Five in one

If two is company and three a crowd, then ask 28-year-old Grabar Vladimir. The Russian is project manager with Red Dolphin, a China-Russia business consultancy firm; freelances for Kazakh and Russian news channels as a cameraman; teaches house dancing, a freestyle street dance, at his Pure Soul Studio in Huagong; teaches Zumba at Smile Gym, where he is a fitness instructor; and teaches hip-hop to kids at the Diplomatic Residence Compound in Liangmaqiao.

The resident of Irkutsk in Siberia arrived in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, in 2011, after graduating in commerce, to complete his economics and trade and translation (in Russian and Chinese) course. Within a week, he joined a dance center to pick up Chinese dance moves and also learn the Chinese language. He had learned street dance, which includes hip-hop and house dance, in high school. By 2012, he was teaching street dance in Shenyang.

He moved to Beijing in 2016, to work for Pacific Express International Co, facilitating trade between China and Russia. He helped sell Russian ice cream in China for two years, while teaching street dance and learning Zumba.

In 2019, he joined Red Dolphin as a project manager. The firm facilitates the sale of Russian products in China, provides visa consultancy and helps with translation work for deals, apart from accompanying potential businessmen to exhibitions as guides.

Before arriving in China, Vladimir had learned video recording from his friends in Russia who made wedding videos and also learned photography from an online portal. He'd shoot promotional videos for wannabe models sometimes and when a friend, a reporter with a Kazakh television channel, asked him to fill in for him during the novel coronavirus epidemic this year, Vladimir began making news clips for the Kazakh television channel and then for a Russian television channel.

Vladimir goes to the Red Dolphin office around 9:30 am on Monday. After 7 pm he teaches Zumba to around 20 students at Smile Gym.

On Tuesday, he teaches Zumba before work and practices with his team afterward. On Wednesdays he works and then teaches Zumba for an hour. On Thursdays he teaches hip-hop to kids after work. On Fridays, it is Zumba followed by office. On Saturdays, he trains in the morning, teaches hip-hop in the afternoon and Zumba in the evening. On Sundays, he teaches house dance in the afternoon.

He also takes time out for his freelance work, making 15 to 17 videos every month for the TV channels.

He likes photography and dancing the most. "If I enter a dance contest and lose, I draw solace by recording the others' performances."

Experts have wondered if the gig economy can address unemployment problems, but some things transcend money. What Zhang earns by singing in Sanlitun isn't big. People pay what they like. So how about singing for a live band? "My guitar can't connect to an amplifier," she says. "I'll just play and let it go."

Yang and Yi have not given much time to EchoKid in recent years, but they are happy being the first to make handmade book covers.

Vladimir says the trade work "is not very interesting". He derives energy and happiness from dance and photography and is hopeful of "making some good money" too.

Contact the writer at tareq@chinadaily.com.cn