Zhixin Li

Sadly, my 10 years of ballet ended abruptly when I was diagnosed with severe scoliosis. However, I knew that I still had something to contribute to the Arts. And so, when one door closed (dance), another opened (art).

Firstly, broadly speaking, art, at its core, can be defined as using one’s media to communicate a message. In dance, I understood that the media that I was employing was my body. Similarly, for the past years, I’ve weaved these lessons from dance into my painting. The kinetic energy that consumed so much of my time as a dancer was now being channeled through my hands and brushes. Thus, I stand up, use music in the background, and focus carefully on my brush strokes—just as I focused on my posture in dance.

Today, my scoliosis continues to get worse and worse. However, I’m not giving up. I’m learning, literally and figuratively, new kinds of braids on a daily basis, and, of course, new ways to incorporate other artistic mediums onto my canvases and into pieces.

Art Practice Major, University of California, Berkeley