A scene from the dance The Thousand-Handed Goddess of Mercy.

Another form of art

But Tai does not care too much about honors or fame. She has refused many advertisement invitations from various enterprises. "I am a dancer and I need a quiet life," she said.

She was not satisfied with the achievements in dance and set herself a new goal. In 1994, she was admitted to the Hubei Art Institute, majoring in design and decoration. While at university she was immersed in another world, that of painting, which greatly enriched her understanding of beauty and art.

One of her paintings shows a person against a dark background. In the black space, Tai drew a lot of ears, eyes and suns. Through this drawing, she hopes to express that the blind can hear the world with ears, the deaf and mute can see the world with their eyes and the sunlight makes people feel the hope of life.

"For me, dancing is the best way to express myself. It's the most beautiful language in the world. Painting is static while dancing is dynamic," Tai said. "I can always imagine the music I ‘hear' and draw it on paper. Such a combination helps to improve my performance."

Troupe leader

Now, Tai has reached another turning point in her life, which is the transfer of her role from a pure dancer to a leader of art troupe. Tai said she feels a lot of pressure now because she has never done other work besides dancing before. She feels a lot of responsibilities and she has to deal with work in a wider range.

"I have to do much more work than before, but I believe that I can manage, as there are a great number of people supporting and helping me in the wings to develop the troupe," Tai said.

She now finds that many young dancers in her troupe are growing up and she feels that they are the continuance of her dancing life.

"Now I hope to input all my energy into the development of the troupe, especially the young members." Tai said.

According to her, there are 153 disabled performers in her troupe right now. Although some of them cannot see, some cannot hear and speak and some cannot stand on their own, their artistic levels are the same as any able-bodied artists. Besides the dancers, world audiences were also amazed by the emotional and soulful voice of a blind singer, exquisite playing by a blind pianist and a blind flute player at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Paralympic Games.

"Maybe because they feel that the opportunities are very precious, they make greater efforts to realize their dreams. What is more, all of these young performers in our troupe have a happy and positive attitude to all they have gone through in the life." Tai said, explaining the reasons why she wants to help these disabled youths to succeed.

The performance of the troupe is called My Dream, which covers dancing, singing and playing instruments. Through it the troupe has won the respect of the world.

Helping others

Tai said that currently her dream is to create a special form of dance so that all the disabled can get involved, that is to say the blind could "watch," the deaf and mute could "hear" and the crippled could "perform." But she also admitted that she needs help.

All her life experiences have given Tai an optimistic character. She thinks people should feel satisfied and be happy all the time. After seven years of courtship, Tai got married in 2003. She feels happy with her current life, and always has a gentle, yet confident smile on her face.

"Life always is not perfect, and there will always be some regrets, but if you look at life from different perspectives, you will always find surprises and happiness," she said.

Coming from an environment of love, Tai hopes she can spread this love to others.

"The thousand-handed Goddess is kind-hearted and she will extend a thousand hands to help anyone in difficulty. The disabled have care and love from society and we also hope our hands can help all those who need us," Tai said.

Her troupe has set up a fund called My Dream Harmonious Fund, aiming to help charities worldwide. According to Tai, to date the fund has donated 2.6 million yuan ($361,000) and $350,000 to various charity organizations, including $100,000 to the Lions Club International Fund, which will be used in the SightFirst program of the club to help cure the blindness worldwide.

On September 15, Tai was granted an award for her outstanding efforts in serving the disabled by the United Nations and the China Disabled Persons' Federation. At the award ceremony in Beijing, Tai said that the physical imperfectness of the disabled is not misfortune, but just an inconvenience. Every disabled person has a dream and hopes to realize it, she said.

"Our dream is never-ending and I hope we can build a world full of love through special art," Tai said.

(Beijing Review October 8, 2008)