What do you get when you mix modern dance, ballet, tai chi, yoga, kung fu, and hip hop? A new style uniquely blending Eastern and Western movement into a yinyang of harmony. It's called Tiger Hip Hop and it's the brain child of Chinese American dancer, Philein Wang. This new style debuted in Beijing last week and now she takes it on tour across the US.

Wang's company showcased her choreography with style and multimedia. The first piece was a surreal, robotic, chaotic, postmodern commentary on society and relationships. The two dancers flowed seamlessly between erratic mechanical movements including rolling around on the floor to smooth deliberate actions strong and beautiful. There is a struggle for power and a relationship between the dancers who were both needy and independent as they helped and hindered each other at different points in the piece. The music was something like a video game theme played at a European disco tech.

The evening was considered a multi-media event and though dance was the main medium, Ms Wang displayed her talent is poetry and song as well. One dance was prefaced with a poem about lost love and mourning. The dance that followed was a touching story about finding and losing love. the emotion of the piece was expressed through color, light, movement, music, and poetry.

The full company performed a piece entitled "Asia" in a classical ballet style. It was mixed with Chinese Tai Chi used to display tension and release.

In the second half of the evening, Wang showed a video of her new style, Tiger Hip Hop which was reminiscent of a infomercial for Tai Bo. Honestly, it made me want to jump out of my seat and purchase the DVD set, but there was no 800 number to call at the end.

After the video Wang and company presented a demo of Tiger Hip Hop and it was cool! Somewhere between a Kung Fu Broadway Musical and an impromptu street break dance competition with a splash of ballet and yoga tossed in for fun. I really think this style can be hot--especially in the West, where Oriental themes are becoming more and more en vogue.

Finally, the evening was concluded with a heartrending video about "Children of No Nation" meaning those kids who live in a country different from their homeland and can't feel fully accepted in any place. Stuck in limbo, this story may be true for many of us living in Beijing either overseas Chinese or expats roaming the Earth. The sing is Wang's original work and the film is produced by German director, Jorg Ihle.

Philein studied at the Beijing Ballet Academy, UCLA's World Arts and Cultures. She trained extensively with Beijing Wushu Team former champions, who created the style seen in Jet Li's movies and in the Oscar-winning movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Philein received scholarships to: the American Dance Festival, Lewitzky Workshop and Trisha Brown. She was a soloist with many U.S.troupes including: Janice Garrett, Ron Brown, Winifred R. Harris and Liss Fain, as well as Taiwan's world-renowned Cloudgate Dance Theater.

Since 2005, she has taken her dance and music on live tours to: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Arizona, New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Dalian, China. Currently, Philein divides her time between the U.S. and Asia. For a quarter of every year, she remains a choreographer/member of Cloudgate Dance Theater. This year she will be teaching workshop intensives for: Laney College, Virginia Commonwealth University, LDTX (Beijing Modern Dance), Beijing Private Dance Academy and Guang Dong Modern Dance.

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