Photo: web

Holding cheer balls and whirling to the rhythm of a conductor, a group of Chinese artists with disabilities gave a performance for the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics at the Yanqing Medals Plaza in Yanqing District, Beijing.

The 24 performers from Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality were selected from China Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe, according to a video clip posted by the official account of Beijing 2022 on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Tuesday.

"Our team consists of one lead, two sign language teachers, 16 dancers with hearing impairment, and eight singers and musicians with visual impairment," Yang Qian, head of the artists' group, said in the video.

"Since accepting the performance request in mid-January, besides the tight schedule we also faced many new challenges," said Yang.

"As there is a communication barrier among the artists, we need to be like a bridge to connect them," said Ding Rui, the group's sign language instructor and choreographer.

"They had about nine" to 10 programs to prepare, so it was a very big burden for them to overcome in such a short period of time," said Ding. It took months of continuous effort and the artists practiced every day from 8 am to 10 pm. 

"Because of our disabilities, we might not move as well as people who don't have hearing or visual problems during the rehearsal," said Wang Yimu, the group's drummer who is visually impaired. "So the choreographers would dance first, and let us follow their movements. They then adjusted our gestures when we started rehearsing."

Performers with disabilities also have to overcome a degree of stage fright.

"When I first stood on the stage I was very scared, thinking every movement I made would be silly. So I always tell beginners: If you want to improve your performance on stage, you have to control your fear," said Zhang Bo, a singer and musician in the group.

There is a saying in the troupe that those with a hearing impairment are the eyes for those who are visually impaired, and the ones with visual impairment are the ears for those with hearing disabilities. They have formed a warm family, and established mutual aid groups in the troupe, said the video.

Wang said they usually communicated via WeChat. "We texted the things we heard to the hearing impaired, and they texted us the things we couldn't see."

"For example, they helped us get our meals at the cafeteria, taking us to get the nucleic acid tests for COVID-19 in the morning, and helping us apply makeup," said Yi Liangshuang, singer and musician of the group. "They are so nice and considerate."

Global Times