The boom of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has not completely receded, and many people are still reminiscing about the bits and pieces of the Winter Olympics, especially the opening and closing ceremonies directed by master Zhang Yimou, which is even more memorable.
This reminds us of the Beijing Summer Olympics fourteen years ago, and the shocking opening ceremony that year. The opening ceremony in 2008 was an opportunity to introduce China to the world again, and finally it did refresh China's cognition.
14 years ago, a perfect opening ceremony showcased our 5,000 years of brilliant historical civilization and many traditional cultures, allowing foreign friends to see a powerful modern China. Of course, this is inseparable from the hard preparation of director Zhang Yimou.
However, it was the Olympic rehearsal that year that left an indelible pain in Zhang Yimou's heart, and at the same time changed the trajectory of a girl's destiny.
The person who made Zhang Yimou ashamed was liu yan, a dance genius.
Young dancers fall from a height
In a rehearsal ten days before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, as the A corner of the solo dance program "Silk Road", dancer Liu Yan climbed on the prop high platform as usual, how to expect that the speed of the platform that day was unusually fast, causing Liu Yan to step on the air and fall from a height of three meters, becoming a high paraplegic.
Liu Yan was born in 1982, a native of Hohhot. Grandparents want their granddaughter to stand tall and tall like mountains and rocks. Hence the name "Liu Yan" for her.
Liu Yan's artistic talent has been revealed since he was a child. She began studying fine arts at the age of three and later violin.
When she was 9 years old, her parents sent her to the Inner Mongolia Song and Dance Troupe, and since then she has started her dance career, Liu Yan is very flexible, and she is also very fond of dance, and every time she practices dance, she is hard and serious, never lazy.
Because the teacher named Bai Ying saw Liu Yan's talent for dancing, he found Liu Yan's parents and suggested that they send their children to the Beijing Dance Academy or let the children learn professional dance.
In this way, Liu Yan did not live up to the expectations of the teacher, and she was really admitted to the Beijing Dance Academy Affiliated High School.
Leaving her hometown for Beijing, Liu Yan saw more people who love dance, and also understood the truth that there are people outside the sky, so she is more strict with herself and does not dare to have half a point of slackness for dance.
Every day before dawn, Liu Yan had already left the dormitory, and when others were still lying in the comfortable bed, she was already dancing in the practice room. Every day, in addition to eating and sleeping, she is practicing dance.
Getting up early and greedily day after day also gave her the greatest reward. After six years of dealing with dance here, the hard-working Liu Yan was sent directly to the Chinese Classical Dance Department of the Beijing Dance Academy after graduation.
Get the prize and get the soft hand
Before the Beijing Olympics, Liu Yan had already achieved great success in dance, and won awards almost every year.
She participated in the National Lotus Cup Dance Competition at the age of 19 and won a silver medal. At the age of 20, he participated in the National Dance Competition and won the bronze medal, followed by the silver medal of the Tao Li Cup Dance Competition at the age of 21.
Do you think this is the end? No, the world of kings is so tough you can't imagine it.
At the age of 22, she won the gold medal in the 6th National Dance Competition for her solo dance "Rouge Buckle". At the age of 23, he won the gold medal of the "Lotus Cup" National Dance Competition with his solo dance "Orange Red". At the age of 24, he participated in the Spring Festival Gala and completed the performance of the red plum of the dance "Three Friends of the Cold Year" with Yang Liping and Tan Yuanyuan. The 25-year-old won two awards in China's "Culture Award".
Such a dance career, who has seen it must say a word of admiration! However, she did not go on like this all the time, and at the age of 26, good luck did not continue, and Heaven made a heavy joke to her.
A joke of fate
Seeing that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games were approaching, Zhang Yimou, as the general director, had a very creative idea: he wanted to show China's Silk Road to the world in the form of dance.
Such an idea is very difficult to implement, but Zhang Yimou still led the team to design this show, and there is another problem at the moment, that is, the need for a solo dancer!
Solo dancers are the essence of this show, which requires actors to have strong dance experience and thick dance skills to perfectly display this show, so the selection of people can not be sloppy.
Just when Zhang Yimou did not know where to find such an actor, someone recommended liu Yan, a young dancer, to him.
Zhang Yimou found Liu Yan's dance video to watch repeatedly, in the face of absolute dance strength, the big director Zhang Yimou was also impressed, he believed that this solo dancer was Liu Yan!
This is an Olympic solo dance, such a good opportunity actually came to his head, Liu Yan was even so happy that he couldn't sleep. From the day she was notified, she rehearsed the dance over and over again.
She wanted to show the best to the world, so she practiced all day, and in this way, the time soon came to July 27, 2008, about ten days before the opening ceremony, and fate suddenly withdrew from her favor...
She had an accident and fell into a high paraplegic. Not only will she not be able to step on the Olympic stage, but she will not be able to stand on her beloved stage in the future, which means that she may have to say goodbye to her favorite dance.
Zhang Yimou felt guilty
In the end, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was held very successfully, Liu Yan's solo dance role was played by the B corner, and the world also saw the beautiful Silk Road. As the general director, Zhang Yimou can be described as another major success in his career.
But he still had one person in mind, that is, Liu Yan lying in the hospital. He came to Liu Yan's hospital bed, told her about the opening ceremony, and listened to her pour out her inner pain.
For this high paraplegic young dancer, Zhang Yimou has always felt guilty in his heart.
Everything is getting better
Having suffered such a blow, Liu Yan had also suffered and despaired, but she had not been stagnant, her body could not stand up, and her spirit could not continue to wither.
After more than a year of rehabilitation, she finally did not get back on her feet, but she also accepted the fact that since fate had given her a bad hand, she should try to make it a good card.
She later became a teacher at the Beijing Dance Academy, where she concentrated on the hand movements of classical Chinese dance and indian classical dance, in addition to the sign language of the deaf and mute, Buddhist handprints, and hand movements in Peking Opera and Liyuan Opera.
She put these things together for the students to hear, and at the same time said that these cultures are integrated into the hand dance, even if it is only by hand, she must dance the most beautiful dance.
Liu Yan was also admitted as a graduate student majoring in dance studies at the China Academy of Arts, and later served as a judge for the finals of "Dance Forest Competition", returned to school to continue teaching, and once again appeared on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala...
Liu Yan is getting better and better, perhaps Zhang Yimou, who has been guilty for more than ten years, can feel better in his heart, after all, such a thing happens is something that no one can expect, and the unexpected and ruthless people have feelings, as long as everything is getting better, it is worth comforting.