Hong Kong – Sony Pictures Television and CCTV6’s joint-venture production company Huaso Film/TV Digital Production has concluded a deal with CCTV 12 to co-produce a third season of the hit competition format Dancing Nation. Production on the seven-episode series has begun and is slated to air in October.

Dancing Nation entertains and inspires audiences through a unique and uplifting dance competition that illustrates how hundreds of people can come together to dance for a worthy cause. The series introduces audiences to community heroes, ordinary men and women with extraordinary stories of heroism, selflessness and perseverance, who are tasked with building and leading their community teams to perform challenging dance routines. Each hero is responsible for recruiting more than a thousand dancers from across the community, including schools, factories and people off the street, to take part in the competition. If the hero can bring their town to its feet – and if the community can unite behind its hero – they have the chance to win the competition and raise 250,000 Yuan for local charities and organizations of the hero’s choosing. Last year, Dancing Nation took home the award for Best Reality Show at the 2013 Asian Television Awards.

“The third-season renewal of Dancing Nation is enormously gratifying as it speaks to the series’ continued success with viewers and critics alike, as well as its ability to stand apart as an uplifting alternative in the competition formats market,” said Dai Huang,  executive director, sales, international distribution and acting executive director, international production, Asia.