Chen still dancing to the beat in a woman’s world
Print Edition
SQUARE dance is not just for women. Chen Shaomin, a 60-year-old man joins in the dancing every day at a small square at the crossing of Yungu Road and Shuangdan Road in Jiading District. Dancing to the beat, with his standard posture and flexible body, his performance always attracts an admiring audience.
Chen has been the leading dancer on the square for more than two years and his fellow dancers call him the “Square Dance King.” He is especially welcomed by the female dancers, since there are only a few good male dancers that can match them.
“He can dance for four hours without repeating actions,” one female dancer surnamed Zhou said. If there are new dances, Chen will be the first to learn and then teach the others.
Recently, Chen taught his fellow dancers the street dance in the popular musical video “Little Apple,” which went viral online in China. He would even be asked how to act in female dances such as the fan dance, which highlights women’s softness and the body’s curves. “He can always grasp the essence of dances,” his fellow dancers say.
Many people would think Chen is a professional dancer but he was a farmer before he moved to Jiading from Heilongjiang Province in northeast China. In 2009, he and his wife followed their son and came to settle down in Jiading.
Chen suffered a heart attack two years ago and doctors installed heart stents inside his chest. He was advised to do more exercise, and he started to think about what types of exercises would suit him best. Finally he chose the dance and his son bought him an mp5 player. His son also downloaded many square dance videos to the player. From that time on, Chen started to dance. When he came across some with difficult actions, he would keep on trying. “I will never give up if I cannot do it well,” Chen said.
With this persistence, Chen gradually became a good dancer.
His good example also affected other patients, including a woman who had just recovered from breast cancer. The elderly woman finally regained her interest in life through dancing.
Because of his good dancing skills, Chen was invited to teach dance at the Guyiyuan Community of Nanxiang Town.
In recent years, square dances have been controversial because some people get annoyed by the noise, but Chen is of the view that all disputes can be solved with mutual respect and compromise.
Chen once had the experience of being complained about by others though the reasons were beyond his comprehension. However, Chen moved to another site to avoid disputes. “Dancing is only for fun and why should we make others unhappy?” he said.
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