Young Dancer’s Beauty and Toughness.docVIP

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. Kn