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A week of ups and downs... the One Thing...

22/2/2018

4 Comments

 
​Recently, a successful friend of mine shared a book with me - Gary Keller's the ONE Thing. This is another book about personal development among many others that I read lately. My friend strongly suggested me to read this one because when she read this book twice and followed what the book suggested her to do, and that lead her to success, at least she thinks so. 

This book is all about priority, productivity and purpose. How the key to "Success" is to focus on only ONE thing. It suggests the idea that focusing on too many things at the same time would get you nowhere and lead you to mediocrity. The only way stand out and be successful is to know where you want to go, and stick to that one direction. 

In a week's time I finished 2/3 of the book, myself am amazed by how fast I read it! I consider that I read this book at the right moment. I am now in a situation where I have several focuses: studies and ballet. So am I doing the opposite of what I should do? Maybe not, one thing at a time. For instance, during the last three weeks, my ONE thing was this year's promotional contest, the holy "Concours de Promotion" at the Paris Opera Ballet. That was my ONE thing, I had no doubt of it. So I asked my business school for a break that they so kindly accepted. So this Concours Preparation was my only focus for three weeks. 

​This Concours seemed so tough to me last time that I was a bit scared about it at the beginning. But finally, this year seemed much more enjoyable to me. I told myself, it's all about competing with yourself, not with the others (much easier to say than to actually do). I would not practice like crazy, I would enjoy the the process, respect my body and my physical limits, and work intelligently. 
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​And that worked, it is so satisfying to see my dancing improves constantly. On 8th February 13:56:46, I signed up for the concours. Thinking about where this paper would bring me 3 weeks later, I took a photo of it. I am especially happy with this year's variations: La Sylphide (Pierre Lacotte) as the 1st compulsory variation, and I chose a difficult but fun variation, Jerome Robbin's Automne variation from the Four Seasons. I have done La Sylphide a lot so it's very suitable for my technique. I thought, this concours might be "my" concours. 

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​Unlike last year, I prepared everything in advance. Here I tried Automne's costume. "It suits you perfectly!", said the tailor. Once again I thought: "this concours might be mine..." 



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Last year, I would arrive at 6:45 am at the Opera to book the best studio for practicing. This time I won't! I decided not to get that crazy again and just take whatever I have when I arrive there. 

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​However, like last year, rehearsals and performances continue. As an understudy in the rehearsals, once again I asked myself what is my ONE thing? Obviously, my ONE thing was the Concours and not the rehearsals. Each time when I go on that emblematic stage I think of the Concours. At a point I got excited about going on that stage and doing my variations on the day of the Concours, showing to the company and to Paris that a dancer can study at the same time. Until then, my Concours preparation was very pleasant yet fruitful, I was proud of it. But Life always reserves us surprises.

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​This week, I witnessed how the ballet world, being a ballet dancer, is somehow just like any other job. In a professional environment, people and values are not quite the same. Suddenly, I really missed the time when we were still students, when we were all going towards the same direction, when we were learning and growing happily together. It changed. Something happened and profoundly shocked me. Made me quite upset and so disappointed. The next day, I twisted my ankle. I got tired of the situation. The Concours would be for next time. Surprisingly, even though I torn a ligament in the ankle, it didn’t hurt, not even a bit, my heart did.

So this year’s Concours experience ended there for me. It was quite an experience. Never mind, I always have my studies to fall back on, and that became my ONE thing now.

4 Comments
iWings
27/2/2018 03:57:06 am

Somehow I am not surprised that an unpleasant thing happened to you. I wish you had thought about its possibility. You might not have twisted your ankle had you not been very upset. There's connection between body and mind.

Overall, you come across as someone who is wise, mature and balance-minded for your age in addition to having extraordinary dancing talent! Having plan B is good.

Reply
Joelle
27/2/2018 08:43:12 pm

Dear Chun, I feel very sorry for you. Hope you will recover soon and won't let bad vibes win! I am convinced your time will come, either on stage or in an international Manager position... Seeing you on stage recently (Onéguine, Daphnis&Chloe and the Bolero) was very nice.

Reply
Yuki Tsang
4/3/2018 05:51:19 pm

Chun Wing! Hi from Hong Kong :) I'm a journalism student studying at the HKU. I'm currently thinking of doing a documentary on local danseur and I read your story - it is inspiring and delightful to me
First of all, take care and look after yourself! You are younger than me but I know that you have a stronger heart than me. Studying abroad, doing something that you like are both very hard. I dont think I can fully understand your pain, fear and stress, but I just want to say 加油. Your family, friends and fans will always have your back. Dont worry about the performance! It will be yours next time ;)

Reply
WINNIE LEUNG
6/3/2018 10:28:09 pm

Hi, Wing,

How are you? I know that your leg got insured again. Must be something serious. I hope you have recovered at least some of it by now, though might not have totally recovered.

I guess all artists (perhaps 99%) are perfectionists. When I watched your video, I thought you had done over 100%. Please take it easy and do not overdo yourself. You still have a long way to dance, to learn; and to live.

We will adjust the hours to summer hour starting from this Sunday. This means we will have longer day time and shorter night time. As Spring is in the air, just hope you would recover totally very soon!

Cheers,
Winnie

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