The Beijing Dance Academy (BDA, ) is a municipal public professional dance college at Haidian, Beijing. The academy is the highest institution for dance education and assessment in the People's Republic of China, conducting the nationwide teacher qualification level examinations in Chinese dance. The Beijing Dance Academy was established as the Beijing Dance School () in 1954, and turned into the Beijing Dance Academy with the approval of State Council and the sponsorship of the Ministry of Culture in 1978. In 2000, its sponsorship was transferred to the Beijing Municipal People's Government. The Academy provides BA and MA degrees and has become the only institution of higher learning for professional dance education in China. The Academy, known as "the Cradle of Dancers" () and adjacent to Zizhuyuan Park, Haidian District, has about 600 in-service faculty and staff, and 2,500 full-time students apart from over 5,000 students from the School of Continuing Education. Every year, the School of Dance Grade Education trains over 50,000 teachers of dance grade examination at home and abroad, and nearly 500,00 students take the examinations at different levels. The Academy now provides such divisions as the Department of Chinese Classical Dance, the Department of Chinese Ethnic and Folk Dance, Ballroom dance Department, Ballet Department, Musical Department, Creative School (consisting of departments of Choreography, Modern Dance, Art Design), Humanities School (consisting of departments of Dance Studies, Art Communication, General Education, and Ideological and Political Science), Education School, BDA Youth Dance Company, School of Continuing Education, School of Dance Grade Examination and Affiliated Secondary School of BDA, involving academic areas of dance performance, dance studies, choreography, dance education, art design, etc. Departments The Department of Chinese Classical Dance The Department of Chinese Ethnic and Folk Dance The Ballet Department The Department of Choreography The Department of Dance Studies The Department of Social Dance The Department of Musical Theater The Department of Art Communication The Department of Art Design The Education and Research Center for Modern Dance The Department of Liberal Arts Graduate Faculty The School of Continuing Education The School of Dance Grading Examination and Education The Affiliated Secondary School of BDA Youth Dance Company Notable alumni Xuan Lu - actress and professional ballet dancer Chi Cao - male ballet dancer; Principal Dancer, Birmingham Royal Ballet; film actor and dancer, Mao's Last Dancer (2009) Li Cunxin - male ballet dancer Liu Shishi - television actress of The Young