China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe Prepares For November Australia Tour#
The Sydney Morning Herald today profiles Huang Yangguang, a dancer with the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe. After losing both of his arms after an electical accident at age five, the 32-year-old Huang, a native of China's southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, turned to dancing after mastering writing and painting with his feet. Now a lead dancer, Huang will travel to Australia next month with the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe for a five-city tour that will take the troupe from coast to coast.
From the SMH's profile of Huang:
The 32-year-old one-time farmer, now a lead dancer for the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe, recounts through an interpreter how his teacher excused him from taking notes while at primary school. It made him even more determined and by the age of eight, he’d mastered writing and painting with his feet, a task that "wasn’t easy," he says.
Next month, Mr Huang will travel to Australia after fulfilling yet another seemingly impossible goal: to become a professional dancer.
Mr Huang carried his childhood determination into adulthood, continuing his quest for independence by entering a competition held by the disabled troupe nine years ago. The spirited young man says at the time, he really had no inkling if he actually could dance but was encouraged by a local teacher to give it a go. He was accepted into the troupe, which now provides him with a home at its Beijing training centre, rehabilitation, education and most importantly, a career.
Today, Mr Huang feels “ very, very happy” when dancing and has joined the troupe on several international tours, performing the self-choreographed piece The Happy Life in Farmland. He’s happily left behind the fruit picking, tree grafting and watering of his old life.
"From rural beginnings, I now live in a big city as a professional dancer and am completely independent,'' he says.
The China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe's Australian tour schedule:
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Melbourne#
: Palais Theatre, St Kilda, November 13 and 14
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Sydney#
: State Theatre, November 7 and 8
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Brisbane#
: QPAC Concert Hall, November 23 and 24
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Perth#
: Burswood, November 20 and 21
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Adelaide#
: Festival Centre, November 17