“The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word.” ~Mata Hari
This video has been making the rounds for several years now, and maybe you have been one of the 6 million people fortunate enough to see it already. If not, I believe it most definitely merits a visit, those 5 minutes of your precious time that I guarantee you will not regret losing.
In 1996, Ma Li, a 19 year old trained ballerina lost her right arm in a tragic car accident. For several years she fell into a state of inconsolable depression. With the loss of her arm, she had also lost her center of gravity and balance. Simple turns and spins would end in crying bouts on the floor. it seemed her singular passion in life –dancing– had been callously stripped form her.
And then, a friend asked her to coach a children’s dance class. And watching the little kids move and laugh, that spark was reignited inside Ma Li. She started practicing again. Learned to compensate balance for grace. Strength for fluidity.
In 2001, she entered and competed in China’s fifth national performing arts competition for the handicapped… and won a gold medal! 4 years later, while dancing in the paraolympics, she met Zhai Xiaowei, a 21 year old cyclist who had lost his left leg in a farming accident at the age of four. Prior to cycling he had trained in swimming, diving, long and high jump. But never dancing.
So the two began to train. And immediately it was clear… these two were destined to fail. Zhai Xiaowei had absolutely no concept of using muscle to control movement. He became easily frustrated, angry. And with her high level of training, Ma Li would quickly lose patience. Numerous times Zhai would walk out mid-rehearsal. The two broke up several times. But eventually, they came back together and started training seriously. It was not enough just to dance for the novelty of the act, but to dance at the highest level of art. To elevate their movements into message.
In 2007, they entered a modern dance competition with 7000 other contestants. The video posted above is the dance that won them the highest number of audience votes and a silver medal. Now I am no dance expert. I am not one to judge the accuracy of their lines, or the synchronicity of their movements. All I know is that there is something deeply powerful and inexplicable about this dance, an expression of spirit that transcends the simple choreography or the sweeping, melodramatic music. Something there in the shifting canvas of Ma Li’s face, the proud posture of Xiaowei.
In the words of famous ballet dancer Agnes De Mille: “To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful.”
One arm, one leg. One love.
Have a great thursday everyone!
-Aaron
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