Chapter 83 The Black Swan: "I" believe "I" am perfect...
In just one month, Xia Yuezi and Meng Xin had so many plane tickets they could collect them like stamps.
First, he took a few children from the youth group to compete in the regional competitions and the international competitions they could participate in, and then he took the adult group athletes out to compete in the B-level competitions.
Although the youth group competition has come to an end, the competition is clearly getting more and more intense.
Yan Rui won a bronze medal in Tokyo and a silver medal in Changchun, securing her place in the finals. In the two stops she participated in, there were five or six athletes who could jump the advanced triple jump. The difference was whether they could jump the advanced triple jump.
Yang Yiyan and Feng Simai participated in the same B-level competition. It was probably the beginning of the season, and most of the contestants had not yet integrated well with the program. In addition, their bodies were not fully relaxed, so there were many contestants who made mistakes.
Yang Yiyan fell during her free skate 3A, and Feng Simai missed a series of jumps in the short program, ultimately finishing second and third respectively.
However, what troubles Xia Yuezi the most is that both of her children have been squeezed out of the China leg this year and have to travel across the ocean to Europe and America to compete in the China leg.
China and Japan are the only two Asian countries qualified to host regional tournaments. European and American athletes rarely choose these two countries to minimize the impact of jet lag on their performance. As a result, the organizers of these two tournaments mostly invite Asian athletes.
However, this year's World Championships will be held in Shanghai, and the preliminary rounds will also be held in Shanghai. In order to adapt to the environment in China in advance, the first and fourth ranked players in last season's World Championships used their selection qualifications to kick out several Chinese players. In the end, only the Cao-Lu pair and Zhang Mengyi supported the organizers.
Yang Yiyan ranked second in the World Championships last season, and Lin Ye ranked fifth, so they still have some choices. Feng Simai ranked third, so they can only choose what's left over from the two remaining players.
The first Grand Prix event was the Russian leg, which Yang Yiyan chose again, while in the men's singles, Lin Ye also chose Russia, which was closer to home.
Compared to before, Yang Yiyan's ability to adjust to time zone changes has improved a lot. She woke up and was lively and energetic again, and even went out to have dinner with Polina and the others.
Xia Yuezi readily approves of gatherings with friends, as long as they report their arrival and return on time. She is happy to let the children, who are struggling with their studies, relax a bit.
During this off-season, news about Russian figure skating has been popping up everywhere.
First, Daville announced his retirement and joined his mentor Seedorov's coaching team. Then, Lyubov suffered a stress fracture and withdrew from the Grand Prix series. Whether she will participate in subsequent competitions depends on her physical recovery. In addition, her partner in the ace ice dance team became pregnant unexpectedly.
It is said that the two had a rather unpleasant argument at first, but later they reached an agreement to take a year off from the competition, let his female partner give birth to the child, and return to the competition after recovering her health.
Although ice dancing is a niche sport, it couldn't stop ice skating fans from enjoying the drama. The discussion surrounding this event even surpassed that of Lyubov, with all sorts of opinions circulating on forums.
Regardless of what's being said, at least at the pre-competition music rehearsal, Xia Yuezi saw the ice dance duo in the audience. The two seemed to be getting along quite well, suggesting they had handled the matter properly.
The organizers played the songs submitted by the contestants for the season in turn at the competition venue. It should be Park Young-ri's turn now. Xia Yuezi watched as she avoided the crowd and practiced her footwork.
After the Sochi Winter Olympics, Russia's talent pool for figure skating has been on the rise again, but most of the promising talents are still in the youth or junior groups, and there are not many people in the adult groups who need attention.
Therefore, Xia Yuezi's attention remained on Polina and Park Young-rye at this stop. Like Yang Yiyan, these two were popular podium candidates in the forum.
Xia Yuezi stared at Park Young-ri for a few seconds, then shifted her attention back to her own child. Then she saw Yang Yiyan fall 3A, and then stand up as if no one else was there, supporting herself on her knees.
Sidorov stood nearby, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
During her last appearance in the B-level competition, he noticed that Yang Yiyan was noticeably larger and more muscular than last season. While that one fall could be excused by the excuse of not being used to the new environment, the repeated falls were likely due to the effects of puberty.
Asian women typically reach puberty later than European women, and judging by the timeline, she should be around this age now.
A photographer from China accompanied the team and posted the pre-competition music video on a forum, which also attracted the attention and discussion of domestic ice skating fans.
With concerns for their own children in mind, the number of spectators at the Russian Open women's singles short program surged on the opening day.
Yang Yiyan had bad luck and was the first to perform in the second-to-last group, while Park Young-ri and Polina were in the last group.
When she appeared in the public eye, the commentator also appropriately announced the song she chose for her short program, "Black Swan".
