Falling in Love with Ballet 丨恋上芭蕾, 她们是永不凋谢的玫瑰
By Ma Jian
Standing in front of the ballet training room of Cultural Activity Center of Jinshui District, through the slit of the door, you can see a cluster of girls with beautiful figures, so where is the so called “middle-aged ballet team”.
在金水区群众文化活动中心的舞蹈练功房门前，透过狭窄的门缝，看到的是一群身材姣好的女孩在练舞，哪有所谓的“中老年芭蕾舞团”?
The reporter has always believed that songs like “Little Apple”, “The Most Dazzling Ethnic Style”and so on are their favorites, while the ballet is for people with professional training. How could the aged perform ballet with high strength, high difficulty and high demand.
However, these aunts and grandmas completely changed the reporters’ way of thinking.
记者一直认为，“小苹果”、“最炫民族风”才是她们的最爱，而芭蕾是科班出身的专业舞蹈演员才能跳的，高强度、高难度、高要求，哪能是这么大年龄的人跳的?
然而，这些大妈奶奶们完全改变了记者的思维方式。
Cultural Activity Center of Jinshui District was founded in March 2017. Initially there were a total of 18 members who love dance but without any ballet basis. In that group, the average age of them was 55 years old and the maximum age was 62. However, it was the only middle-aged ballet of Zhengzhou and Henan Provinc.
金水区文化馆芭蕾舞团成立于2017年3月，最初共有18名团员，全部是喜欢舞蹈却没有任何芭蕾舞基础的女士，平均年龄55岁，最大的年龄62岁，这是郑州市以及河南省惟一的一支中老年芭蕾舞团。
Ballet generally needs beginning with Tong Zi Gong(Kids Kung Fu).At first, the dance teacher was not sure whether the old could learn how to perform ballet. However, these elderly people have gone through the mill. From the beginning when they can only training for 10 minutes to later that they are able to train for an hour or two, everyone has made a great effort.
芭蕾舞一般需要童子功，最初，舞蹈老师也没有多大把握，抱着“能立起来几个是几个”的心态。不过，这些老人都经受住了磨炼，从刚开始立起来训练10分钟一直到后来能训练一两个小时，循序渐进，一年内从组团到立起脚尖，再到登台演出，每个人都作出了极大的努力。
Chen Li of 58 years old recalls the experience when she joined the ballet team, she still feels that it was destiny that she met ballet. At that time, she didn’t plan to sign up and just accompanied with another partner, but finally she was honored to be admitted . Now with a better stature, she is appraised by people around her that she looks like 10 years younger than before.
58岁的陈丽回忆当年加入芭蕾舞团时的事，仍然感觉这是一次和芭蕾舞的缘分，当时她是陪另外一位伙伴来的，没想到自己也报了名，而且很荣幸地被录取了。现在身材更好，身体也更健康了，身边的人都说她年轻了10多岁。
As the team leader, Du Yuling has also been in her 60. When she was a child she was keen on ballet. In the era when model operas were popular, the ballet dance in the model operas like “White-Haired Girl”,“Red Detachment of Women” made the girls admire dancers greatly.
She had tried to imitate the players at home, but she did not learn ballet because of limitations. Unexpectedly, she has got a chance after retirement. "I will insist on participating in every rehearsal, I feel very happy that I can perform ballet at this age!"
团长杜幼玲也已经60岁，她从小喜欢芭蕾，在那个样板戏流行的年代，《白毛女》《红色娘子军》里的芭蕾舞蹈让女孩子们憧憬不已。
她也曾在家里尝试踮着脚尖模仿，但由于条件限制并没有去学，没想到退休后有了机会。“我会坚持参加每一次的排练，在这个年龄能跳起芭蕾，我感觉自己很幸福!”
From 18 to 24,the number of team members has grown gradually. In 2017,they participated in the dance competition of middle-aged and elderly and get the first prize. They are creating beautiful miracles for her own.
这支业余的芭蕾舞团已由最初的18人发展到了24人，她们在2017年参加河南省中老年舞蹈大赛获得一等奖，她们正在创造属于自己的美丽奇迹。
