CRI听力: Chinese Seniors Dancing to Hip Hop

Hip hop is a rhythmic, dynamic and usually very fast kind of music, for which it has always been related to youngsters worldwide. But recently this special form of art has become a trend among senior citizens in China. Let's meet some grandmas who dance to hip-hop music in Beijing.



Wu Ying is a dance instructor in Beijing. Inside an ordinary gymnasium, she is leading a dozen female dancers to a hip hop beat.

In a pair of brightly colored trousers, gold gym shoes, an indispensable baseball cap and fashionable curled hairstyle, Wu Ying is body-popping energetically with her companions, just like the professionals on music video channels.

Nobody can tell she is 70 years old from her looks.

"I started learning hip-hop back in 2004. When I watched TV I saw young people were dancing to hip-hop. At the time I did not know what kind of dance it was, because we had never seen something like that before. The young people had cool hair and wore funky clothes. At that moment I became really interested."

Three times a week the self-taught dance instructor comes down in the class, to be joined by a small group of mature women like herself. These hip hop dancers are pretty unconventional.

Wu Ying says her conservative daughter at first was against her dancing to hip-hop.

"My family did not really accept my decision to dance to hip-hop. My daughter is a white collar worker and wears a formal dress to work every day. When she found out "My mother is going to learn Hip-hop dancing", she though this was not appropriate for a mature person. She said: those kids who do this kind of dance are little rascals, now we have an older rascal at home."

But Wu Ying says her dance troupe members have become happier and more energetic than before, due to the regular practices.

Chen Ling, a crew member, says her family was happy to see her become more energetic because of her new-found passion for hip-hop dance, but she admits that she delayed telling them for one month:

"My family did not know I was learning hip-hop dancing at the very beginning. After around one month, I told them how excited I was and how I'm much more energetic than before. There was a difference in one month, and so they're very happy for me as well."

Hip hop dancer Chen Liyun says dancing makes her feel much happier.

"When I'm exercising with my friends, I feel much younger than before. And I've improved my health and it has brought me a good mood as well."

Despite some of the dancers being well over 60, the pace of their dance routines is by no means slow and sedate.

Local fitness instructor, Wu Chunsong, says regular exercise can improve a mature person's immune system and make them healthier.

"We can say that, doing regular exercise has good effects on older people's blood pressure, heart and lung capacity. Often doing exercise can increase their body immune system, they will be healthier and look much younger than their peers."

And over time Wu Ying's family has accepted their mother' passion for street dance. The troupe has performed all across Beijing and has been invited to several television shows nationwide.