Chapter 32 Ice Show: A Cultural Clash

After the middle school entrance exams ended at the end of June, Feng Simai was finally free. When her mother brought her over for training, she looked refreshed and full of energy.

Xia Yuezi first took him to the equipment room to train his physical fitness. During the period of the high school entrance examination, Feng Simai's training volume was only enough to keep him in basic condition.

Yang Yiyan was at the other end of the room, pulling on an elastic rope tied to a pillar. Her arms showed bulging muscles and veins, but her face showed signs of strain and exhaustion.

Compared to Feng Simai, she has been going through a very difficult time lately.

Both the college entrance exam and the middle school entrance exam required her school to be used as the examination venue, but the school was incredibly unfair. Not only did they make her bring home a lot of homework, but they also made her attend extra classes on weekends to make up for the lessons she missed.

The junior high school is still within the scope of nine-year compulsory education. Only after a student made a phone call to the education bureau did the school reluctantly give the weekend back to the students.

After finally getting through the final exams, the students were stunned when they saw the summer homework they were given, and seriously suspected that the school was secretly retaliating against them.

Yang Yiyan's homeroom teacher was an elderly woman nearing retirement who taught Chinese. Every day, she would tell the students to study hard and follow the school's arrangements. She was very dissatisfied with the students' complaints and would end with, "This homework is all to lay the foundation for your battle next year," which made Yang Yiyan roll her eyes silently with anger.

The Japanese ice show is being held in Tokyo, and a few people need to prepare to depart in early July.

The team does not reimburse travel expenses for commercial performances, and since Ms. Qiandao only invited two children, Xia Yuezi was the only coach who accompanied them.

Xia Yuezi specifically asked Ms. Qiandao whether this ice show had a specific theme and whether an additional program needed to be created.

Ms. Chishima sent a voice message directly; her voice sounded very young and somewhat like Nanako Shirai.

"This ice show has an anime theme, and there are no fixed requirements for the skaters' music selection and performance."

Japanese anime elements are very famous, and most ice shows are themed around anime or games.

Feng Simai's moonwalk routine is definitely not suitable, but the "Corpse Bride" routine would be a good fit. However, it's not appropriate to use American content on Japan's home turf.

After discussing it with the two children, we decided to re-edit the program.

Xia Yuezi doesn't watch many Japanese anime, and most of them haven't been released yet. She couldn't think of any programs that could be adapted for the ice rink. When she asked the athletes, the two usually chatty children were unusually silent.

It wasn't because they hadn't thought of it either, but because there were too many programs they wanted to skate on.

After a moment of difficult deliberation, Feng Simai announced the name of an anime series. Xia Yuezi raised an eyebrow in surprise but did not question it. She then turned to look at Yang Yiyan.

The little girl scrunched up her face and timidly raised her hand to ask, "Coach, can I choose a team from our country?"

China also has many excellent animated films and its cultural exports are quite good. Moreover, tracing back to their origins, Chinese and Japanese cultures are actually of the same lineage.

After figuring this out, Xia Yuezi contacted the choreographer to start choreographing the program.

From the time the program was announced to the actual performance, the two children only had less than half a month to practice together, but the effect when they played music together was unexpectedly good.

The environment for ice shows is similar to that for performance skating, with only one light following the skaters throughout the entire venue.

The opening skater for this ice show was naturally Japan's star, Nanako Shirai. Two junior skaters stood in a corner backstage, taking in the entire audience.

Yang Yiyan couldn't help but praise: "No wonder he's a world champion, even his one-legged skating is so smooth."

Figure skating fans often use the term "butter knife" to praise skaters with smooth skating. According to incomplete statistics, Japanese skaters receive this praise the most times, and superb skating ability has almost become one of the essential skills for Japanese women's singles skaters.

If Xia Yuezi heard this, she would definitely mutter a few words to herself, since Shirai Nanako's butter knife was used as a case study in later generations.

Yumikawa Ria held a translator in her hand and said to her, "Shirai-senpai is a player that the club is focusing on developing. She's also a very nice person. Sometimes when we train together, she will point out our shortcomings."

As she said this, Shirai Nanako was drawing circles on one foot on the ice, the changes in her blade clearly captured by the camera. She gently waved to the ice skating fans closest to the rink and blew them a kiss.

Getting front-row tickets to a Japanese ice show is as difficult as getting tickets to a top-tier concert in China, and the prices are relatively high. Therefore, those who can get front-row seats are basically wealthy women. In addition to being able to see their favorite figure skaters up close, they can also help them up if they fall.

On the other side of the backstage area, Xia Yuezi was with several coaches from the Japanese club, coordinating with staff regarding the subsequent entry procedures.

"Feng Jun will appear in the first half, about twenty minutes from now. Yang Sang will be the third to appear in the second half, and there will be a group dance by the athletes at the end."

Footsteps echoed down the corridor. Coach Yamada and several players who were about to take the stage were waiting at the entrance. One player stood out conspicuously among the group.

Not only is she tall, but she is also dressed very lightly.

