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Ballet On Shoulders

On February 8, 2018, Ballet On Shoulders was also performed in the Spring Festival gala party "Culture of China" in Macao by young dancers of their troupe. Experts considered this creative art as an integration of Western ballet and Chinese traditional acrobatics. It includes many difficult skills and movements such as the Arabesque and a 180-degree turning.

Wu and Wei used to be trained in a sports team when they were young. Later they went to Guangzhou and worked as professional performers in the Guangzhou Soldiers Acrobatic Troupe. Initially, Wu just attempted to perform by wearing pointe shoes, which turned out to be surprisingly successful. One day after watching her performance the head of the troupe advised Wu, "If you only dance on the ground wearing pointe shoes, you can't outperform professional ballet dancers." Hearing this, an idea suddenly dawned upon her. "Why not try dancing on others' shoulders?" she thought.

Wu began to turn her ideas into practice. They practiced days and nights. When Wu swirled around with one leg on Wei's shoulder, his shoulder would turn red, look like a brush burn and leave a swollen wound on it. Nevertheless, they never gave up.

In January 2002, the 26th International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo was held in Monaco, it was the first time that the "Eastern Swan" spread her wings in front of the international audience. Especially at the end of the performance, she remained suspended in a faultless Arabesque amid whistles of surprise, screaming and hearty rounds of applause.

Wu burst into tears, she couldn't stop crying. Memories of running to the last bus after practicing, weeping in secret under huge pressures and the pains of arduous training, all came across to her mind. "I really felt that all my pains are worth it," Wu said.

Undoubtedly, Wu made a big international success in the art circle. However, nowadays either ballet or acrobatics suffers a loss of audience in China. Responding to this question, Wu said, "Accessible and beautiful performing forms are essential, which can attract people to learn something more deeply. Just like Ballet On Shoulders, no matter royalties or populace, they can understand the beauty and aesthetic meaning in it through the astonishing skills of the performers."

This year, 38-year-old Wu is still active on stage: The Swan Lake in which she starred has been performed more than 400 times across China. O. Henry, an American novelist once said, "When one loves one's art no service seems too hard." For Wu, she is so passionate for dancing that her devotion to it never wanes.