A member of New Youth, a private art troupe in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, teaches how to dance. [Photo/WeChat account: xqngwt]

New Youth, a private art troupe in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, has shown how a private art troupe can prosper in the face of challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The unexpected epidemic led to a halt in many industries, including the performing arts industry, which was expected to expand at a steady pace in the coming years.

According to statistics released by the Hangzhou Association of Performing Arts, by the end of May, the number of performances in Hangzhou had decreased by 2,603 from the same period of last year, decreasing 537 million yuan ($76.47 million) in trade volume.

Before May, theaters, KTVs, cinemas and other entertainment venues were at a near total standstill, and New Youth was no exception.

"Our business volume during the Spring Festival holiday used to account for more than 50 percent of the whole year, but we didn't receive a single order during this year's holiday," said Zeng Fan, deputy director of New Youth.

"During that time, I would receive up to five calls a day informing me that performances had been cancelled," he recalled, adding that it was a near fatal blow to them.

With no business orders, the troupe began to think about how to survive. Zhang Qian, chairman of the troupe, decided to make use of the extra time to offer training to performers.

He explained that the company had always planned to provide training for performers, but they had been too busy with tours in the past.

Zhang invited a number of well-known performers to carry out training sessions, saying that it would help them gain more opportunities after the pandemic subsides.

As the troupe gradually returned to normalcy in May, they decided to set their sights on the enormous market in Chinese rural areas.

"We found out that there is a lack of cultural performances in rural areas." Zhang said.

This decision proved to be a good one. Over the past three months, the troupe has held more than 300 activities training local residents in rural areas.

Many villages and towns paid for the training courses from the art troupe. As of now, they have received orders totaling more than 1,000 hours of class time.