As the girls work to stand and jump on their toes, which is the basic skill of a ballerina, all find themselves crying from the pain, and all suffered bleeding feet

While studying ballet at the Shanghai Dance School, 17-year-old Hua Xia learned being a ballerina required more than wearing beautiful skirts and dancing gracefully on stage.

After studying professional ballet for six years at the school, this charming and beautiful girl was left with thick calluses on her toes and serious skeletal damage in her feet.

"Sometimes, I think of myself as an athlete," said Hua. "Due to over-training, many girls often fell sick."

Tough Test

Of the 160 ballet students in the school, most are young girls, and they are the group most admired by others.

All ballet students must pass the school's strict entrance exam. First, they must meet physical specification, their height from neck to bottom must be at least 10 centimeters longer than from bottom to feet. Second, they are required to have a small, pretty face, which suits the stage. Finally, ballet demands strong muscles. To keep a nice, healthy figure is most important for these young girls. Most students learn to bind plastic cloth around the body, especially in areas that easily retain fat.

"The aim is to keep fit," said Wang Sijie, another 16-year-old student. "After training, the teacher will examine the cloth to see how much sweat you have."

But dressing in plastic is not a comfortable thing. "I feel hot and itchy, sometimes my skin develops red spots," Wang said. "But to keep a nice figure, we will try anything."

The ideal size for a ballerina is 40 kilograms and over 1.66 meters in height.

The 1.58-metre-high Hua Xia who is now only 43 kilograms said she used to be very fat - too fat to be a ballerina.

Hua didn't eat anything except vegetables and fruit everyday for a week and did more training. "I lost 3.5 kilograms in a week," she exclaimed.

She also succeeded in losing 6.5 kilograms one summer holiday by dieting.

"At that time, after having only one bite of food, I would stand on the scale to have a look at my weight," she said.

To these girls, sweet snacks and food high in fat and calories are off limits.

"I really wish I could eat as much as I like," the two girls said.

Brutal Art

Wang concluded her life of ballet is "boring and hard", though she said she likes ballet and would continue studying. The energy consumption of a ballet student is equal to that of a volleyball player, according to Ju Tao, a teacher from the school.

During the seven years of study, only senior students have a chance to practice choreographed dances.

In the first three or four years, ballet means repeating several basic skills day after day. "Such basic training aims to develop your muscles and can't be stopped," said Cai Lijun, a professional teacher at the school.

It's not an easy thing for a person to stand on their toes and dance like a butterfly.

As the girls work to stand and jump on their toes, which is the basic skill of a ballerina, all find themselves crying from the pain, and all suffered bleeding feet.

The filler in ballet shoes, which is made of cloth and glue, is harder than one can imagine.

"I can say learning to stand on toes is 100 times more difficult for female students," said Ju. "Ballet is a brutal art."

To spice up the boring training life, some naughty boy students, according to Ju, have become addicted to computer games. To play in the Internet cafe, they even climbed over the wall to escape the school, until teachers went to bring them back.

"In the world of art, they are ballet people swimming in swan lake. But in daily life, they are still young people who like pop music, film stars and electronic games like any other children their age," Ju said.

Few Stars

But parents never let their children take a break. After all, the 10,000 yuan ($1,210) tuition for a term is not a small investment. They are eager to see their children develop into stars.

To help children who have difficulties doing the splits, some parents even force their children practice splits on the back of sofas at home.

Ju said when Tan Yuanyuan - a ballet star - studied at the school, her parents even beat her if she didn't practice hard.

"Does it sound brutal? But someone who has fallen in love with the ballet will endure such things," Ju said.

But the cruel reality is that not everyone can become a ballet star.

"Our school only produces one big star like Tan Yuanyuan or Yang Xinhua every two to three years," Hua said.

Less talented students become teachers in part-time dance groups or schools, some even give up dancing forever.

At present, there are only 200 to 300 ballet performers working in professional troupes. "The number is very small for such a big country," Cai said.

This spring, only about 300 children applied to the school, while in the past applicants usually numbered over 1,000.

In the earlier 1990s, when Cai was a ballerina, most audiences didn't understand the dance at all. "They didn't know when to applaud or when to keep silent. It was embarrassing at times," Cai said.

Now more and more people have become aware of this Western art, but the new problem is that most people can't afford the expensive tickets.

(Shanghai Star June 06, 2002)