◎Intense confrontation◎
The rumba music chosen by Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi came from the movie "2046". After the light drum beats, the melodious violin sounded.
Tang Yi held Ji Tiantian's hand and glided smoothly on the ice.
Like every social dance, the male partner who leads the dance needs to show strength in elegance, while the female partner needs to show beauty through light postures.
The two of them held each other's hands in a waltz grip, facing each other, and stared at each other. They held hands and raised them above their heads, and Ji Tiantian twisted around with reserved steps. Tang Yi held her waist, and she gently bent back, seemingly effortlessly raised one leg, and stretched the instep of her foot into the air. The melodious violin sound added a unique charm to her dance.
The two of them faced forward and slid forward. Ji Tiantian put one hand on Tang Yi's shoulder and held Tang Yi's hand with the other hand, which was a variation of the KILIAN grip.
They stretched out their floating legs together, changed the blades of their sliding legs, and the ice skates deeply penetrated the ice, leaving clear and smooth arcs. Although their feet were changing the blades in rhythm, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi looked equally calm.
Ji Tiantian's chin rested lightly on Tang Yi's shoulder, revealing an elegant and sweet smile. Her smile attracted many people's attention.
"It's different when the masters come out. The kids' groups in front are just going through the motions in comparison." There was a discussion in the audience.
"Morning exercises on ice..."
"Yes, that's right! That's the feeling!"
"But, this group of Chinese players also seems to be very small..."
"Yeah! They seemed a little immature during the World Youth Championship! Now they have grown up! Their expressions are even better!"
Accompanied by the melodious sound of the piano, Ji Tang entered the center line and took steps.
The centerline sequence is a series of steps along the long axis of the ice surface. It requires the skater to complete the five difficult steps while using as much ice as possible to increase the ice coverage. On this basis, the more difficult steps the skater uses and the more accurate the edge is, the higher the grade will be.
Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi skated face to face along the center line. Mohawk, Choctaw, two twists. The skates cut through the ice, making a rough metallic sound. Their feet moved in an orderly and complicated way, their legs swinging back and forth, and they always had a light smile on their faces.
After the midline step, Tang Yi held Ji Tiantian's hand, and Ji Tiantian did a layback to stretch her limbs, then leaned on Tang Yi's legs to do a bent waist and split legs. Tang Yi lifted Ji Tiantian and began to turn and lift her.
The rotation lift is different from the rotation lift. It requires the male partner to lead the female partner in rotation while generating displacement.
Tang Yi held Ji Tiantian's waist with one hand, Ji Tiantian put one hand around Tang Yi's neck and stretched out the other hand, with her legs spread straight in the air, and the yellow tassels left a bright silhouette in the air.
They began to spin rapidly on the ice, with graceful and unhurried movements.
"Ji's split-leg posture is always perfect, and the way she leaned on her partner to bend down and lift her legs just now was also very beautiful."
"I heard that you were a dancer before you learned ice dancing. Is that the reason?"
"In fact, ice skates are much heavier than dance shoes. If you want to do a 180-degree split on the ice like she did, it takes more than just a basic dance foundation."
"Yes, yes, physical fitness must keep up..."
“It’s really not easy…”
The audience was whispering and looking at the two players on the ice with admiration in their eyes.
On the ice, Ji Tang quickly completed the six-week rotation required for the highest level 4 rotation lift. Then, Tang Yi put Ji Tiantian down.
The two of them skated quickly on the ice face to face in a waltz grip. Ji Tiantian skated backwards while stretching her slender floating leg forward, while Tang Yi skated forward while stretching his floating leg backward. Their legs were like two straight parallel lines, hanging on the ice.
Ji Tiantian looked up closely, looked into Tang Yi's eyes, and slowly revealed a sweet smile.
As they landed on the ice together, the music suddenly changed and cheerful cha-cha music sounded.
Tang Yi and Ji Tiantian quickly switched to the hand-in-hand holding position. Ji Tiantian touched the ice with the toes of both feet, straightened her legs, raised one hand, and showed a bright smile to the audience.
