A SHENZHEN dancer was recently recruited by a U.S. ballet troupe in Washington D.C., becoming the first Shenzhener in a major Western dance troupe, Thursday’s Shenzhen Special Zone Daily said in a report.
Huang Rui, 20, is now a member of the Washington Ballet, one of the premier ballet companies in the United States.
She went to the United States in June 2006 to pursue her dream of becoming a dancer, after winning a scholarship from a dance school in Washington D.C.
Huang’s parents divorced when she was only 5, and she has not heard of her father since. Her mother, who was always sick, died in 2003 when Huang was 16. The girl since lived with public donations while the Shenzhen Arts Scholl at which she has been practicing ballet exempted her from tuition fees.
Huang’s dance teacher at Shenzhen Arts School saw great potential in the girl, and trained her to become a professional ballerina.
“I know she will become a great dancer. She is always dancing with her heart and passion,” said Xu Jian, Huang’s teacher.
Xu said Huang saved all her pocket money to buy dancing shoes. “She did everything for her ballet dream,” Xu told the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.
Huang practiced dancing everyday from1995 to 2003. “She never seemed tired of dancing,” the teacher said.
Her commitment to ballet was rewarded when she won third prize at an Asia-Pacific ballet competition in Japan in 2003. She became the first Chinese dancer to win a bronze medal at the sixth international ballet competition in New York City in 2005.
Huang worked even harder in Washington, dancing most of the time. “I know it was a very precious chance for me to study ballet in the United States, so I had to make most use of it,” Huang said.
She has performed in several ballets, such as “The Nutcracker,” the most popular ballet in the United States, and “Carmina Burnana.” Her performance attracted the attention of the Washington Ballet, which signed Huang recently. (Wei Jie)