Yang Yiyan's costume was made into a strapless T-shirt style, with swan wings outlined on the chest and embroidered with white rhinestones. The skirt was designed to resemble a ballet skirt with an open and structured shape, and she wore feather decorations in her hair.
She stood with her hands on her hips, like a proud swan with its neck raised, quietly waiting for the show to begin.
When people mention "Black Swan," most think of the character in the classic Russian ballet "Swan Lake," and label her as a "femme fatale."
However, Yang Yiyan's choreography this time is based on the ballet "Swan Lake" and incorporates plot ideas from the movie "Black Swan".
As the rich orchestral music began, Yang Yiyan turned and skated out to the rhythm. With just one movement, the fans in the audience could feel that the temperament this skater displayed was not only noble in line with medieval classicism, but also instinct and wildness buried in her wings.
Yang Yiyan slid her feet to the side, found the right moment to paddle forward, and Xia Yuezi stood behind the barrier, so nervous that the veins on her neck were faintly visible.
Through the large screen above the ice rink, many people saw that Yang Yiyan landed on both feet and the arc she traced was very short. The real-time scoreboard in the upper left corner showed that the jump earned her a base score of 8.5 points, but the score for the GOE was negative.
This time, not only Seedorov, but other coaches and players also began to see the signs.
Having just finished training, Yumikawa Ria sat on a bench, watching the Russian leg of the competition with her coach. She wiped her sweat with a towel, her brows slightly furrowed: "Her dive was not good."
Ms. Chishima lifted her eyelids and glanced at her student: "Don't you think her current state is very similar to when you first resumed training last season?"
Upon hearing this, Yumekawa Ria tightened her grip on the towel, pursed her lips, and remained silent.
She did have developmental challenges, and they weren't as easy as some online sources claim.
When she realized she could no longer jump as lightly as before, her first reaction was panic, and she then increased her training volume under the coach's arrangement.
Generally speaking, gaining one pound requires training eight pounds of strength to complete this movement properly, and during puberty, one gains ten or twenty pounds at a time. Yumikawa Ria forced herself to reduce her body fat to a normal level before the season started, in order to maintain her balance and axis of rotation during matches.
She put down the towel, her eyelashes obscuring her eyes and casting a shadow, and silently continued watching the game.
Following the accents of the symphony, Yang Yiyan began a swallow-like spin, gradually transforming into a donut-like posture. Her spin seemed to be affected by her weight; although she could still maintain her position without shifting, her rotation speed was not as fast as before.
Immediately afterwards, she pressed the blade of her left foot inward, and then crisply and cleanly touched the ice with the tip of her right foot blade. She then followed up with a 3lo, revealing a slightly wicked smile to the audience on the ice rink, bringing the show to a climax.
Due to her weight, not only will her stability be affected, but Yang Yiyan will also allocate more of her physical energy to jumping. As a result, she no longer dares to put the combination jumps in the second half of the short program as she did before.
This was also a concession made by Xia Yuezi; she allowed Yang Yiyan to keep the original configuration, but did not allow her to run wild on the verge of losing control.
Yang Yiyan entered the program's choreography, and in this gliding sequence, she completely revealed her long-suppressed madness, tearing off the pure and flawless mask of the white swan and spreading her black wings.
She was trying her best to be perfect, just as everyone expected, but her body was gradually worn down by various reasons. Just as she hoped to regain her form in triple jump, reality repeatedly crushed her.
Like the heroine in the movie, she awakens through repeated conflicts, dancing wildly in front of the mirror, embracing her imperfect self.
In the end, I became myself.
As a Russian, Sidorov had seen many performances of Swan Lake, including various excerpts, and he had also seen figure skaters perform the "Black Swan," but none of them could be as breathtaking as the young girl before him.
Her physical expressiveness isn't particularly good; she often uses her upper body posture to cover up the shortcomings of her lower body. However, her superb ballet posture and heart-stirring emotional tension resonate with others, repeatedly drawing their attention.
Xia Yuezi loosened her clenched palm, which had turned red from her grip, and began to calmly enjoy the rest of the program.
To be honest, Yang Yiyan's arrangement is similar to last season's tango, both using negative emotions to vent their feelings.
This program made its debut in a B-level competition, and many figure skating fans felt it was a rehash of old material. Some even accused the coaching staff of making skaters skate in a depressing style and not caring about the skaters' mental health.
Upon closer inspection, however, this performance focuses more on the opposition between black and white. She constantly tears between the two extremes, completely releasing repressed human nature.
Tango tends to be about dialogue, constantly exploring one's true self through repeated questioning, while this ballet tends to be more about acceptance, wrestling with oneself, and tearing oneself apart.
You want to see a pure and flawless "me", but "I" believe that such "me" is perfect.
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Author's Note: The reason Odella wasn't used in *Black Swan* is purely due to the author's poor artistic taste; they only appreciated the ballet dancers but couldn't discern anything meaningful, so they had to use *Black Swan* instead. [crying emoji]
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