July 14, 2009 7:30 PM
Inspiring video - Dancing beyond disability
Forwarded to me by Martha:
God truly gave mankind a unique ability to overcome.
This is powerful and inspiring.
In a Chinese modern dance competition on TV one very unique couple won one of the top prizes. The woman, in her 30's, was a dancer who had trained since she was a little girl. When she was 19, she lost her left arm in a car accident. Her boyfriend left her, and she fell into a state of depression for a few years.
Someone then asked her to coach a children's dancing group. From that point on, she realized that she could not forget dancing. She still loved to dance and wanted to dance again. So, she started to do some of her old routines, but, having lost her arm, she had also lost her balance. It took a while before she could even make simple turns and spins without falling.Then she heard of a man in his 20s who had lost a leg in an accident with a tractor when he was a young boy. He had also fallen into the usual denial, depression and anger type of emotional roller coaster. But, she was determined to find him and persuade him to dance with her.
He had never danced, and to dance with one leg....are you joking with me??? "No way!"
But, she didn't give up, and he reluctantly agreed thinking, "I have nothing else to do anyway." She started to teach him dancing. The two broke up a few times because he had no concept of using muscle, how to control his body, and knew none of the basic things about dancing. When she became frustrated and lost patience with him, he would walk out.Eventually, they came back together and started training seriously. They hired a choreographer to design routines for them. She would fly high (held by him) with both arms (a sleeve for an arm) flying in the air. He could bend horizontally supported by
one leg with her leaning on him, etc. In the competition, as you will see, they dance beautifully and they legitimately won the competition.
There is also a three-part interview of Ma Li and Zhai Xiaowei with video footage of their bios and some translation in the comment section:
Posted in Disabilities, Inspiration | Permalink
Comments
I love stories like this. Thanks, Barbara. I've passed this on to family and friends.
Posted by: Sue from Buffalo | July 14, 2009 9:45 PM
