Ginny, G1, Shenzhen College of International Education

Ginny, G1, 深圳国际交流学院

Dozens of spotlights sent colorful rays to every tiny corner of the theater, causing some uncomfortable complaints from the audience at particular seats. It was an enormous theater — three floors and a huge stage with four hosts and four hostesses excitedly announcing the beginning of the annual New Year Concert at our school. Spectators applauded, and the music began.

The soft sound was our school’s orchestra. It was made up of strings, percussion, keyboard and woodwind sections like a proper orchestra. A peaceful piece of music, One Summer’s Day, let the thrilling atmosphere inside the theater become quiet. After this appetizer, all students and staff waited to see the performance of the inner school’s talent show winner — a capella. A capella is a form of singing without any instruments accompanied. Our school’s a capella singers presented their sweet sounds and solid foundations of vocal music, some of them even had a skillful imitation of a great range of instruments.

The first 15 shows were over, however, the truly rousing part hadn’t begun yet...

Have you ever seen a group of pre-college boys with pretty skirts and black silk stockings on them? And some even wear wigs with fancy colors? Have you ever seen girls in proper tuxedoes or funny clothes, dancing with those boys? They are not strange people — they are actually our school’s graduates — working so hard every day and finally received the offers to world-famous universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. In our yearly New Year Concert, this kind of dancing — Superman dance — is a tradition that includes all the graduates that year. Senior students stand on the stage together, for the last time of their senior high school life.

They dance on the stage class by class, and the themes of their shows are always related to sarcastic or humorous languages spoken by people during this year, or dance with abnormal background music, and sometimes their acting has a hint of sex. One of the classes had three boys in pink silk bathrobes and a pair of kitten ears on their heads — no doubt, they hopped with a famous song this year — “Learn Meow.” I assume, nearly for sure, that the students in normal senior high school do not dare to perform like this in public, in front of staffs, parents, and students.

Despite the fact that the Superman dance wasn’t a serious form of show, it made our New Year Concert much more colorful and it left the graduates a profound memory. A parent said, “They are not performing — they are expressing their personalities, their youth, and their passionate love for the school.”