Like flowers in full bloom, girls from ages 14 to 17 are at their best. At the Guangzhou Grand World Scenic Park Dance School (GGWSPDS), there are 24 such girls who indulge themselves in dance, a form of art that means elegance to the audience but cruelty to the performers.

In July 1996, Zhang Jun, one of the founders of the China Oriental Song & Dance Ensemble and an eminent expert in Indian dance, and Liang Langxing, vice-headmaster of the Guangdong Dance School, spent ten days enrolling students aged 12 to 15 in the cities of Changsha, Wuhan, and Pingdingshan. They then established the GGWSPDS, which offers 3-year dance programs, under the Guangdong Dance School on September 2nd the same year.

"If a dancer doesn't train for a single day, the teachers know, and if a dancer doesn't train for more than three days, the audience knows." Dancing is a painstaking profession. For a beautiful moment that pleases the audience, dancers need to pay so much. One tumble may follow another, but they still struggle to stand up for more training.

The dance school has many strict rules that students have to abide by: no smoking, no drinking, no falling in love, no leading outsiders into the dormitory, and no mutual visits between male and female students.

Students are permitted to go outside the school only once every two weeks, but they must go out in groups of three to five classmates and return no later than 5:00 p.m. Students are only allowed to phone their families on Sundays. Sometimes in the dormitories students may joke with one another about love affairs, but they don't dare have any. This is because the school watches students closely, and any violation against the rules will lead to the deduction of three to five points from their final scores.

Compared with other girls of their age, the girls in the dance school live different lives. They wear six uniforms, two for training and four for daily life. On average, a student spends 500 to 700 yuan per month, of which 200 is spent on food. They need to eat nutritious food, and in order not to gain weight, they must control their appetites. The school records the weight of every student at regular intervals.

69-year-old Zhang Jun is the school's headmaster, art director, and troupe director. Seven years ago, she suffered from breast cancer, but did not give up. Every day, she went to work as usual. On August 22, 1996, she had a mastectomy. She considers that day a sort of her rebirth. On that day every year, her relatives and friends in Beijing express their birthday congratulations to her. To this day, she has still kept this secret from all of her students. "I haven't told them about this," Zhang says, "because I don't want to distract them from learning dance and cast a shadow in their hearts."

In the eyes of her students, Zhang is "more than a teacher, she is an amiable, elder family member." They like to talk with her, and Zhang treats the students like her own children. "Parents like to send their children to our school because I am here," Zhang says. "So, I feel responsible for them and teach them how to create their lives with their own hands."

Under the guidance of their teachers at the school, children who used to be unsophisticated have gradually fallen in love with dance and the arts. They may never separate themselves from the arts in their whole lives. They belong to a generation who will live in happiness.

(Shanghai Star   September 28, 2003)