Chapter 64 2013 Jump to China Cup
◎As soon as you advance to the next level, you must challenge the difficulty◎
Next, several coaches analyzed the current international and domestic situations together.
This season, Ji Tangsheng's group and Xiaokou Changkai are preparing for the Olympics, while Lin Aili is still training in the youth group with the mixed-race brother and sister group.
Overseas, the big goose Katerin group, the Canadian giant group, and the Spanish Anna and Leilo, who are in the same group as Ji Tang, should also be promoted this season. Everyone is over the minimum age of 16 for the Winter Olympics, and it is time to seek new breakthroughs.
There was nothing else to talk about, so the meeting was disbanded. Soon, the Smiling Group will embark on a training trip to Russia, and Ji Tang will also go to Canada for training. But before that, they have to wait for the International Skating Union to release new rules for the Winter Olympics season, especially the short dance rules. The rules change every year, and there is always more flexibility in China. If you encounter a difficult problem, you can discuss it with your own people.
A group of people came out of the conference room, Xu Chi and Jiang Lin walked in front, discussing the details of informing the International Skating Union and leaders of the news about Ji Tangsheng's group.
Ji Tang and the other two walked slowly behind. At this time, Ji Tiantian was in a very happy mood.
Although it is not certain whether she can go to the Winter Olympics, she will be promoted to the next group. In the future, she will stand on the world's largest and most intense arena. This in itself is very fulfilling.
"Tang Yi."
Just then, a voice came from behind.
Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi turned around and saw Chang Yu, the male partner of the smiling group. At this time, the female partner Wei Xiao was discussing the training plan with Coach Feng in the back due to the injury. Chang Yu came over alone and called Tang Yi.
"Xiaoxiao worked very hard to get the quota. You also saw her injury. She almost couldn't walk." Chang Yu looked at Tang Yi seriously, "I won't give up the only quota to you easily."
"Yeah." Tang Yi nodded.
"Tang Yi and I both know this." Ji Tiantian spoke softly, "Thank you for your hard work. I hope Sister Wei Xiao gets better soon. No matter who goes to the Winter Olympics, we will be very happy." Ice dancers have a long service life, and she believes that she and Tang Yi will have plenty of opportunities in the future. The fact that they were promoted to a higher group was enough to make her happy.
"No, actually... that's not what I meant." Chang Yu smiled to himself, his eyes reddened. He paused, then looked at Ji Tiantian's round eyes and whispered, "You must compete well and don't let Xiaoxiao down. If it weren't for you, she wouldn't... work so hard."
If she didn't think the country had great hope, she wouldn't have worked so hard to get a spot in the World Championships.
Resting and then competing for a spot in the Winter Olympics at the Wudi Cup this fall is also possible. But Wei Xiao did not do that. Getting a spot in the World Championships first can at least give the country's athletes peace of mind, giving them enough time to prepare and a stable mentality.
The development of ice dance is a long and arduous project. Coaches and players are used to transcending their own individual interests and looking at the overall situation from a longer-term perspective.
"Chang Yu, what are you talking about?" Wei Xiao's voice came from behind.
"See you at the stadium." Chang Yu said solemnly, then turned and walked quickly towards Wei Xiao.
Ji Tiantian silently watched Chang Yu supporting Wei Xiao and talking and laughing, with many complicated emotions surging in her heart. I hope everyone will be fine this season.
Ji Tiantian's birthday on April 16th is coming soon. From this day on, she officially turns 16. These days, she has been frequently traveling between school and the ice rink, and has no rest time, so she didn't care about her birthday.
Because it is the Winter Olympics season, the national team's ice rink is also very busy. The ice rink is always filled with tension. The single and double skaters are busy stabilizing the technical level of technical jumps and throws, while Ji Tang is busy practicing footwork during this period.
Then the new rules for the 2013-2014 season were issued. Ji Tang and the coaches gathered together with a stack of information to interpret the new rules.
