Shanghai Dance School is a huge “music box”: to the beautiful music, over 2,000 dance students are repeating a variety of dance movements on tiptoes. Releve, Pirouette, Attitude,… As it is the final exam season, how are the students’ lives different from other majors’? Xinmin Evening News reporters spent 15 hours with some dance majors in the school and experienced youth on tiptoes.

[Source: Xinmin Evening News]

At 6am, before the sky turned white, the students were already up. With training outfits on and their long hair coiled, they rushed into the classroom to start their morning exercise routine.

To keep a slim classical ballerina shape, the weight of students, especially girls’ weight, is strictly controlled by the teacher.

Hu Haihui, a fifth-grade ballet student, ordered a serving of fried chicken at breakfast. But that was an exception, as she said she had to store energy for four classes in the morning. Despite that, she was worried of gaining weight.

At 8 o’clock when the class bell rang, the students entered the classroom on time. Different from other students at ordinary schools, they were busy preparing for practical courses. In the meantime, they had to work hard on other common and basic subjects, like Chinese, English and Maths.

For the graduating class, the priority was the graduation performance. In Room 109, reporters found six boys busy with their daily practice, their costumes hung on the balance pole. They had a meeting with some female students at 9 o’clock to rehearse the graduation performance together.

As the supervisor of the graduating ballet class, Mr. Zheng Yu is anxious about his students’ future, though he joked that he wanted them to leave school as soon as possible. The competition facing the youngsters is fierce, whether they choose to take the Gaokao (national college entrance exam) or apply to a dance group. In his eyes, the students are not hard-working enough, so he goes to every length to help them correct their dance movements even after class.

The youngsters are diligent. During the lunch break, some would give up their rest to review the morning class and warm up for the afternoon class.

Luo Jingfei is the “study overlord” of the ballet majors. The first time she participated in the Beijing International Ballet Competition, she won the gold medal. Recalling the days preparing for the competition, she confided that there was one moment she wanted to give up because of the tough training. Wearing ballet shoes every day, her heels turned bruised. Despite that, she could not show any pain when dancing on the stage. Nevertheless, she has never regretted her decision to learn dancing.

In the dance school, there are many foreign students. Tingting from Russia passed the admission exam two years ago, but she was only admitted this year because of age restrictions. She prefers the dance class at the school to after-class tutorial organizations. Here, she is surrounded by classmates who are as fond of dancing as her.

When the clock struck 9 in the evening, the students returned to the dormitory one after another. But there were still a few practicing their movements in the classroom. Though their toes hurt badly, they said they would get used to it one day. In their teens, the students are full of tenacity. Because of their love for dancing, they believe all of the hardships are worth it.