You are very talented
Coach Ma gave instructions, and the boys and girls who were originally facing each other with their hands clasped quickly lined up and changed to standing shoulder to shoulder with their hands clasped in front of their bodies, skating forward.
"What are you doing?" Chen Yusheng asked in confusion again.
"They are practicing holding methods," said Ji Tiantian. "There are many kinds of holding methods for men and women in ice dancing. Most of these holding methods come from ballroom dancing. At first, their holding method was the waltz holding method, and then it changed to the kilian holding method. In ballroom dancing, tango is the tango holding method, and waltz is the waltz holding method. However, in ice dancing, multiple holding methods are alternately integrated in one program. There are tango holding methods, kilian holding methods, walts holding methods, and a series of variations evolved from the basic holding methods. Multiple holding methods are combined with multiple footwork methods, which form ice dancing."
Chen Yusheng's face was filled with shock: "It feels complicated just by listening to it..."
Coach Ma heard the conversation between Ji Tiantian and Chen Yusheng and turned to look at them. Coach Ma was a middle-aged woman in her forties with a ponytail. She looked tall and majestic.
She asked the other students in the training class to continue practicing skating with the grip, and then she skated in front of Ji Tiantian and Chen Yusheng. At this time, Ji Tiantian and Chen Yusheng were standing at the entrance and exit of the ice wearing ice skates. Their ice blades were covered with sturdy hard blade sheaths, allowing them to walk freely on the road.
"Were you guys talking about grip just now?" Seeing Ji Tiantian and Chen Yusheng nod, Coach Ma continued, "In ice dance competitions, grip is a very critical factor. If you can change your steps and grip more flexibly than your opponent, you will get a higher score. The grip may seem simple, but there are actually many tricks. Only by mastering it can you go further."
Ji Tiantian and Chen Yusheng nodded again. Coach Ma looked quite dignified, but seemed easy to talk to.
"Who among you has experience on the ice?" Coach Ma lowered his head and looked at the skates they were wearing. There were shoe hooks on the skates, and it was difficult for beginners to tie the shoelaces so beautifully.
"Ji Tiantian has ice skated before." Chen Yusheng looked at Ji Tiantian's expression, thought for a while and continued speaking, "But she hasn't skated for a while, so she may need time to get familiar with it." This way, if Ji Tiantian doesn't perform well for a while, she will have a way out.
"Then why don't you try it?" Coach Ma asked Ji Tiantian tentatively.
Ji Tiantian nodded, took off her coat and knife sheath, held the railing beside her, and stepped onto the ice. The ice skates lightly hit the ice, making a familiar sound.
She learned ice skating when she was young. Her mother Zhang Lilian found some suitable projects for her, hoping to improve her physical fitness and help her dance better. In the end, Tiantian chose ice skating.
At that time she thought it was an unconscious choice, until many years later, when she no longer had time to skate, she realized that she really loved this sport.
And now she finally has a chance to start over.
She pushed forward on the ice according to her memory. With a snap, she fell to the ice.
There was a chuckle all around. Ji Tiantian supported herself on the ice with both hands and looked up. Sure enough, she saw Cong Juan and Zhao Feng looking at her with a smile.
Chen Yusheng and Coach Ma were also looking at her. "Maybe you forgot because you haven't skated for a long time. Don't worry, I'll teach you from scratch." Coach Ma said to Ji Tiantian.
No, you don't need to start from scratch.
Just now she just wanted to try to push the ice slowly, but this body contains powerful muscle memory.
A familiar feeling hit her. The moment she stepped onto the ice, almost every cell in her body was clamoring for her to sprint forward.
She fell down only because of the pull of her muscle memory and her brain. Her body seemed to be telling her, don't be afraid, rush forward, you can do it, Ji Tiantian.
Because you've done it before. So, let it go and move on.
Ji Tiantian got up, gritted her teeth and moved forward, pushing the ice with all her might. The blade cut through the ice, bringing out tiny pieces of ice flowers.
Ji Tiantian slid out steadily.
There was no sign of falling, she walked on flat ground.
Ji Tiantian exhaled slowly, straightened her upper body, and opened her hands slightly to the side. Facing the wind blowing in front of her, she slowly smiled. She learned ballet because of her mother's expectations, and then naturally, ballet became her instinct and habit.
But ice dancing is what her heart desires.
It was her passion. Once again, she was sure of it.
Ji Tiantian slid through the corner in front of her smoothly and quickly.
She was graceful and looked fearless, and beneath her feet was a clear, deep, perfect arc.
Coach Ma stared at Ji Tiantian's sliding path in a daze, and was speechless for a moment.
This is a very beautiful glide path. Many people who have studied for a long time cannot have it.
Ice dancing is different from other figure skating events. There are no big jumps in ice dancing, but the emphasis is on skating. To become an excellent ice dancer, you must first be an extremely good skater.
And she saw the shadow of an excellent ice dancer in Ji Tiantian.
Incredibly, she saw unlimited possibilities in this sudden transfer student.
When skating on ice, the leg responsible for gliding is the sliding leg, and the other leg is the floating leg. Correspondingly, there are also sliding feet and floating feet.
Ji Tiantian lowered her eyes slightly, and almost involuntarily, relying on her dancing instinct, she gently raised her other straight floating leg while sliding her leg forward. She stretched her floating leg forward and backward, and raised her hands to the side as she moved.
