Chinese dancer selected to perform at Rio Olympics

World Today

Of 12,000 volunteers selected to be part of this year’s Olympic ceremonies, one dancer managed to stand out. She’s a Chinese dance instructor who happened to visit during this year’s Carnival celebration when she wowed crowds with her samba skills.

CCTV’s Lucrecia Franco reports from Rio de Janeiro.
Follow Lucrecia C. Franco on Twitter @LucreciaFranco

Chen Jing celebrated the Chinese New Year parading at the Sambodrome, Rio de Janeiro’s samba stadium. A dream come true for Chen, a 56-year-old dance instructor from the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi.

Chen managed to join Inocentes de Belford Roxo Samba School, where she immediately made friends with her fellow performers.

Her performance was outstanding, not surprisingly, as she is an expert in Latin dance and loves samba but said it was a totally new experience for her.

That’s a good thing, because on Aug. 5, she will be performing in Rio again, this time for a much bigger audience.

Chen was selected among thousands of volunteers to take part in the opening ceremony of the summer Olympics, another opportunity for her to show off her new-found Carnival spirit.