A small appearance.
The audience's emotions were immediately aroused by the young contestant's beautiful posture and wonderful smile, and cheers were heard all around.
Then, everyone started clapping to the rhythm of the music. Ni Chuan also clapped enthusiastically.
The cha-cha music performed by Ji Tang and his duo is "CHILLY CHACHA".
Like the previous rumba part, Jiang Lin also selected the music for the cha-cha part after consulting Clara's opinions. This season, Clara was mainly responsible for the choreography of the free dance, while Jiang Lin was responsible for the short dance choreography, combining two kinds of Latin dance music.
Baila chilly cha cha baila chilly cha
Amid the audience's applause, Ji Tang and his buddy began their pattern dance, alternating the use of the blades of their left and right feet according to the requirements of the cha-cha pattern.
They moved smoothly across the ice together, moving from a face-to-face waltz grip to a foxtrot grip where they looked forward together.
Accompanied by cheerful steps, the goose yellow sequined tassels swayed back and forth between Ji Tiantian's legs, and the powerful steps became passionate and flying.
There was a cheering sound in the music, and Ji Tiantian also stretched out one arm to the music, opened her mouth into a small O shape, and made an enthusiastic pose towards the audience.
The audience felt Ji Tiantian's enthusiasm and clapped even harder.
Amid cheerful applause, Ji Tang completed three sets of brisk twists.
Tang Yi held Ji Tiantian's waist, and Ji Tiantian bent back in his arms with one leg stretched into the air, thus ending their passionate short dance.
They held hands and saluted the audience. The audience, still immersed in the cheerful cha-cha music, gave enthusiastic applause. Compared with the previous pairs of ice dancers, the applause Ji Tang received was very enthusiastic.
"It feels like split legs have become the signature pose of the Chinese team."
"Yeah, the girl's posture is really beautiful."
"The male partner is also very strong. The girl has to hold up the heavy skates, and he is responsible for supporting them all..."
"Well, it feels like a great start for the last group. I wonder how the next few pairs will perform."
The audience was still talking, with anticipation flashing in their eyes as they looked at the ice.
"Sister Tiantian! Brother Yi!" Ni Chuan called out enthusiastically.
Ji Tang and the other two went off the ice and put on the hard knife covers from the coach. "You did a great job." Jiang Lin and Xu Chi hugged the two of them and went to the waiting area with them.
Soon, amid cheers, the short dance results of Ji Tang and his partner came out.
The technical score was 28.31, the program content score was 24.31, and the total score was 52.62.
"Great! This is the first group to score over 50 points today!" Ji Tiantian heard the shouts of volunteers who came to the venue to help.
But Ji Tiantian couldn't show a particularly happy expression. This result was not much different from the short dance result they won in the World Youth Championship.
Ji Tiantian recalled the movements just now. There was a key point in the pattern dance where she didn't use the edge clearly, and the outer edge slid like a flat edge. Looking at the final technical score, this key point should have been caught, which led to a downgrade and deduction in the pattern dance. Some deductions were unavoidable. After all, she had only been exposed to ice dance and Latin for a short time. With the cheerful rhythm, she couldn't get every step right.
A quick calculation showed that her step sequence was not even at level 3. Although few people in the youth group achieved level 3 in the step sequence in the short dance, she was still a little unwilling to accept it.
"It's great to get such a result in the first game of the new season!" Jiang Lin saw that Ji Tiantian didn't look happy, so she patted her shoulder and said, "You are new to Latin and you only made one mistake. Many contestants are not as good as you!"
"Yes, yes, that's pretty good!" Xu Chi also said, "Your score in the first national championship game last season was only 49! That was when domestic referees were relatively lenient in scoring! In comparison, you have made a lot of progress!"
Ji Tiantian listened to the coaches' encouragement, smiled, and nodded gently. Then she and Tang Yi sat on the sidelines to watch the other players' games.
