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Hilary Wong

As a tranquil melody plays, Carmen Leung strikes a ballerina pose, her back ramrod straight, arms curved downwards before she executes an elegant pirouette and a small hop.
The grandmother of three, who picked up ballet at the age of 62, is now 70.
She is practising for a competition later this month, and after a two-minute routine, stops for a breather.
“I love how I can immerse myself in the music and movements. Dancing is a good workout to sweat too,” says Leung, who passed a professional exam at the British Royal Academy of Dance a year ago.
Leung’s story is one of perseverance and finding new life. She started dancing after her husband died years ago, returning to a dream she has held since her youth.

“I still remember how I was charmed by the grace of the actress who plays a ballerina. The music, the movements, and the dress. I was just overwhelmed,” Leung recalls after she watched The Red Shoes as a child. The 1948 film had been released for a few years by the time she caught it.
But life had different ideas. “My dad worked very hard to provide for all his eight children. I was already very lucky to be able to go to school. Learning ballet was a luxury,” Leung says.
After graduating from secondary school, Leung worked as a designer at a garments factory, before marrying and becoming a mother of two.

“After work, I devoted all my time to my children and husband. I didn’t even have a chance to think about what I liked to do,” she says.
Even when her two sons, now 38 and 40, were grown, Leung says family always came first, and her retirement years were spent looking after her ailing husband, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and died two years later.

“Suddenly your companion is gone. I was so upset, I was not interested in anything. Apart from preparing meals to feed myself, and visits by my sons, I did nothing. But one day I realised I can’t go on like this. That’s why I started learning ballet.”
In 2010 and at 62, Leung took her first piano lesson, and later joined a ballet fitness class. She started with basic and easy movements, but found she had an appetite for more.
“I was impressed by the elegant gestures of my ballet teacher. I wanted to be like her.”
Despite being the oldest student in a class comprised mostly of teenagers, Leung was unfazed. “It’s not about age, it’s about your attitude,” she says. “Why let society tell you what you can do and what you can’t?”
Why let society tell you what you can do and what you can’t?
Carmen Leung, ballerina
She adds that she feels beautiful after bunching up her long hair into a bun and donning her tutu and tights. “You define beauty in your own way, not through others. No matter if it’s about what you wear or do.”
Leung acknowledges the scepticism she has received: “Some people say this is too old for me,” but adds that she was able to prove them all wrong through hard work.
Ballet ace encourages students of all ages, noting time is greatest challenge
It took her three years to do splits. “My body is less flexible because of my age. It hurts every time I split a litter further. But I managed to do it,” she says with smile.
Edgar Chan, Leung’s teacher and choreographer, says: “I’ve never seen such an eager student as Carmen. She is really passionate. Sometimes she works so hard that I have to make her slow down a bit.
“When I met Carmen three years ago, my first impression was that she was eager to learn. But she was impatient and always wanted to perfect something after a few attempts. Because she started later than most, she just wants to catch up.”
Grandma yogi on workouts that keep her fit as a 21-year-old
Chan says his star pupil has now come into her own, after realising her limits and possibilities, and is more comfortable with herself as a ballerina.
Other challenges Leung faced included muscle strength. “I needed a year to go en pointe [balancing one’s entire body weight on tiptoe], which would have been faster if I were younger,” she says.
She still requires more time to memorise steps when compared to her younger peers. “I got scolded by the teacher because I could not follow the beats at the beginning,” she recalls, adding: “but I do better in expressing emotions of the music.”

Asked if she has ever felt frustrated, she says with a chuckle: “No, dancing always brings me joy. I’ve never had one single unhappy moment since my first lesson.”
The silver-haired ballerina now devotes most of her time to practising steps, dancing for at least an hour a day. She remembers once travelling to the US for a holiday for a month, and returning to the dance studio only to find she needed two weeks to do splits again.
“If I don’t keep this up for even one day, my hard work of eight years would go to waste,” she says.
She is now honing her moves for the senior category (for those above 50) of the 47th Open Dance Contest, held by the Home Affairs Department, Kwun Tong District Office and Kwun Tong District Culture and Recreation Promotion Association.
Leung has won bronze in the 2013 and 2016 contests, and she is gunning for gold this year.
“We have no idea what happens tomorrow. If I can still wake up and open my eyes, I’ll keep dancing. You have a lot of choices in life, and it’s never too late to do anything.”


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‘If I can open my eyes, I’ll keep dancing’: 70-year-old ballerina Carmen Leung relives her childhood dream after a lifetime caring for family

Carmen Leung, 70, is practising for a coming competition. Photo: Jonathan Wong

70 year old ballet dancer Carmen Leung with her teacher Edgar Chan (left) photographed in Yuen Long. 27APR19 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Ballerina Carmen Leung, 70, and her grandchildren.  HANDOUT PHOTO

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She started at 62 after mourning the death of her husband, and has never looked back, even if it meant three years of hard work before she could do splits


Carmen Leung started at 62 after mourning the death of her husband, and has never looked back, even if it meant three years of hard work before she could do splits.


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