英國八旬老人九年練就芭蕾

You are never too old to learn. This is never too right for a man who started his ballet dream at the age of 79.

An 88-YEAR-OLD man starred in his first ballet production Sunday after learning to dance at the tender age of 79.

Retired teacher John Lowe, of Witchford, Cambridgeshire, has been busy perfecting his pirouettes ahead of his role in Prokofiev's The Stone Flower.

The pensioner, who has 11 grandchildren, said: "I practise each day and I've got a rope at home that I use to pull my leg up higher.

"I'm lucky that I don't have any problem with the routines but that's because I exercise."

Mr Lowe started ballet nine years ago, having watched his daughter Alison become a professional dancer.

"I think it's a wonderful thing to do and I can't understand why more men don't do it," he said.

"There's nothing effeminate about it — you have to be incredibly fit to dance. I see some people crawling around, hunched over smoking a cigarette — they should be doing ballet.

"It's a wonderful feeling. I had always wanted to dance and it's never too late to learn."

Mr Lowe, who is part of the Lantern Dance Theatre Company, acted a lumberman in the play.

活到老，學到老。這句話用在一位79歲開始“追逐”芭蕾之夢的老人身上最貼切不過了。

上周日，一位88歲的老人上演了他的芭蕾“處女秀”，他在79歲那年才開始學芭蕾。

這位老人就是來自（英國）劍橋郡威奇福德市的退休教師約翰•勞伊。勞伊的“處女秀”是普羅柯菲耶夫的芭蕾舞劇《寶石花》，在演出開始之前，他一直在練習腳尖旋轉動作。

現享受退休金的勞伊共有11個孫子。他說：“我每天都練功，我家里有根繩子，專門用來吊腿。”

“我很慶幸自己做這些動作沒什么問題，不過這主要是因為我經常鍛煉。”

九年前，勞伊看到女兒艾莉森成為一名職業舞蹈演員，便開始學習芭蕾。

他說：“我覺得跳芭蕾是件十分美妙的事，我不明白為什么大多數男性都不愿意做這件事。”

“其實芭蕾并不‘女人氣’，反而需要健康的體魄才能跳好。我看到一些人四處閑逛、彎腰駝背、叼著煙——他們應該考慮去學芭蕾。”

“跳芭蕾的感覺很美妙。我一直都想學會跳舞，只要你想學，年齡永遠不是問題。”

勞伊目前是“燈之舞劇團”的一名演員，他在劇中飾演一名伐木工人。