She loosened her shoelaces and rubbed her ankle, which was a little painful. She felt as if she had been cursed to change new shoes and break them in before the competition, and every time she danced a short dance, she was not particularly comfortable.
The game is still going on.
Next up were Lillian and Michael from the UK.
As the top seeds in the British youth group, they have a group of regular fans, and as the two skated onto the ice, there was a roar of applause from the audience.
"Lillian! Michael!"
As the audience cheered, Lillian smiled noblely.
Lillian was wearing a taro-colored corsage with a hollow back that was held up by a few straps, but she looked very elegant.
This season, the short dance can be completed by one or more Latin rhythms. The British team chose the same Latin rhythm as Ji Tang, Rumba with Cha Cha. Given their age, body shape and dance experience, they already have the temperament of adult men and women when they dance the Rumba on the ice.
Lillian reached out and gently stroked her chin and neck. The sliding steps on the ice that she and her partner did were more charming than Ji Tiantian's cheerful little yellow duck. The lifting and twisting also had their own charm.
After that, their dance music changed to the cheerful Cha Cha. Although the British group's Cha Cha still had some rumba feeling and was not so cheerful, the overall performance was also very smooth.
The final score of the British team came out, with a technical score of 27.63, a program content score of 26.81, and a total score of 54.42, surpassing Ji Tang and temporarily ranking first.
Ji Tiantian pursed her lips. From the technical score of the British group, it can be seen that Lillian and her team also made a mistake in a key point of the pattern dance. It may be because the overall grasp of the cha-cha part is not very good, so the execution score is not very high.
However, the content score of this program still shows that the judges recognize the artistic performance of this short dance.
The next to the British team was the American team. The American team had the sixth place in the last World Junior Championships. The female partner was named Nancy and the male partner was named Johnson.
This time their rhythmic choices were Cha Cha and Mambo. Mambo is considered a hybrid of African and South American dances, and is even more upbeat than Cha Cha.
Different from the first two groups who used slow rumba and fast cha-cha, the American group used mambo and cha-cha rhythms, and the overall rhythm was extremely fast.
"This is a whole place dancing." Jiang Lin, who was standing on the sidelines watching, couldn't help but sigh out loud.
"If you jump well, the score will definitely not be bad, but it's difficult to jump well." Xu Chi continued.
"The main reason is that there is a big height difference between the female and male partners in this group. The female partners are a bit short, and their legs are not as slender as our Tiantian and other contestants." Jiang Lin glanced at Ji Tiantian beside her and said, "Using fast-paced music and dancing throughout the whole process without stretching your limbs can better cover up the disadvantages, and it is relatively easier to get points for the program content."
The American team on the ice quickly finished their dance. Ji Tiantian noticed that the American players looked a little depressed when they got off the ice.
Because the overall rhythm was fast, Nancy and Johnson's steps were very uneven when they entered the synchronized twist. The male partner even threw away the double twist. This would cause the twist, which was originally completed as the highest level 4, to be downgraded by at least two levels.
The scores of the American disco group came out soon, with a technical score of 25.21, a program content score of 25.31, and a total short dance score of 50.52, ranking third after Ji Tang.
The American team left the equal area amid applause. Their results did not surprise Ji Tiantian and most of the audience.
The last to take the stage were the Canadian powerhouse team, Mia and Lucas.
"Ahhh Lucas!"
"Come on! Mia! Lucas!"
When they appeared on the ice, Ji Tiantian heard unprecedentedly enthusiastic whistles and cheers from the audience, and many fans screamed their names.
Canada's number one youth team seemed to have a considerable number of fans around the world. Ji Tiantian could tell from the enthusiastic cheers that many people came to watch this race just for them.
Ji Tiantian couldn't help but feel a sense of longing in her heart. Although the rich team stopped playing for a while due to injuries, they still received a hot response when they returned to the court.
It's like the king has returned.
The fact that they are remembered like this by ice fans is enough to show that they are very strong.
The audience shouted a few times and then quieted down, waiting for the music to start.
