soccer

 Soccer, a worldwide sports with high requirement of team work, is also a combination of speed and power.This is why I love soccer. I love running on the green ground,especially with a cool but shiny weather. I start my soccer career when I was in primary school. But I can hardly remember any interesting things about it.The most exiting thing happen in the middle school is my class team took the crown on the school championship. I was the left forward in my team.  I can clearly remember the last match. Our class against Class 8, the strongest team in our grade.  Everyone felt sperturbed in that match.  we tried our best on defensing and prolong the time. At last, we won after the penalty shootout. I love the team Chelsea, because its my team cloth in my class.

Luckily in the high school, my class team also won the crown, not only in our grade, but also in the whole school. The most exciting thing is, I have goals in most of the matches.we had an excellent team work and easily got NO.1 in the champion ship. Our team took a funny group photo before we graduated.

I was very happy after knowing many friends of mine from different country love soccer. I bought new shoes and clothes and enjoyed playing soccer with my friends. However, I did not play very well. My friends are all very skillful and stronger than me. I need to practice myself in both speed and skill. More important, teamwork is always the key to win. 

Dance with Emotion

     After watching the dance performance of those excellent dancers, I feel the magic and attraction of the dance world. The dance performance, lighting and costumes blend seamlessly into a performance as aesthetically and emotionally engaging as it is fascinating. All the dances are look like telling stories. In terms of genre, Mark Morris Dance Group’s “Jenn and Spencer” and Alvin Ailey Dance Company’s “Wade in the water” all belong to the contemporary modern dance. However, I can find some elements of ballet. As we all know, Dance is usually performed with emotion. In comparison, the emotions on these two works are different. Let us talk about the Mark Morris Dance Group’s “Jenn and Spencer” which with the sad emotion first.

            “Jenn and Spencer” is performed by a girl and a boy who look like couples. Thus, I take this dance as a loving story. At the beginning, they dance in the same symmetry action. Their gentle movements carry the strong emotions which show the entangled but happy time. Sometimes, they are closed to each other; sometimes, they are far. Two people are eager to close but not possible, so they can just hug for a short time in such a tragic dance conflict. Different music should be combined with different dance and different emotion in different periods. In the second part of “Jenn and Spencer”, the girl dances as an elegant sculpture while the boy dances around her, which show that he adores her as a goddess. Under the girl’s proud and the boy’s doting on her, the girl makes the movement of flying on his feet. Then, their movements are exchanged: the girl walks, runs, and dances around the boy. However, they are struggled rather than happy. They just use modern dance’s technology “from falling down to climbing up” and “from tense movements to relax movements” to performance their struggle process in their hearts. Only by these movements, we can see the tragic aesthetic image. In the third part, the pas DE deux changes to the solo with lively emotion. The change in dances expresses that they are independent but still happy in love. The movements in the fourth part are together and slow. They passed their passion stage and can walk together to the future. Unfortunately, the ending is not beautifully as our expectations. The girl abandons the boy and runs away.

Tragic problem actually focuses on the ambivalence inside, so the key to a successful dance performance is whether the dancers can create a series of exciting dances (especially the pas DE deux) in the critical moment which can impulse the story’s development.

            Alvin Ailey Dance Company’s “Wade in the water” is an energetic dance in a happy emotion. The water is flowing gently, so the dancers use the movement of writhe to show the beauty of the lines. The dancers writhe and shake their heads, waist, and arms. From the dance performance, we are likely to see the change in water velocity. In addition, the “water” leads the dancers to the same movement. The white costumes and the blue ribbon bring the audience to a real water world. The blue ribbons look like the water, while white dresses are like some spoondrifts. The whole scene on the stage is full of the modern dance’s aesthetic energy.  The dance movements are Majestic but full of tension. The infinite energy is hidden in every seemingly light action which leads audiences to feeling the beauty of body and power. We are likely to immerse in the atmosphere of religious devotion. 

            The Alvin Ailey Dance Group absorbs a huge amount of the dance elements of the traditional South American spirit dance. In that way, the performance brings the special happy scene to the audience. Meanwhile, it integrates the contemporary modern dance style and ballet which show the beauty of both dance lines and powers.

           

Unconventional medicine

There are many examples of unconventional or alternative medicine. I have knowledge of a few. One is acupuncture, it is a traditional Chinese cure of various illness. It is about injecting thin needles into the body and it has many benefits for the body. It could cure many things, including illness, pain, inches, etc. For example, one person has back pain, and he requests a doctor performing acupuncture on him, he could feel the needles on his back but it is not painful, this is the mystery of acupuncture, even though there are needles, they are not painful. Another example is gua sha, which is scrap away fever or disease in Chinese meaning. Gua sha is a traditional way to cure many things such as pain or illness. It is done by making a little bit forceful stroke on the skin and leave marks on skin, the marks are from the forceful strokes, and this is to let illness or disease to go away. Another example is herbalism in tea, it is amazing that some tea leaves have many benefits to the body, and if one drinks tea daily, he could maintain healthy without much effort. Such as green tea, which is said to improve metabolism and gives energy. The reasons as to why tea herbs help the body is a mystery. There are many other examples, overall, a good number of unconventional medicine is very good for health. 

I had a personal experience with unconventional medicine. When I was a child, I had a eating disorder. I did not like most food, I do not remember exactly what happened but I had a difficult time swallow food because I had no appetite. Then my parent found a Chinese doctor to help me. He pushed my stomach by concentrating on specific points on the body, I didn't know how he had done that, but only one push, I felt much better. The result was that my appetite improved, and I had a much easier time eating food. I think he concentrated on specific points on the body, similar to acupuncture, the points on the body are connected, so pain in one area could cause problems in other areas, also, cure in one area could have positive effects on other areas. This is only my experience, I am sure there are many experiences of other people with unconventional medicine. My opinion is that unconventional medicine might not be highly regarded among health professionals, but they should be more accepted among the general public. Sometimes people have to be open minded and try new things, once they have tried, they can decided whether it is good for them or not. Most unconventional medicine are harmless and worth the try