Lu Xiaoke, Class 7, Senior 2, Shenzhen Foreign Languages School Instructed by Tang Hong

Dotted with sequins and glitters, the royal blue dance dress appeared enchanting in the casting spotlight. A girl wearing the costume was dancing on the floor, intoxicated by the music. With the changes of the drum beat, the fringes decorated with diamonds also fluttered in tune with the girl’s changing steps. Finally she struck a neat pose on the stage, unfolding her smooth muscle lines before the audience.

The girl in the picture is actually me.

Latin dance has been my company ever since childhood. However, into adolescence, conflicts brought by Latin dance overwhelmed me. The mainstream beauty featuring white and slimness stands in contrast to the beauty of what Latin dance pursues — power and wildness. As a blooming girl I also long for the beauty admired by all, but my ardent love towards Latin dance made such pursuit contradictory.

Indeed, a girl with strong muscles was surely offbeat in the crowd. Disturbed feelings caused by unkind judgment piled up and up in my heart gradually beyond my endurance. It was so much that I chose to compromise.

The match for the Chinese youth team in Vienna shifted my attention, dragging me out of anxiety. Players from different countries gathered together to fight for the honors and I was not an exception. Even though I exerted all of myself, I was astounded to find that I didn’t get the grades as expected. The reason, obviously, lay in my diet. With the reduced intake of protein and carbohydrate, I did lose a lot of weight visibly, but at the cost of a sense of power and speed in dance.

In between games, I saw a little girl from Europe who took firm and powerful steps in the competition. There was an inward intensity, and outward charm, which caught my heart. Her beauty came from nowhere else but her full muscles. The confidence in her eyes was so unstoppable that no one could disturb it. Sure enough, at the end she won the top prize. Full of veneration, I made acquaintance with her and shared my dilemma. I didn’t recall the conversation pretty much, but I do remember her confidence which inspired me and one of her thoughts: Just be yourself.

Looking back at that picture, I’m still the dancing girl but with a heart grown lighter. Something within me was dancing.