The rhythms chosen by the Canadian team this time are samba and cha-cha. Samba is as mature as rumba, but more passionate, and somewhat different from the cheerful and playful cha-cha.
Mia, the female partner, also wore a light yellow dance dress. Under Lucas's lead, she swayed her upper body while sliding and stepping, and the rhinestones on her dress sparkled. Her smooth blonde hair was tied into a ponytail at the back of her head, and the ponytail danced briskly with her movements.
Occasionally, when skating in front of the judges and the audience, Mia would wink playfully, attracting cheers.
Mia was not much different from the rich daughter that Ji Tiantian imagined. She was confident, quirky, and happy to show herself. In contrast, Lucas showed much less expression. He always had an expressionless poker face.
Soon, the rich team also finished their short dance, and a large number of stuffed dolls landed on the ice. While the little ice children were picking up the toys, they came to the waiting area to wait for the results.
Soon, their scores appeared on the results display screen.
The technical score was 29.85, the program content score was 26.43, and the total score for the short dance was 56.28.
"Wow, it's over 55." When the fans in the audience cheered happily, Jiang Lin couldn't help but cheer as well.
"All the key points of the pattern dance are correct, it deserves this point." Xu Chi, who watched the competition carefully, said with some emotion.
Ji Tiantian silently looked at Mia who was waving enthusiastically in front of the camera in the waiting area, and Lucas who had a blank expression and didn't even want to work.
Ji Tiantian couldn't help but think that if the wealthy group could be more coordinated and Lucas didn't always have a stern face, their execution score GOE and program content score might be higher.
However, this did not prevent them from proving with a short dance that they are one of the strongest technical teams in the youth group.
All the key points are correct. It is not easy to do this even for the simplest pattern dance.
Ji Tiantian took a deep breath. The Big Goose couple, who had not yet met this season, and the Spanish childhood sweethearts, both had good skills and high P scores.
Now, another wealthy group has emerged.
For the first time, Ji Tiantian felt a strong sense of urgency, and her fingertips gradually became cold.
If they don’t work hard… they can easily lose their top three positions in the youth group.
The short dance competition is over and the rankings are announced one after another.
First place: Mia Lucas of Canada, 56.28.
2nd place Lillian Michael of Britain 54.42
3rd place: China Ji Tiantian Tang Yi 52.62
4th place: Nancy Johnson, USA, 50.52
"Even after a break, Canada's top team is still going strong..."
"The Chinese team's short dance is still the same as the World Youth Team, with no clear advantage."
"The short dance is to test your social dance skills. A good short dance result means you have a solid Latin foundation, but the final result still depends on the free dance."
"Yeah, we don't know what the ranking will be until the end."
"Everything depends on the free dance."
The audience talked and left the venue one after another.
The first day of ice dance competition ended like this. The coaches walked out first, but Ji Tiantian did not leave immediately. Tang Yi stayed with her. Other contestants, including Mia and Lucas, came over to greet them and left.
Ji Tiantian looked at the results display screen silently, with a somewhat sad look in her eyes.
"The coaches also said that this result is very good." Tang Yi understood her look, stood beside her, and spoke to her in a low voice, "Besides, this is our first Latin competition."
"Actually, this is just my first Latin performance. You have a lot of experience, and your performance is indeed better than mine." Ji Tiantian looked at Tang Yi and smiled casually, "I'm sorry, I'm holding you back."
She didn't want to cry, but after laughing, she suddenly felt her nose sore. She couldn't keep her smile. She reached out and touched her nose.
Tang Yi looked at Ji Tiantian silently for a while, then looked up at the results display screen.
"If we could be reborn to be three or four years old, and have our parents take us to Canada for training, so that we could be exposed to ice skating and social dancing in the snow, our results would be very good now." Tang Yi paused, and continued, "But we can't do that. We can't catch up with the experience and skills that other countries' athletes have accumulated over time, growth environment, and age in a short period of time."
"Yes... yes..." Ji Tiantian sniffed. Tears quietly accumulated in her eyes.