"What is she doing... the swing (the movement of swinging the floating leg back and forth in ice dance)?" The trainees who were practicing stopped and looked at Ji Tiantian in surprise.
“Are ballet students that strong?”
"It's just her! This is definitely not the level of the first day on the ice!"
"Her legs are so long, and she has such great control over them... She's really dancing."
"So graceful, like a swan on the ice..."
Everyone was whispering, with surprise in their eyes. But Zhao Feng and Cong Juan had long been silent, and there was no longer any mocking smile on their faces.
After sliding around, Ji Tiantian came in front of Coach Ma. She forgot how to brake for a moment and stumbled and fell on the ice again. Her posture was a little embarrassing, but this time, no one dared to laugh at her.
For a moment, the ice rink was silent, and everyone looked at Ji Tiantian. Ji Tiantian got up and could only hear her own panting.
Coach Ma looked at Ji Tiantian for a long time before he spoke: "What did your previous skating coach teach you?"
"It's just skating, pushing the ice forward and sideways, and pressing steps." Ji Tiantian said truthfully, "I went there to exercise my physical fitness."
"So did that coach ever tell you that you are very talented?"
As soon as Coach Ma finished speaking, the trainees and Chen Yusheng who were watching became excited.
"I haven't heard Coach Ma say anyone has talent." Zhao Feng whispered in the crowd. Cong Juan hit him.
Coach Ma saw Ji Tiantian shook her head, so he nodded and said, "That's right. Maybe he doesn't know much, otherwise, he wouldn't let you go. Luckily you came here by yourself."
Coach Ma is not young anymore and has seen a lot. She knows very well that it is very easy for a talented athlete to miss the sport he is good at. He just needs to live in a relatively isolated environment.
"Ji Tiantian! Those two moves just now were amazing!" Chen Yusheng came over and hooked Ji Tiantian's neck tightly, with a proud look on his face, "I can't wait to go back and tell Teacher Shen, tell her that we brought honor to her!"
"Coach Ma, please continue with your progress. I will teach my classmates." Ji Tiantian was held by Chen Yusheng and turned to Coach Ma, "Chen Yusheng and I will catch up immediately."
"Your level is quite different. Let me teach her." Coach Ma nodded to Ji Tiantian, then looked at the other trainees on the side, "As for you, go and lead these people. Just help them improve their basic skating skills."
Ji Tiantian turned around and looked at her classmates in the training class. Many of them had seen her skating just now, and their eyes were full of admiration as they looked at her.
As for Cong Juan and Zhao Feng, their expressions were naturally very interesting and a little aggrieved, but they could only hold it in and not vent.
Ji Tiantian smiled and led the students in the training class to skate around the ice. In a short time, she regained the feeling of skating in her childhood and now can skate very skillfully.
The joy of gliding in the wind as a child and the love of ice dancing as an adult merged in her body. She felt an indescribable happiness in her heart.
After skating a few laps with the trainees, Coach Ma finished teaching Chen Yusheng how to skate. Coach Ma led Chen Yusheng to demonstrate the grip method and instructed other students to continue practicing skating with different grip methods.
As for Ji Tiantian, after Coach Ma made sure that she was very familiar with all the grips, he sent her to the side to practice on her own.
Thinking about it now, Coach Ma felt that it was reasonable for Ji Tiantian to not have a male companion, as there were not many people in the city team who were at the same level as her.
Ji Tiantian quietly practiced on the side. She quickly became familiar with the braking technique, and then began to practice casually. She stretched out her floating leg, followed the way ice dancers in her memory, turned around, and switched her floating foot and sliding foot.
"Everyone, stop for a moment." Coach Ma suddenly called out, pointing at Ji Tiantian, "Look at this ballet student. She just performed the dance step I was planning to teach you tomorrow, Choctaw."
Choctaw is a turning step with a change of legs. It is a basic dance step in figure skating and a very important movement in ice dancing.
By combining different grips and various turns and leg-changing steps, you can create a variety of ice dances.
The key to Choctaw is to do a ballet five-position foot, knees outward and squatting when switching between floating and sliding feet*. Only when the knee joints are outward and soft enough can the squatting and leg switching be done gracefully and smoothly while moving.
Ji Tiantian was slightly stunned. It was only after Coach Ma said that she realized that she had done Choctaw.
For someone like her who has a background in ballet and has skated before, squatting when changing legs is kind of...instinct.
When the students who were participating in the training camp heard what Coach Ma said, they gathered around and looked at Ji Tiantian.
"Please demonstrate the movements you just did again." Coach Ma said to Ji Tiantian.
So Ji Tiantian did as she was told.
"It is said that the best ice dance talents need to understand the national standard dance and have a ballet foundation, and it is best if they have been on the ice in childhood." Someone in the training camp continued to whisper, "But it is already too difficult to meet two of the three requirements. Therefore, when selecting ice dance talents, they usually start with the national standard dance, and then those who have been on the ice early will receive basic ballet training. But now it seems that those who have a ballet foundation and are good at skating can easily become strong..."
"In fact, Ji Tiantian is also very familiar with the national standard. She meets all three requirements." Chen Yusheng slid shakily in front of the trainee who was speaking, raised her face and smiled, giving a thumbs up, "She is the best."
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