Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Han Liang) news: At dusk on February 2, 2026, in the rehearsal hall of the Tacheng Cultural Center, the crisp sounds of tap dancing intertwined with the gentle jingling of silver bracelets, weaving into a rhythmic harmony. Ana, a representative inheritor of the Russian tap dance, a project recognized as part of China's national intangible cultural heritage, was guiding her trainees in refining their dance steps. This was just an ordinary moment in her daily work.

Photo taken on February 2, 2026 shows Ana (second from the right) rehearses the program for Spring Festival Gala of Tacheng Prefecture with her friends.

Photo taken on February 2, 2026 shows a friend records videos for Ana and shares them on the Internet.

Today, Ana's life is filled with intangible cultural heritage inheritance: 32 community workshops, 16 school lectures, and eight cross-ethnic exchange performances a year, along with over 200 contacts of trainees from various ethnic groups in her phone, all bearing witness to her dedication. This passion for dance is rooted in three generations of her family. As a child, she began learning the classic steps from her grandmother and mother, practicing with sandbags tied to her ankles on a frosty wooden floor. The wool-felt dance shoes her grandmother sewed remain a cherished symbol of this family legacy.

Photo taken on February 2, 2026 shows Ana practices tap dance.

Photo taken on February 2, 2026 shows Ana teaches a kid the essentials of tap dance.

In 1984, Ana switched from being an accountant to dedicating herself to the preservation and innovation of dance. She blended her grandmother's folk tap dance with her father's courtly ballroom dance. Her notebooks clearly document over 20 traditional dance steps. Through years of daily study, she came to understand that the vitality of intangible cultural heritage lies in integration. She noted, "Just like Tacheng's milk tea, which needs diverse ingredients to brew its rich flavor." She incorporated elements like the classic spins of Uygur dance and the shoulder shimmies of Kazak dance into tap steps. Her innovative move, the "squat-jump-turn," has won widespread affection across ethnic groups.

Photo taken on February 2, 2026 shows Ana performs tap dance.

Photo taken on February 6, 2026 shows Ana performs tap dance at a Spring Festival celebration event featuring intangible cultural heritage held in Tacheng City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

After retiring, Ana formed a dance troupe, and launched summer training classes, with her schedule booked solid through the end of the year. She’s currently busy compiling teaching materials and building a digital library of dance steps. "Intangible cultural heritage isn't a preserved specimen, it's a living tradition," she said. She holds that the true soil from which tap dance grows is the intertwined rhythms of all ethnic groups. As for her own pair of dance shoes, worn down and polished, polished and worn down again, they will continue to tap out the moving melody of heritage through time.

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