She understood the reasoning, but she still felt a sense of powerlessness, a blockage in her chest, stuffy and uncomfortable.
Sometimes, if you don’t work hard, you can’t feel the difference.
Only by truly putting in effort and sweat can you understand how big the gap is between you and the top players. The chasm is there and will not be shaken by anyone's will.
"The competition is to compare with your past self." Tang Yi turned his head and looked at Ji Tiantian with his dark eyes. "We have improved compared to the National Championships. The first step to success is to recognize your own efforts."
Ji Tiantian stared at Tang Yi in a daze, and a tear fell unexpectedly.
Tang Yi couldn't help but reach out and gently wipe away the tear.
Then they were all stunned.
As far as he could remember, this was the first time he touched her cheek with his fingers after they established a non-interfering partnership.
Tang Yi quickly stretched back his hot fingertips.
"Thank you." Tang Yi was about to say something, but Ji Tiantian spoke first, "Thank you for always standing by me." She paused, wiped away the remaining tears embarrassedly, and spoke to Tang Yi.
"I should do that." Tang Yi looked into Ji Tiantian's eyes, and after a moment of silence, he whispered, "I want to do that, too."
Ji Tiantian was stunned and inexplicably didn't dare to look Tang Yi in the eye.
However, she did feel better because of his words. The morale that was temporarily lost returned to her.
Regardless, she improved.
She started out as a Latin novice, and now she is much better than she was in the past.
"Okay... okay, coach and Ni Chuan must be waiting for us outside, let's go out." She said hurriedly, and walked towards the exit without looking back.
Tang Yi lowered his eyes, curled his lips slightly, and quickly followed.
The next day, it was time for the free dance competition. As usual, Ni Chuan said goodbye to Ji Tang and his group in front of the competition venue and sat in the audience seats.
Before the game started, Ji Tang and his partner routinely checked each other's costumes.
The competition began soon.
The order of the free dance competition is in reverse order based on the short dance results, so the four teams that were placed in the last group for the short dance were still placed in the last group this time.
The warm-up atmosphere was still subtle, with the smell of gunpowder in the air, even a little more than during the short dance.
In comparison, Mia and Lucas are a very Buddhist group.
Lillian, who was the second in the short dance, and Johnson, who was the fourth in the short dance, looked at Ji Tang and the others with extremely fiery eyes. Especially Johnson, he looked at Ji Tang and the others like a wolf staring at its prey.
The British group and the American group, one wants to maintain the advantage and try to crush Ji Tang, while the other one really wants to surpass him.
The ice skates cut on the ice, making a harsh sound. To Ji Tiantian, it sounded like the sound of weapons clashing.
Although she sometimes feels that ice dancing is a beautiful performance and each program is as beautiful as a work of art, it is undoubtedly a competition.
A fierce confrontation is about to begin.
There was a lot of noise in the audience and the atmosphere was extremely warm.
"Warm-up is over. Please leave the ice for now." After five minutes of warm-up, the announcement sounded, "Please get ready, first pair of skaters."
"The next contestant to take the stage is Nancy Johnson from the United States."
As the two American players came onto the ice, there was a loud cheer from the audience.
Ji Tang, who was waiting for the next player to appear, stood at the edge of the ice and watched the American player compete silently.
The American pair wore rock and roll outfits this time. Nancy wore a black gauze dress with a silver-grey sequined belt and open-toed gloves. Johnson wore a black suit with a silver-grey sequined tie.
In order to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, their free dance was still fast-paced, with the background music being Never Gonna Leave This Bed by Maroon 5, interspersed with other Maroon 5 songs.
The two contestants on the field began to dance to the intense beat.
However, the more Ji Tiantian looked, the more she felt something was wrong.
"Did they... copy our dance steps?" Ji Tiantian slowly opened her eyes wide.
Why do the series of pointe steps performed by this American pair at the beginning look so similar to the dance steps they used in last season's Viva Viva?
