Wang Yuanyuan

    cheekywang@hotmail.com

    ONE day last year, Hu Kuan went to her job as a cleaner in a store in Minzhi, Longhua New Area, as usual.

    But that particular day quickly became unusual — store managers were holding a small promotional activity and had invited two dancers to perform at the entrance.

    As a dance lover, Hu snuck into the crowd and excitedly watched the performers. She could not help herself and soon started dancing to the music, too.

    An unidentified member of the crowd secretly recorded Hu dancing and, impressed with her style, posted the video online, calling Hu the best-dancing cleaner in Shenzhen.

    Overnight, Hu became an Internet sensation. The video of her dancing has been viewed more than 3 million times on tudou.com, ku6.com and youku.com.

    “I did not think too much. The way the two dancers were dancing reminded me of how much I like dancing, so I could not help myself,” she said.

    Hu remains grateful to the unknown person who recorded her moves.

    “I don’t know who he was, but I really thank him for helping me fulfill my dream,” she said.

    Childhood dreams

    Hu was born in 1990 to a rural family in a small village in Hubei Province.

    “I’ve liked dancing since I was a little girl. I’ve always wanted to do something related to dancing. Taiwanese pop singer Jolin Choi is my favorite and I hope I can dance as good as her one day. It is the dream of my life,” she said.

    As a child, Hu never had the chance to receive proper dance training.

    “I had no other way to learn, so I taught myself by watching television and learning movements from the pop stars on TV,” she said. “It was very difficult to learn dancing without proper teachers and methods. So I had to try and try every day. It was very exhausting, but I never felt tired.”

    After graduating from vocational school in 2008, she came to Shenzhen to work as a factory worker, as did many young people in her hometown.

    “I came to Shenzhen because I wanted to learn dancing, but I had no money, so I had to work first to make money for my lessons,” she said.

    In her first two years here, Hu worked very hard and spent very little to save money. “Many colleagues had similar dreams as me, like saving some money to learn something they liked or thought was useful. However, the repetitive and boring work and heavy living pressures gradually made them forget about their dreams,” Hu said. “I don’t want to be like that. I’ve never given up looking for chances to do what I wanted to do in the first place.”

    In 2011, Hu happened to see an enrollment announcement from a dance school online and decided to apply.

    “The money I had saved for two years was just enough for one semester’s tuition, so I decided to spend the money on the course,” she said.

    A hard journey

    After waiting for so long for a chance to learn professional dancing, Hu decided to quit her job in order to practice full-time.

    “I tried very hard at the school and always practiced until late at night, but I was happy because that’s what I really wanted,” she said.

    But it was a difficult way to find success.

    And within just a few weeks, Hu hurt herself while training.

    “My knees were seriously injured and I had to drop out of the school,” she said. “At that time, I was really sad. Even if I fully recovered and could be able to dance again, where could I find money to pay for another course?”

    Hu returned home to recover, and resumed her old self-teaching methods.

    “I did not have any more money, but I did not want to give up on my dream. That was the only thing I could do,” she said.

    After she fully recovered, Hu came back to Shenzhen to look for chances to be a dancer. She found a job at a Jinma Clothes Shopping Center as a cleaner and started to make dancing friends on some online communities. Gradually, she got some dancing jobs at bars and skating rinks in Longhua, through help from those online friends.

    A dream comes true

    After Hu’s video was posted, Hu became a popular star at the store.

    “We did not know about her dancing talents until then. I’d never thought there would be somebody in our company who was such a professional dancer,” said Qiu Jieqing, head of the store’s clothing wholesale market.

    Hu’s achievements greatly encouraged other staff members in the company, so Qiu decided to set up a dance studio where Hu could teach employees.

    “I asked her to set up a company dance team and she took on the task,” Qiu said.

    The dance team attracted attention from local government departments.

    “It was so great. The Minzhi Subdistrict Office and the Beizhan Community Work Station even sent professional teachers to coach us sometimes. When they were not here, I was the coach for the staff,” Hu said.

    Although Hu has not received many proper lessons, she is now a professional dance teacher for her company and is often invited by subdistricts to perform at events.

    “I love dancing. No matter how difficult or hard it will be, I will never give up working to become a top dancer. I hope that one day I can dance on national TV, to let more people know about me,” she said.

    Watch Hu Kuan dance

    To view a video of Hu Kuan dancing online, or of TV news reports about her, search on popular Chinese websites such as youku.com and tudou.com for “great dancing cleaner” or her name, in Chinese. Foreigners might need help from Chinese friends to find the videos.