Young Dancer’s Beauty and Toughness

The evening of December 6， 2009 saw Liu Yan danced again on the stage. Dancing in the wheelchair， she was a breathtaking part of this grand show at Poly Theater in Beijing， a joint presentation staged by Beijing Dance Academy and Middlesex University of Britain. The event attracted big-name dancers and experts from two countries. Liu Yan’s appearance at this show was a great success since her accident in July， 2008.

Liu Yan suffered an accident in a rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in late July， 2008 while dancing solo on a three-meter tall platform. A one-second-too-soon mistake by the platform controller caused her to lose her balance. She fell from the platform. After a six-hour surgery， she survived but lost the feel in her lower body permanently. The picture in which she raised her arm and showed the V sign three days after the accident instantly made her a national hero.

She has done more than just survival. She has flourished beautifully. She later commented on her accident by saying she did not regret falling for the Olympics. She says， “Standing is a way of life and sitting in a wheelchair is also a way of life. I will continue to live beautifully.” She embodies the Olympic motto and incarnates the popular saying that when the going gets tough， the tough get going.

Her rehabilitation went well. On August 20， 2009， she danced in the wheelchair at a fundraising show for the typhoon that had hit Taiwan Province. In 2009 she won many awards for her fighting spirit and for her tenacity for seeking a beautiful way of life.

Liu Yan’s fighting spirit could be seen even in her childhood years. She was born in Hohhot， the capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， in 1982. As her father is a government official and her mother a doctor， her aptitude for art in her early years seemingly came out of nowhere. She began to take a great interest in dance while taking violin lessons. Knowing nothing about an art career， her parents however knew that dancing is full of physical hardships and cruelty. They tried to talk Liu Yan out of it， but their baby girl talked them around. Her talent showed immediately. Her coach thought she has a perfect body for dancing and her affinity with music is unusual. After a few years training， she grew. Her coach suggested she try Beijing Dance Academy.

In 1993， the 11-year-old Liu Yan was enrolled by the prestigious academy without much ado. The examiners from the academy agreed unanimously that she was a talent. Later she proved herself by coming out first in a national dance competition. Jurors at the competition commented that Liu Yan danced as if she was acting in a movie.

Liu Yan graduated in 2003 and joined Youth Dance Troupe. In 2004， she won the performance gold at the sixth national dance contest. In 2005， she won the performance gold at the 5th Lotus Cup Dance Contest. In 2007， she won the performance gold at the first Asia Art Festival and the performance gold at the 12th national art festival. Experts and audiences agreed that she was the best and most beautiful dancer in the field of Chinese classic dance.

That was how she was chosen to dance solo for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.□