The technical movements of the short dance of ice dance this season are not much different from the previous ones. There are two parts of pattern dance, each set has three key points, one set of synchronized twist steps, one short lift, and one set of connecting steps. There are five technical movements in total. Each technical movement has a maximum level of 4. If a key point of the pattern dance is wrong, it will be downgraded by one level. The other technical movements will be graded according to the performance of the contestants.
The free dance technical movements require a set of synchronized twists, a set of joint rotations, two sets of connecting steps, four short lifts, and an additional choreographed lift. A total of nine technical movements.
The adult group needs to complete one more lift than the youth group. Players can still combine two short lifts into a combined lift. A total of one combined lift and two short lifts. The choreographed lift is a new addition this season and requires players to complete it after completing other lifts. The choreographed lift has similar requirements to other lifts and must be completed within 6 seconds, but it must be creative and integrated with the music and the entire dance.
In short, in terms of technical movements, it seems that there are not many changes.
There is no big change in the time. The short dance of the adult and youth groups is about 2 minutes and 50 seconds. The free dance of the adult group is 4 minutes, half a minute longer than that of the youth group.
"The rhythm of the short dance this season requires quickstep to be the main part. In addition to the necessary quickstep, we can also incorporate swing, foxtrot, and Charleston to complete the entire short dance music." Jiang Lin looked at the rules and took a deep breath. "The short dance pattern dance required this season... is the Finnish quickstep."
Ji Tiantian immediately turned to the pattern of the Finnish quickstep pattern dance.
Each season, there is a set of pattern dances in the short dances for the youth and adult groups. These pattern dances come from more than 20 sets of pattern dances stipulated by the International Skating Union. Every year, the types of pattern dances are increasing.
These pattern dances are named after the dance types and specify every step of the skaters' skating. The skating tracks with the characteristics of each dance type form various different patterns.
Different pattern dances naturally have different levels of difficulty. Generally speaking, the pattern dances of the youth group are simpler than those of the adult group.
Just by taking a quick look, Ji Tiantian could tell that the Finnish quickstep was more complicated than all the pattern dances she had come across in the past, and the pattern formed by the entire gliding trajectory looked particularly rich.
If you look closely, you will find that Finnish quickstep has very strict requirements on footwork. In the past season, the sweet and smooth cha-cha pattern had 38 steps, and the blues had 17 steps, but Finnish quickstep has 70 steps. Finnish quickstep is divided into two parts at the 27th step, and two technical movements are included in the short dance.
70 steps, a number I have never encountered before. As you can imagine, this year I have to spend much more time practicing the pattern dance than in the past.
"Quickstep was originally a type of modern social dance. It can be said to be one of the most difficult dances among all male and female duets. The music is fast and the pace is fast. Even on land, few people challenge it. Transplanting it to the ice, the difficulty increases rather than decreases." Jiang Lin sighed silently, "I have seen athletes skate this pattern before, and they fell heavily. Tiantian and Tang Yi really caught up."
"The adult group wasn't so difficult before." Xu Chi looked at the pattern dance in his hand and sighed, "During the Winter Olympics season, the International Skating Union also used ruthless tactics. "It is completely predictable that excellent players can open up a lot of scores in the short dance alone."
"Is this what the International Skating Union means? Countries and athletes that are not strong in social dancing will lose their competitiveness in the first round." Jiang Lin said, and then sighed.
Ji Tiantian looked at the Finnish quickstep pattern in her hand and didn't say anything for a while. It was impossible to say that she didn't feel any pressure. Her social dance skills were not very strong, but she had to challenge a high level of difficulty as soon as she was promoted to a higher level.
"It's okay, Tiantian, just slide it like a normal pattern." Jiang Lin saw the worry in Ji Tiantian's eyes, so she comforted her, "You have a good sense of dance, you will definitely learn it quickly."
Ji Tiantian nodded. This was her first senior season after all, so she had to give it her all.
After communicating with other domestic figure skating coaches, Xu Chi and Jiang Lin took Ji Tang to the Montreal Ice Dance School for foreign training during the Winter Olympics season. Because of Ji Tang's performance in the previous season, the leaders no longer raised any objections to their foreign training.
