Mild, smooth, and graceful. This is Kunqu Opera, one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera.

Members of Beijing Kunqu Opera Study Club practice Kunqu dancing movements every Sunday.

The opera was named for its birthplace, Kunshan, near the city of Suzhou in today's Jiangsu province of east China.

Kunqu Opera dominated Chinese theatre from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Due to its influence on other Chinese theatre forms, it is known as the "teacher" or "mother" of a hundred operas, including Peking Opera.