She didn't know if it was her own mother's eyes, and quickly turned to look at the coach and Tang Yi beside her.
"It must have been borrowed." Xu Chi took a deep breath, his eyes darker than ever before, "I never thought that our kid would run into something like this just after participating in the competition."
“This series of street dance steps designed by Tiantian and Tang Yi has a bit of ballet style and is indeed very eye-catching. Good things will be coveted by others.” Jiang Lin also said, with a strong sense of helplessness in her voice.
Ji Tiantian couldn't help but look up at the audience who were immersed in the show.
Most of the audiences don't have a sense of it and won't check the contestants' dance steps carefully. Besides, their original version was from last season. No one will remember it so clearly.
"It's hard to catch plagiarism in choreography. They didn't copy it 100%." Tang Yi was very calm and spoke lightly, "They changed the rhythm of the movements according to the melody of the music they chose."
"If you don't follow the music, you can't take away the soundtrack!" Ji Tiantian was a little angry, "So this doesn't count as plagiarism?"
"There's nothing we can do. There are no regulations prohibiting such plagiarism." Xu Chi shook his head slightly, "If the entire program is not copied, the Skating Federation will not care."
“Tiantian, don’t be affected,” Jiang Lin spoke softly to Ji Tiantian, “They can only pick up things we used in the past, they can’t surpass us.”
"I know." Ji Tiantian took a deep breath and quickly calmed down. Although she knew that her dance steps were copied and there would probably be no follow-up, she still felt unwilling.
Although the dance steps were short, they took her and Tang Yi three days and three nights to come up with.
Tang Yi silently looked at Ji Tiantian, whose eyes were filled with resentment, and couldn't help but fall into memories.
In his previous life, he had encountered a similar situation, and it was even more "sinister" than the current one.
He always liked to add some original elements to his free dance. A pair of first-tier contestants noticed his dance steps and copied him when he was still unknown.
Some contestants also noticed it, but no one stood up to speak for him. Plagiarism and borrowing are not uncommon in this circle, not to mention that he is not famous. There is no benefit in helping him.
Being young and hot-tempered, he wanted to rush over and start a fight, but Xu Chi stopped him.
Xu Chi didn't say anything at the time. But looking into Xu Chi's eyes, Tang Yi also understood what he meant. His words and deeds were not only related to his own reputation, but also to the entire team and his country. When it's time to be patient, he must be patient.
In this life, he is very lucky to have someone to accompany him and feel sorry for him.
"People who plagiarize are always one step behind us. They can't keep up with our pace." Tang Yi said softly to Ji Tiantian.
"That's right..." Ji Tiantian pursed her lips and frowned, "I don't believe they can get high scores by copying our dance steps!"
Soon, the American group finished their free dance.
Their scores came out, with a free dance score of 80.42, combined with the short dance score of 50.52, for a total score of 130.94.
Better than Ji Tang's performance in the World Youth Championship last season.
Ji Tiantian suddenly felt a strong sense of unwillingness sweeping through her body.
Johnson and Nancy seemed very satisfied with their results. They hugged each other in the waiting area with extremely bright smiles. Ji Tiantian looked at them and clenched her fists tightly.
But we have to admit that the technical movements of the American disco group were indeed remarkable. Apart from plagiarism, the entire free dance was also very expressive. It really made the most of its strengths and avoided its weaknesses.
"Keep calm." Tang Yi whispered in Ji Tiantian's ear, "As long as we stand at the top of the world, no one will dare to copy us."
Ji Tiantian was stunned.
Yes, if they become world champions and are watched by everyone, no one will dare to copy their moves.
Plagiarists will be discovered immediately and ridiculed for trying to copy something that turns out to be a dog.
The top of the world is still very far away for her now.
However, she will grit her teeth and move forward. Perhaps standing there and looking back at the past, she will find that all the troubles she is facing now are not a problem.
Her goal is to cross the chasm.
"Next group, China, Ji Tiantian, Tang Yi." The broadcast voice sounded.
-over-
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