When 11-year-old Li Yue, dressed in a pink tutu took center stage at the Paralympics opening ceremony on Saturday few people knew she was an earthquake survivor.

Li took part in a ballet performance of Ravel's Bolero. She was trapped for more than 70 hours when her school in Beichuan collapsed in the May 12 quake. One of her legs had to be amputated.

Li Yue performs at the opening ceremony of the Paralympics on Saturday. [Xinhua]

She is still receiving hospital treatment. Li received warm applause as she danced gracefully with a group of other ballerinas.

Two days after the opening ceremony, photographs of the ballerina in her wheelchair were still being published in the Chinese newspapers and on websites along with other photographs of her being rescued in Beichuan.

Li began learning ballet two years ago, and it was always her dream to give a public performance.

"I can't believe it," the girl's mother, Li Jiaxiu, said. "She has danced to instant fame."

Li had been attending rehearsals in secret under the direction of Zhang Jigang, artistic director of the Beijing Paralympics opening ceremony.

"She certainly did her best. She was so tired at the end of the performance that she fell asleep on our way back to the hospita," Zhang said.

All Li remembers of the quake is how she woke up in the dark and could not move. She exchanged a few words of encouragement with two classmates lying by her side, but soon they fell silent.

Li said to help her get through ordeal she remembered her teacher's remarks to her - "a slim, graceful girl was born to be a ballerina".

Li is one of only seven children to survive the collapse of the Qushan Primary School.

He first words to rescuers were: "Am I brave?"

In June, Zhang sent someone to visit Li at her hospital in Xi'an, and invited her to perform at the opening gala. She cried with excitement.

Li arrived in Beijing with her mother toward the end of June.

Li would wake up at 6 am every day in hospital for treatment and rehearsals. Later in the day, she would travel for two hours to a Tibetan school for ballet lessons.

On some days, Li would skip lunch just so she could practice her ballet. At one time, she lost 2 kilos in a month.

"My daughter got to dance for her dead classmates, for all quake-affected people in Sichuan, and for all handicapped people," Li's mother said.

Li said she will never give up pursuing her art.

"With just one leg I probably won't be able to dance again. I might take up choreography or learn a musical instrument."

Xinhua