While waiting for her flight at the airport, Ji Tiantian couldn't help but browse the flower skating forum. Sure enough, many ice fans were discussing the new season.
There was a post with an eye-catching title and was very popular, so Ji Tiantian clicked on it.
The post title: "How do you think Sweetie will perform this season?"
Topic content: The new rules for the season have been announced. This season's short dance is the Finnish quickstep. It looks so difficult. What do you think?
1L: It is said that ice dancers have to go through a probationary period after being promoted to a higher level. It is normal for their performance to not be very good during the probationary period. So this season... well, just keep a normal mindset.
2L: Alas, there is only one spot for the Winter Olympics, and Tiantang has to compete with Xiaokouchangkai. It would be great if there was one more spot.
3L: There is nothing we can do about the quota. But there are already three pairs of athletes in the youth group who can go to the World Youth Championship, so the reserve force is sufficient. I think our ice dance will definitely rise next season! Thanks to Tiantang.
4L: Woohoo, so there’s nothing to expect this season?
5L: It's not that I don't want to hope, it's that I don't dare to hope. There were athletes who skated the Finnish quickstep in the competition before, and it looked very difficult. There are many fast steps and it's easy to fall. Tiantian's social dance skills are not good, and I have a bad feeling...
6L: +1 to the above, Finnish quickstep is a pattern dance that many professional players have a headache when encountering. Except for those top-ranked players in the world, it is difficult for others to get all the key points right.
7L: Wow, the ISU is so cruel. What's wrong with doing an easier pattern dance? Why not let the big guys pull the score in the free dance?
8L: Well, in this case, many Asian countries, as well as countries with weak social dance foundation, will be doomed in the first round...
Ji Tiantian looked at these comments, feeling both worried and relieved.
Because of their efforts, more and more netizens in China know about ice dancing. Many of these netizens have taken the initiative to learn about the rules of ice dancing and short dance patterns. They are worried about the contestants from the bottom of their hearts. This worry makes Ji Tiantian understand that she and Tang Yi have not been fighting alone.
After arriving at the ice dance school, Ji Tiantian immediately disconnected from the Internet and concentrated on training.
The first thing they need to focus on is the Finnish quickstep. This pattern dance not only has many steps and fast pace, but also includes many difficult movements such as small jumps, twists, kicks, etc., which requires a high level of comprehensive strength for the contestants.
Due to the strict requirements of pattern dance, Xu Chi entrusted Mark, a senior coach of ice dance school and Clara's husband, to be the short dance coach of Ji and Tang. Mark has trained many excellent ice dancers in the past, and his strength is relatively balanced. He is very good at dancing on ice and on land.
In the past, Ji Tang also had foreign coaches, but they were arranged by the ice dance school and were not fixed. Mark also had other players to coach.
The situation this time was special. At the request of Xu Chi and Clara, Mark pushed aside other players and focused on coaching Ji Tang.
Under Mark's arrangement, Ji Tang first followed the rhythm of the quickstep dance, maintaining the holding posture and skating on the ice.
They must first find the beat, and temporarily ignore the edge and footwork required in the pattern dance. Finding the beat is the basis for every key point of the backward skate.
"SLOW, QUICK, QUICK, QUICK, SLOW," Mark shouted the quickstep beat as he watched Ji Tang skate on the ice.
Quickstep requires contestants to switch flexibly between fast and slow beats.
It was Ji Tiantian’s first time to try quickstep, a dance with an extremely fast pace. She always felt something was wrong and couldn’t adapt. She couldn’t keep up with Tang Yi’s steps.
Once again, she couldn't keep up and fell to the ice.
Ji Tiantian had been practicing for a long time. She lay on the ice for a long time, panting, before she got up. She knew that Tang Yi's guidance was excellent, and the frequency of her falls had decreased, otherwise she would have fallen even more miserably.
She suddenly felt unsure.
