Lin Xiuwei. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Leave, Awaken and Search

"I wept during our performance in San Francisco in 1985, which surprised my colleagues. Before that, they never saw me cry. I just thought why I was still here and kept on wearing the same make up and repeating the same dances. I wanted to have my own dance," said Lin.

The performance is The Legend of the White Snake, and it was Lin's last dance as a member of Cloud Gate.

Lin is confident about her performance as a professional dancer. But during an American Dance Festival, a Japanese teacher told her that she didn’t know how to dance, which shook Lin to the core.

The teacher asked her and some dancers to stay outside. They could dance whatever appeared in their mind or just relax and do nothing. Lin tried to dance, only to find that none of her movements belonged to her and they all looked odd in a natural environment.

Lin started to reflect why a lot of inspiration came to her only in her childhood and nothing new came out after her ten years at Cloud Gate.

"Then I decided to forget all the dances I have learnt and start my own dance, and start from zero," Lin said.