Fifty Chinese ballet dancers and 30 local arts students put on a surprise show for early shoppers yesterday at Taipei’s bustling Ximending pedestrian area.

The members of the visiting National Ballet of China and students from Taipei National University of the Arts and National Taiwan University of the Arts converged at a plaza outside Taipei Metro’s Ximen Station at 11:11 am as many shops were opening in the hip district.

Their eight-minute-long performance ended with the dancers forming into several small circles as they sang and danced to a recording of the popular tune “Elders’ Drinking Song” by late Taiwanese aboriginal singer Difang Duana.

The dancers then dispersed as spectators applauded.

The National Ballet of China is scheduled to perform the classic ballet work “Giselle” in Miaoli County on November 13 and 14.