National Ballet of China National Ballet of China The National Ballet of China (NBC), known in China as the Central Ballet Troupe was founded on 31 December 1959. It is the mainland Chinese national ballet troupe. The ballet company works from the Tianqiao Theater, this was specifically built for NBC in 1959, and it was renovated in 2001. This theater is one of a handful of such theaters in China that specialize in ballet and opera performances. In 1954, the first ballet school in China, Beijing Dance School, was established, and in the following years ballets such as "Swan Lake" and "Romeo and Juliet"
Tropical Storm Odette (2003) Tropical Storm Odette (2003) Tropical Storm Odette was a rare off-season tropical storm that affected the Caribbean Sea in early December 2003. The fifteenth named storm of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season, Odette formed near the coast of Panama a few days after the official end of the Atlantic hurricane season, and ultimately made landfall on the Dominican Republic as a moderate tropical storm, before becoming extratropical on December 7, dissipating two days later. The storm caused heavy damage throughout the Dominican Republic from unusually heavy rainfall in December. Preparation preceding Odette's landfall resulted in only eight deaths and 14