In the past, she and Tang Yi always got along well, and she always thought that this tacit understanding would continue. But now she realized that on the ice, everything was not fixed.
She couldn't master the quickstep, and her rapport with Tang Yi couldn't reach the level of the previous seasons. She couldn't bring out the excellent dancing sense that she had always relied on.
It's like it's blocked by something.
If this continues, it is completely unknown how they will perform in this season's games.
"Tiantian, are you okay?" Mark asked, observing Ji Tiantian's expression.
Ji Tian nodded, but the haze in her heart could not be dispelled.
It must be because her social dance skills are not solid enough, she couldn't help thinking. In the past, she could rely on her ballet skills to cover up her shortcomings in social dance, but in the face of high-speed social dance like quickstep, her weaknesses would be exposed clearly.
"Hey, it seems that the champion of this youth group is not very good." At this moment, a surprised voice drilled into Ji Tiantian's eardrum.
Ji Tiantian looked in the direction of the voice. She was familiar with the person who was speaking. It was Judy, the female partner of the second group in the Canadian adult group.
Judy and her male partner placed fifth in the World Championships last season. If nothing unexpected happens, they will represent Canada in the Winter Olympics.
Judy and her male partner have their own coaching group and are not usually at the ice dance school. She only shows up occasionally, and practices with Mia Lucas, who is currently in the adult group, and also watches other contestants.
"Mia, you actually lost to such a combination." Judy spoke as she and Mia watched Ji Tang practicing.
After saying that, Judy gave Ji Tiantian a meaningful look, not minding at all that her words were heard.
"Tiantian and Tang are very strong." Mia argued.
"Well... maybe they are just good at the short dance required in the first two seasons. It's not like we haven't encountered such a lucky combination before." Judy smiled and couldn't help but look at Ji Tiantian again, her eyes full of arrogance, "But the magic of good luck can't last long. Strength is still the key in this world."
"They are capable." Mia didn't know how to defend Ji Tang for a moment.
"I know that the Chinese team's female partner has a good foundation in ballet. Her splits and leg lifts are really outstanding." Mia was about to speak when Judy interrupted her and continued, "Those kinds of movements that highlight flexibility are indeed suitable for the cheerful and relaxed swing dance in the last competition, and they can easily add points. But this season's quickstep dance has a fast pace and is relatively reserved and solemn. Those large movements cannot be performed."
Mia was silent for a moment.
"You can't use your ballet skills to take shortcuts. This season, the focus is on social dance skills. If you can't do it, then you can't do it." Judy smiled and waved to Mia. "Okay, I have to leave school and start closed training. See you next time."
Ji Tiantian looked at Judy's back and bit her lower lip hard.
"You guys take a break." Mark said this when he saw Ji Tiantian was sweating all over.
"I can still practice more." Ji Tiantian spoke while panting.
"Don't worry, take your time." Mark said, "Your country's social dancing skills are not strong. Being able to reach this level is already very good among Asian contestants."
Ji Tiantian was speechless for a moment. She didn't want to hear such comfort, or rather, Mark's words were not comfort to her.
Along the way, she heard a lot of people say things like, "Your country's social dance foundation is not good enough," and "Being able to reach this level is already very good among Asian contestants." She has heard it so many times that her ears are callused.
But no, it's not.
She doesn't just want to be the best Asian ice dancer. She wants to compete with stronger players internationally.
This is the meaning of upgrading the group.
No matter how hard I try, it’s never enough. Never enough.
In a blink of an eye, the day's training was over.
Late at night, when no one was around, Ji Tiantian, wearing high heels for social dancing, was practicing the rhythm of quickstep in a land dance studio alone.
Ice dance training is inseparable from land dance training. Many ice dance steps and upper body postures come from land dance. Their recent practice is also a cross between ice and land.
Slow, slow, fast, fast, fast. Slow, fast, fast, fast, slow.
Ji Tiantian silently recited the quickstep beat in her mind while performing the basic quickstep steps that Mark had taught her before, the cross lock step and the rise.
