Ｙｉｎ Ｓｈｕｏ：Ｔｈｅ Ｓｋｙ Ｄａｎｃｅｒ

The 21-year-old Yin Shuo was the solo dancer floating in the air at the Bird’s Nest on the night of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. She was enacting Asparas， the mythical Buddhist goddess mostly seen in frescos in Dunhuang grottos. Behind the success of the brief solo were her three-month-long rehearsal and her lifelong dedication to dance.

Around 2 pm on the afternoon of August 8th， Yin Shuo arrived at the Bird’s Nest and began to prepare for her solo. The flying Asparas would wear glittering headgear， painted patterns on her arms and feet， and a complicated costume. The dressing took about 3.5 hours to complete and eight costume assistants worked for her that afternoon. She also warmed up by floating above the floor of the capacious basement at the Bird’s Nest. After the makeup， she took photographs with dressers， other flying fairies and assistants.

The directors wanted her to come into sight like a Buddha， highlighting the quietude， grace， and elegance of an oriental woman radiating a light of Buddhism. Although she danced seemingly with ease， but it would be difficult to imagine how she could gracefully dance with the 5-kilo headgear and the 20-meter-long green silk belt. The silk belt can easily get out of control if wind blows unexpectedly. She had practiced every day and practiced in winds. In order to present the charm of the flying lady， she also studied the flying Asparas in the copies of grotto frescos. Her solo at the opening ceremony radiated a charm as the audience held breath.

Yin Shuo comes from a family of dancers. Her parents used to be professional dancers. They dancing careers each lasted more than 20 years. Her father now works as a choreographer at Zhejiang Song and Dance Troupe and her mother vice president of Zhejiang Dancers Association. And her uncle and her cousin are also dancers. Yin Shuo was born in Wenzhou and grew up in Hangzhou. She entered the Zhejiang Performing Arts Academy at the age of 11. After six years’ training， she entered Beijing Dancing Academy at 17 and majored in classic dancing. She won a silver prize at a national dancing competition. Nowadays the 21-year-old Yin Shuo is a star dancer at the Beijing-based Oriental Song and Dance Troupe.

Yin Shuo has inherited passion and dedication from her parents. A dancer must train like an athlete every day for a very long time before one can excel. The turning point in her career came at a prize-winning competition. The memories of the two-month-long preparations for the competition are still vivid. A typical day started at the rehearsal hall at six thirty in the morning and ended at the rehearsal hall at 11 at night. She changed the wet rehearsal dress three or four times a day. She was full of injuries. She compares dancing with competing at Olympic Games. “Your defects show if your training is not perfect and your excellence shows if your training is perfect.”Her parents treated her dancing career very seriously. They set very strict rules and asked her to abide by these rules very strictly. They are satisfied with the achievement of their daughter.

Since the opening ceremony， Yin Shuo has been busy. She went to Shenzhen for rehearsals and performances of a dance drama. After that， she came back to Ningbo and starred in a dance drama. During the rehearsals， she managed to find time for in shows in Hangzhou. She repeated her flying lady’s stunt at a garden show one evening in Hangzhou.

She says in an interview: “The Olympic Games gave me an opportunity to present the dancing art and myself. For me， the solo show was a milestone. I will make double efforts and raise the bar for my future endeavors.” As a master dancer， she needs to shift her professional attention to the soul and heart of the characters she illustrates. She will stress the quality and content of her dancing in an effort to depict the soul of her characters. □