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Dance queen keeps alive her addiction
By Chen Du and Chen Ye |
February 22, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SHE used to work in a store as an ordinary employee but has become a "superstar" shining on the dancing stage for more than 20 years. Zhu Yunhua, who has won the championship of international ballroom dancing five times, is a famous dancer in Jiading.
Twenty years ago, Zhu didn't think dance was something interesting to pursue when ballroom dancing first became popular in Jiading District.
But in 1989, several of her colleagues joined in ballroom dance activity and she finally decided to join them to learn. Owing to her athletic physique and diligence, Zhu gradually became one of the best dancers.
Her outstanding performances soon attracted the attention of one of her dance mates, Zhu Guanxi. Zhu Guanxi had studied ballroom dancing for a long time and found that Zhu Yunhua was talented in dancing. He offered to teach her. "Many people warmly applauded us when we were dancing together," Zhu Yunhua said.
However after two years, 60-year-old Zhu Guanxi had to say goodbye to the dance floor for his health. Although Zhu Yunhua could not find a better dance mate, her passion for dance never diminished.
In 1994, Zhu Yunhua got to know Deng Zhengrong, who was working in Jiading Central Hospital. After several dance partnerships, Zhu Yunhua realized that Deng could be a suitable dance mate. So they paired up.
"It took several hours riding a motorcycle from Jiading to downtown Shanghai to learn ballroom dancing, but we were never stopped by anything, even heavy rains. We never missed the twice-a-week classes," said Zhu.
At the end of 1994, Zhu and Deng won fourth place in a Shanghai dance competition, and then entered another competition which was the highest level in Shanghai. But other competitors were well prepared and skillful so they were eliminated in the first round, and their confidence dropped. However, they were not afraid of failure. Having learned the levels of others, they worked even harder.
In 1997, they won second place in the Shanghai International Ballroom Dancing Competition, and were invited to dance at the opening ceremony of the Eighth National Sports Meeting.
After that, Zhu and Deng won several championships like the 2001 Modern Dance Competition.
Due to increasing age, Deng had to leave the dance stage in 2005 and as it was the second time she lost her dance mate, the 50-year-old Zhu Yunhua wondered if she also should leave the stage. But she decided to go on.
"My teacher told me once I had decided to dance I would be addicted to it forever. Now I truly understand his meaning," Zhu said.
Later, Zhu met Wang Aijun who is 12 years younger than her. "Although Wang was not so good to start with, he had a passion for dance, and we looked like a pair of crazy dance performers," Zhu said.
With Zhu's guidance, Wang dramatically improved his dance skills, and in 2006 they won first prize in Shanghai's "Dancing King Cup."
In 2007, they won the third prize in the National Sport Dance Competition.
Zhu paid a visit to Blackpool, the United Kingdom in 2007 where she not only learnt high-level dancing skills in competition but also set up good relationships with other competitors.
By this time, her reputation had grown and people started looking forward to seeing Zhu create other dance miracles. So she decided to start her dance teaching career.
"After taking a dancing course in Blackpool, I found that I had the ability to bring international dance courses into China," Zhu explained on her retirement from active dance competitions.
Zhu now has an A-level dance certificate authorized by Shanghai Sports Dancing Association and has set up many teaching classes in Jiading Town and Anting Town. Under the guidance of Zhu, Dong Hongyuan and Shen Yepin, her students won second prize in Shanghai's "Dancing King Cup" Competition in 2008.
Zhu claimed she would be involved with dance forever, at least as a jury member for dancing competitions even if one day she can't dance anymore.
Twenty years ago, Zhu didn't think dance was something interesting to pursue when ballroom dancing first became popular in Jiading District.
But in 1989, several of her colleagues joined in ballroom dance activity and she finally decided to join them to learn. Owing to her athletic physique and diligence, Zhu gradually became one of the best dancers.
Her outstanding performances soon attracted the attention of one of her dance mates, Zhu Guanxi. Zhu Guanxi had studied ballroom dancing for a long time and found that Zhu Yunhua was talented in dancing. He offered to teach her. "Many people warmly applauded us when we were dancing together," Zhu Yunhua said.
However after two years, 60-year-old Zhu Guanxi had to say goodbye to the dance floor for his health. Although Zhu Yunhua could not find a better dance mate, her passion for dance never diminished.
In 1994, Zhu Yunhua got to know Deng Zhengrong, who was working in Jiading Central Hospital. After several dance partnerships, Zhu Yunhua realized that Deng could be a suitable dance mate. So they paired up.
"It took several hours riding a motorcycle from Jiading to downtown Shanghai to learn ballroom dancing, but we were never stopped by anything, even heavy rains. We never missed the twice-a-week classes," said Zhu.
At the end of 1994, Zhu and Deng won fourth place in a Shanghai dance competition, and then entered another competition which was the highest level in Shanghai. But other competitors were well prepared and skillful so they were eliminated in the first round, and their confidence dropped. However, they were not afraid of failure. Having learned the levels of others, they worked even harder.
In 1997, they won second place in the Shanghai International Ballroom Dancing Competition, and were invited to dance at the opening ceremony of the Eighth National Sports Meeting.
After that, Zhu and Deng won several championships like the 2001 Modern Dance Competition.
Due to increasing age, Deng had to leave the dance stage in 2005 and as it was the second time she lost her dance mate, the 50-year-old Zhu Yunhua wondered if she also should leave the stage. But she decided to go on.
"My teacher told me once I had decided to dance I would be addicted to it forever. Now I truly understand his meaning," Zhu said.
Later, Zhu met Wang Aijun who is 12 years younger than her. "Although Wang was not so good to start with, he had a passion for dance, and we looked like a pair of crazy dance performers," Zhu said.
With Zhu's guidance, Wang dramatically improved his dance skills, and in 2006 they won first prize in Shanghai's "Dancing King Cup."
In 2007, they won the third prize in the National Sport Dance Competition.
Zhu paid a visit to Blackpool, the United Kingdom in 2007 where she not only learnt high-level dancing skills in competition but also set up good relationships with other competitors.
By this time, her reputation had grown and people started looking forward to seeing Zhu create other dance miracles. So she decided to start her dance teaching career.
"After taking a dancing course in Blackpool, I found that I had the ability to bring international dance courses into China," Zhu explained on her retirement from active dance competitions.
Zhu now has an A-level dance certificate authorized by Shanghai Sports Dancing Association and has set up many teaching classes in Jiading Town and Anting Town. Under the guidance of Zhu, Dong Hongyuan and Shen Yepin, her students won second prize in Shanghai's "Dancing King Cup" Competition in 2008.
Zhu claimed she would be involved with dance forever, at least as a jury member for dancing competitions even if one day she can't dance anymore.
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