard, and a messenger, and they represent the traders, pilgrims, nomads, and inhabitants of the old Silk Road.

But the dance drama doesn't have any particular plot - nor do the characters have any dialogue. Rather, 'Silk Road' adopts an abstract, spiritual approach.

The male lead is played by 24-year-old Li Xing, one of China's top dancers, who started his career at the age of nine.

"My character is a traveling monk. There are all kinds of people along the Silk Road. As a monk, he has less desires and is more pure. So he serves as the eyes and ears that unveil the original state of the Silk Road. That's the main character's role," he said.

The dancing is directed by famous Chinese choreographer Yang Wei, who explains why this production has been a challenging one.

"We covered the floor with sand, so the dancing this time is totally different. It makes the dance movements come alive more, but it presented great challenges for the dancers, because the sand became an obstacle to their jumping and rolling. But the result is quite stunning," said Yang Wei, choreographer.

Stunning indeed. But as female lead Pang Ni Na explains, the sand can end up in more places than we think.

"The sand got in our noses, mouths, eyes, and ears... Look, this is why we have taped up our ears, so that the sand doesn't get it. It's inevitable as breaths take in sand. One of our performers swallowed a lot of it," she said.

But for the audience, it's a transporting experience - one that takes us back more than 2000 years on a spiritual journey along the ancient network of land and sea routes that linked Asia with Europe and Africa for commercial and cultural exchange.

The music in this dance drama is as distinctive as its dance styles and acrobatics - from surreal and haunting to romantic and upbeat. Chinese traditional instruments, such as the Xiao and the Pipa, are used to depict the various scenes.

In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping announced China's plans to create the 21st Century Silk Road economic belt. Often referred to as 'One Belt, One Road', it is the single largest economic and development partnership in history.

But as this dance drama has shown us, over time it's the cultural exchanges that are more remembered than the economic or political ones.