However, she still couldn't adapt to the rhythm of the quickstep. It was too different from the ballet she was familiar with, and she always felt that something was a little awkward.
She felt dizzy for a moment because of exhaustion. She sat on the wooden floor of the dance studio to rest, took off her shoes and rubbed her rubbed heels.
For no reason, she thought of Wei Xiao being supported while walking, the comments supporting her on the Internet, and the cute sweet goose doll made by Feifei.
Tears welled up in her eyes. The athletes in her country worked so hard, and the fans were looking forward to it. But what kind of results would she achieve this season?
She wiped her eyes, put on her shoes and was about to stand up to continue practicing when she saw Tang Yi standing at the door looking at her.
"Why don't you ask me to join you?" Tang Yi walked over and looked down at Ji Tiantian.
"I can just practice on my own." Ji Tiantian lowered her head and spoke sullenly, "I don't want to step on you." When she was practicing the land quickstep dance before, she often stepped on Tang Yi because she couldn't catch the beat.
"Didn't you say that I could trust you forever?" Tang Yi was silent for a moment, then spoke to Ji Tiantian.
Ji Tiantian bit her lip and couldn't help sniffing. She thought of what she said to Tang Yi in the finals last season - on the court, you can completely trust me.
She was so confident at that time that she felt she was invincible and could conquer any opponent.
She occasionally misses the youth competition. Everyone is so friendly, and the atmosphere is warm and friendly. But the adult competition is a more intense battlefield.
"No matter what, I trust you." Tang Yi reached out to Ji Tiantian, "I hope the same is true for you. We can overcome any difficulties."
Ji Tiantian took a deep breath and looked up at her partner. Tang Yi's eyes were dark and firm.
Every season has different challenges. The rules and situations are constantly changing.
But Tang Yi has always stood by her silently, and he has never changed. He is her shield.
She grasped his hand tightly and stood up.
Tang Yi turned on his phone and played cheerful quickstep music, then he and Ji Tiantian faced each other and shook hands in the waltz style.
Tang Yi took Ji Tiantian and took the first step. Then, he started jumping with her.
Ji Tiantian looked at Tang Yi in surprise. Mark had not taught them the jumping dance steps.
Tang Yi looked ahead with a determined look in his eyes, while leading Ji Tiantian to continue jumping side by side with him.
The basic quickstep dance consists mainly of fast cross-steps, with the feet barely leaving the ground.
However, high-level quickstep dances include a lot of jumping movements. Ballroom dance is a standardized social dance. In large-scale ballroom dance competitions, ballroom dancers usually jump non-stop when they dance quickstep dances. The first reaction of the audience watching the professional quickstep dance competition is that the floor is very hot.
The jumping movements contained in high-level quickstep come from ballet.
As time went by, various dance styles merged with each other, and quickstep was no exception.
Tang Yi always believed that Ji Tiantian was not bad at quickstep. She just didn't find the key to open the door. And he came to help her find this key.
Just as she had once broken the shackles on his feet, this time he led her forward.
Ji Tiantian followed Tang Yi and jumped around the dance studio. She found that her steps were much smoother. After adding jumping to the basic dance steps, she quickly caught the rhythm of the quickstep.
She felt the door in front of her open, and the veins in her body became unblocked. In the familiar jumping movements, her dancing sense returned, and she found the feeling of enjoying dancing again.
The practice was almost over, Ji Tiantian gave Tang Yi a grateful hug, then said goodbye to Tang Yi and went to the dormitory to rest.
The second day of training started with land dance training.
Mark was still the host of this training session, with Clara, Xu Chi and Jiang Lin watching from the sidelines.
In order not to put too much psychological pressure on the contestants, Xu Chi and Jiang Lin didn't say anything to Ji Tiantian for a while. But Ji Tiantian could see from the eyes of the two coaches that they were still worried about her progress in quickstep dancing.
"Coach, Tang Yi and I practiced a set of dance steps that suit us yesterday. I hope you can take a look at it." Ji Tiantian said to Mark.
