Ballet dreams, better late than never

Xu Rong, a 60-year-old member of the Jinan Elderly Ballet Team, rehearses for an upcoming performance in Jinan, capital city of East China's Shandong province on Sept 10, 2011. The ballet team has 20 members, whose average age is 55. Most of the dancers never received professional training before, but they always dreamed of standing on the tip of their toes, dancing ballet. It is not easy for them to learn ballet so late in life but each member has been wearing out a pair of ballet shoes every month. All their hard work paid off when the team won the golden prize at the fifth national art competition for the elderly in 2007. [Photo/Xinhua]

Team leader Ran Yujie, 57, leads rehearsals in Jinan, capital city of East China's Shandong province on Sept 10, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]