In China, dancing goes 'strictly ballroom'
- By Benjamin Morgan
Shanghai, March 13: Wearing a choke collar and revealing nearly all in her 1920s-style cabaret dress, a heavily made-up Yu Ying, eight, was all business as she strutted onto the dance floor in gold pumps and pushed her hips out suggestively.
Her equally determined partner, Wang Chongyan, nine, with gel-spiked hair and a white silk shirt open to his midriff, took a breath for poise as he took Yu in his arms before gyrating to the staccato rhythms of cha-cha-cha classic En La Havana.
The pair were the youngest among more than 200 couples taking part in an international dance sport competition held in Shanghai over the weekend, amid a rekindled passion for Western dance in China. The event was only the second major international dance competition held in Shanghai. "It began after 1978, with the opening up and reform of China, that local work units began to organise dances in halls for entertainment," said Wang Liqiang, 42, a professional dancer now running a school in central Hubei's Wuhan city.
Once branded bourgeoisie nonsense by the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, today about 30 million people in China are believed to practise ballroom dance in public parks, while schools in small cities like Luoyang in central Henan province offer courses.
Not shy about shaking their hips, Wang and Yu moved with innocent bravado through early heats in the 15-and-under Latin dance category. "We made it into the quarter-finals!" an ecstatic Wang and Yu yelled, their proud parents beaming by their side.
"I hope we can get into the semi-finals," said Yu, who began learning the sex-charged steps of Latin dance less than two years ago and wants to become a dance teacher when she grows up.
No matter how "cute," couples are all scored by the same rigorous standards, judge Sergio Roccatti of Italy said.
"It's all about timing, technique and presentation," Mr Roccatti said. In the fierce world of international dance sport, participants are on the lookout for a competitive edge. (AFP)