Mark nodded in agreement, so Ji Tiantian played the quickstep music and then shook hands with Tang Yi.
Then she and Tang Yi jumped all over the field to the lively music.
Rise, jump, jump, jump, jump, and slide.
Then he turned around and continued to jump. Tang Yi led Ji Tiantian into the air, split in the air, and completed a big jump.
In the air, Ji Tiantian held back tears and showed her usual bright smile.
It feels really good to be able to dance.
Xu Chi, Jiang Lin and Clara all looked surprised.
"Isn't this rhythm good... Why was it before..." Jiang Lin couldn't help but talk to Xu Chi, "It turns out that Ji Tiantian is just not good at the basic steps of quickstep?"
"She is particularly good at jumping, which is difficult for other players to adapt to. If she can't walk, she can run." Xu Chi couldn't help but smile, his smile was full of emotion, "They... are worthy of being the miracle combination of Asia."
"This is the first time I've seen Mark look so surprised." Clara carefully glanced at her husband who was still in shock, and whispered to Xu Chi, "I feel that Tiantian and Tang Yi have overturned his teaching experience. But Tiantian and Tang Yi are really incredible. They always seem to be able to turn the disadvantage around when others are not optimistic about them."
Mark kept watching Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi running and jumping silently.
Based on his past teaching experience, he wanted them to get used to the basic dance steps and rhythm before adding jumping movements. Many successful contestants were taught by him in this way.
But Ji Tang is different. They can't master the basic dance steps very well, but after adding difficult jumps, they become extremely dazzling.
They seem to be born to be at the top.
During this jump, Ji Tiantian quickly mastered the rhythm and speed of the quickstep.
Mark did not hesitate any longer and immediately asked Ji Tang to go on the ice. He did not need to do anything to adjust to the rhythm. He asked Ji Tang to immediately start skating the Finnish quickstep on the ice according to the steps specified in the pattern dance.
This season's Finnish quickstep has a total of 70 steps. Steps 1-27 are the first part, which is counted as one technical move, and steps 28-70 are the second part, which is counted as one technical move.
Each part has three key points. If you don’t get them right, you will be downgraded and lose points.
The first key point of Finnish quickstep is steps 1-4 for male and female partners.
The male and female dance partners are required to hold each other in the foxtrot grip, with their upper bodies close together, their eyes looking forward, and while sliding their legs forward, they cross their floating legs backward and jump together while sliding.
When Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi were skating, many athletes who were undergoing Olympic training at the ice dance school stopped to watch, including Mia and Lucas.
It requires gliding, crossing the legs, and jumping. This key point alone has stumped many contestants.
But Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi, they skated smoothly on the ice, their movements were clean and neat, their jumps were steady, and their heights were amazing.
Before, Ji Tiantian was not used to the rhythm of quickstep dancing, and it was extremely difficult for her to just skate to the beat on the ice.
However, after training on land with jumps, she got the rhythm right, and jumping on the ice was like walking on flat ground.
She leaped lightly across the ice like a deer in the forest.
The contestants who were watching couldn't help but show expressions of amazement.
Mia watched Ji Tiantian holding Tang Yi's hand and jumping briskly on the ice. When gliding past Mia, Ji Tiantian gave Mia a bright smile.
"Judy didn't see it, otherwise, she would have discovered that Ji and Tang are their strong opponents this season." Mia murmured, talking to Lucas beside her.
"I take back what I said before. I'm sorry. It's my lack of experience and misjudgment." Mark said this while looking at Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi who had stopped practicing. "Your dancing skills are far better than I thought, and they are very unique. I will also adjust a training plan that is suitable for you according to your situation. I am looking forward to the Winter Olympics season with your participation."
Ji Tiantian looked at Tang Yi, and they couldn't help but smile at each other.
Time passed by in the busy training. Soon, Ji Tang's first match of the Winter Olympics season would begin. This was also their first time to participate in the adult group competition.
Their first stop is the Grand Prix race - China Cup.
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