Xia Yuezi spotted Feng Simai, who was wearing a red basketball uniform, almost immediately.

The song he chose was the opening theme of "Slam Dunk," an anime series that was a childhood memory for many in the 1990s. As a result, the entire audience cheered when he appeared on stage.

Feng Simai is tall enough with well-defined muscles in his limbs. Apart from being a bit pale and slender, people might actually mistake him for a basketball player if he went out in this outfit.

Xia Yuezi stood backstage, watching Feng Simai play on the ice rink like a basketball court. After doing a triple A, he even threw the ball into the audience in a very professional manner.

Before the performance, Feng Simai wanted to bring a basketball up, but Xia Yuezi considered that he did not have a real basketball foundation and, in order to avoid mistakes and injuries, only let him perform without a prop. Unexpectedly, this kid went too far.

At first, Xia Yuezi didn't recognize who Feng Simai was cosplaying. It was only when Fujiwara Yoshino was watching from the side during the music that she said with nostalgia in her eyes, "It's Rukawa Kaede."

Rukawa Kaede is a "genius rookie" with many highlights in the anime. He also trains hard, but he has a very obvious weakness - lack of stamina.

In some ways, these characteristics are quite similar to those of Feng Simai himself.

Feng Simai quickly changed his ice skates, pretending to spin a basketball on his finger, then threw it off the ice, performing a "dribble past" move, and then, under everyone's gaze, pulled off a 3LZ+3T.

There were also many families in the audience watching the ice show. Many young boys pointed at the boys on the ice and laughed, "Mom, look, that brother can play basketball on the ice."

The mother sitting beside her child would stroke his head and gently explain, "This is a figure skating performance, but the older brother has combined basketball and figure skating."

Standing backstage, Nanako Shirai kept a close eye on the ice rink. She smiled and said, "It's a very interesting choreography."

There was also a large screen on the ice rink, and when the camera panned across it, you could see many children imitating Feng Simai's shooting motion.

Ms. Chishima stood to the side, a smile on her face, very satisfied with the atmosphere on the field, feeling that the money spent on inviting the Chinese athletes had not been wasted.

The intense rock music and Feng Simai's performance successfully brought the first half of the ice show to a climax. He then turned around and handed the stage over to the next foreign skater.

As soon as the young man entered the backstage area, he saw Yang Yiyan sitting in the corridor with a small bun on each side of her head and a red heart in the middle of her forehead, which instantly reminded Feng Simai of his elementary school Children's Day performance.

Seeing Xia Yuezi still holding a blush palette and applying makeup to Yang Yiyan, the basketball player who had just come off the ice twitched at the corner of his mouth: "Coach, don't you think Xiaoyan's makeup looks a bit strange?"

Xia Yuezi brushed aside the stray hairs on Yang Yiyan's forehead, stopped what she was doing, and observed her closely: "It's not strange at all, isn't it quite pretty?"

Feng Simai roared inwardly, "You're just drawing the doll that Xiaoyan used to draw, but she's playing Nezha!"

Yang Yiyan chose the theme song from the animated film "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King," which is watched by all Chinese people.

The first half of the ice show was exciting enough, and the ice skating fans were exhausted after the halftime break. Therefore, as the opening skater for the second half, Yumikawa Ria had to take on the responsibility of igniting the ice.

Later, when Yang Yiyan appeared wearing a blue and white striped kose and sporting such makeup, many Chinese ice hockey fans who came to the scene could not bear to look at her.

It's only been three months since we last met. How did this girl change like this? But she still looks strangely friendly.

When the familiar music started playing, Chinese figure skating fans could almost immediately sing along, while Japanese and European figure skating fans sitting nearby watched this scene in amazement.

Someone patted the auntie singing enthusiastically in front of them and cautiously asked, "Is this a Chinese cartoon?"

Chinese ice hockey fans enthusiastically explained to her: "This is an animated film adapted from Chinese mythology, called 'Nezha Conquers the Dragon King'."

Yang Yiyan opened with her signature 3lo+3lo, her Costten skirt blooming like a lotus flower as she glided gracefully across the ice, like Nezha riding the waves.

As the music reached its climax, Yang Yiyan stood in the center of the ice rink, pulled down her upper body clothing, and her entire Costume became pink and white.

Chinese ice hockey fans exclaimed in understanding.

The previous set of costumes was Nezha's original body, while the current pink and white set is Nezha's flesh color after being reshaped by lotus roots.

Yang Yiyan skated faster, and with each glide, her skirt fluttered, creating layers of pink and cyan.

She stood in the middle of the ice rink, one hand constantly pulling on her free leg, the other hand reaching upwards, bending over and turning, then tilting her head down, becoming her signature move, Pearl Bellman.

The audience erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheers that lasted for a long time, which was the highest tribute the audience could give to the performers.

Xia Yuezi stood backstage, a gratified smile on her face. Yang Yiyan had successfully promoted Chinese culture in Japan this time.

In that case, it seems that the selection of songs for next season could also consider elements of traditional Chinese style.