Chapter 83 2016 Street Dance and China Cup
◎Angry, unwilling, never give up◎
After hearing Ji Tiantian's words, Xu Chi was silent for a while.
This season, street dance rhythm appears in the short dance for the first time. In order to successfully master this rhythm, of course, street dance elements must be integrated into the entire program.
But Xu Chi's understanding of street dance is still very limited. Not to mention domestic ice dance coaches, looking at ice dance coaches and choreographers around the world, there are probably not many who know street dance. Everyone is old, in their 40s or 50s, and has been doing social dance for many years. How can they understand young people's street dance? The people in the Montreal ice dance school are probably the same.
This is indeed an innovation and a breakthrough, and no one knows what the final show will look like.
For the International Skating Union, if this rhythm selection can lead to many excellent works, then the short ice dance can break away from the framework of social dance, the range of music selection will be further expanded, and the influence of the entire project will continue to grow. But for the players, this is undoubtedly a gamble in their careers.
The World Championships at the end of this season are related to the quota for the 2018 Winter Olympics, so it cannot be said to be unimportant.
"Change is opportunity. I think we can indeed try to choose street dance rhythm." Jiang Lin looked at the information in her hand and spoke to Xu Chi, "This season, the pattern dance has been reduced by half, and derivative steps have appeared. The International Skating Union has also reduced the basic score of the pattern dance. Originally, if the pattern dance received the highest rating, it could get 7 basic points, but now it can only get 5 points. The importance of key points and pattern dance has been weakened. However, the basic scores of other movements, transition steps, twists, and lifts have all been improved. The International Skating Union's intention is very clear, further reducing the fixed part and increasing the freedom of the short dance. In this case, if we are too conservative and dare not break through and innovate, it will be difficult to score."
"That's right. Anyway, the situation is clear now. No matter what program we skate, the content and execution points will be compressed. So if that's the case, let's just choose the rhythm that the contestants like." Xu Chi exhaled lightly, then slapped the table hard, "That's it, this season, we'll skate hip-hop!"
Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi smiled at each other, Xu Chi and Jiang Lin also smiled at each other.
“Other single and pair skaters must think we are weird when they see us doing street dance,” Jiang Lin said with a smile.
"It's about being the best among a group of outliers!" Xu Chi said with a smile, "Then I'll discuss this with Clara later."
Clara, who is mainly responsible for choreography for Ji Tang, has been working with the Chinese national team. She is currently in the capital, serving as a consultant for the national team's youth ice dancers. Currently, the national team has many more ice dancers than in the past, and is also in great need of choreography.
This season, Ji Tang and Clara will go to the Montreal Ice Dance School for closed training in mid-July. By then, Clara's work focus will shift to Ji Tang. Before that, Clara will not have much energy to take care of Ji Tang, but she can have some communication in advance. In addition, Xu Chi thinks Clara will also need to spend a lot of time looking up relevant information on the rhythm of street dance this season to see how to integrate skating and street dance.
"Coach, we want to skate street dance too!" The male partner of another group in the adult group, Brother Braid, spoke to his coach.
"Let Tiantian and Tang Yi take on the new rhythms. They have good skills, so there won't be any problems. You two should just skate to swing and blues, don't think too much." Another group of coaches immediately retorted, "We must get two places for the 2017 World Championships and the Winter Olympics, so we have to have a pair of players adopt a conservative strategy. And if street dance rhythms are really suitable for ice dancing, they will definitely return to the competition in the next season. It won't be too late to try again then."
Considering the overall situation, Brother Bianzi had no choice but to agree. From time to time, he turned around and looked at Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi with envy.
"By the way, what do you two think about the theme of free dance?" Xu Chi asked Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi.
Ji Tiantian didn't answer for a while. Many thoughts were surging in her mind.
Although she didn't want to admit it, the change in her relationship with Tang Yi did give her a lot of inspiration. Many ideas that were very vague in the past have now become clear.
"They must have a lot of ideas." Jiang Lin glanced at Ji Tiantian's sparkling eyes and said to Xu Chi with a smile, "Last season, from the choreography before the game to the improvisation during the game, they were all surprising. They are no longer as entangled as they were at the beginning."
"Okay, you two can communicate with Clara later." Xu Chi nodded, and the meeting before the new season ended.
Before leaving for the ice dance school, Ji Tang's training intensity was not high. Ji Tiantian practiced skating every day, learned basic street dance moves on land, and also had time to take care of her studies and ballet.
She consulted teachers at school and experienced choreographers in China, and then further expanded the actors and content of the ballet procession.
In mid-May, the Busy Dance Company performed "Swan Lake on Ice" in an ice rink that can accommodate 3,000 people.
The original 30-person team was expanded to 64. Eight rows of swan girls stepped on the beautiful music, raised their legs high behind them, slowly stretched their arms, and glided to the side in an orderly manner, which was magnificent and sad. The foreign audiences who came to watch could not help but show their admiration.
"Ice dance dramas require the main actors to have rich dancing and ice skating experience. The requirements for choreographers are also very strict. They must be flexible and innovative. Most people can't handle it at all." Foreign audiences and people around them discussed, "Such talents are hard to find anywhere in the world. I didn't expect Tiantian to be able to direct and perform by herself, and lead a group of people to accomplish such a big thing!"
64 girls formed a circle on the vast ice and began to skate clockwise. In the center of the circle, Ji Tiantian stood on Tang Yi's legs and bent backwards. She looked so dazzling, like a pearl on the ice. The swan girls changed into two teams and dispersed to the left and right. Tang Yi held Ji Tiantian and began to fly on the ice. In the wind, they stared deeply.
"They are indeed a miracle group from Asia." Foreign audiences continued to sigh, "The reason why they can create miracles one after another is perhaps because they themselves are miracles."
The audience praised the performance highly, and the good reputation of the performance continued to rise, attracting more audiences. The venue with a capacity of 3,000 people was still full every time.
The dance company's income is increasing day by day. The performance of "Swan Lake on Ice" will continue until July.
Although it felt good to perform with everyone's expectations, Ji Tiantian knew that the day of leaving for closed training at the Montreal Ice Dance School was getting closer.
After the last ice performance before leaving, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi led more than 80 performers to take a bow on the ice.
“Since the Busy Dancing Dance Company was established last year, we have been fortunate to receive your strong support. As one of the founders of the dance company, I feel very honored.”
Ji Tiantian held the microphone and stood on the ice to speak to the audience, "But it is a pity that our performance of "Swan Lake on Ice" this year may come to an end temporarily. Ice fans who are familiar with figure skating should all know that in the second half of this season, figure skating competitions will begin one after another. Tang Yi and I, as well as other national team performers, will start to concentrate on preparing for the competition and have to temporarily leave the ballet. However, the performances of the dance troupe will not stop. There will be some small-scale ice ballets with team skating as the main part, which will meet you one after another under the leadership of other leading actors. Friends who are interested can follow our dance troupe's Weibo and official website."
After Ji Tiantian finished speaking, she and Tang Yi knelt down and saluted to the audience: "Thank you all again!"
The second ice dancers Lin Aili and Bian Zi Ge, the couple Yu Sha Gaozhe, and the male and female dancers Ning Huai and Ye Yidong also held hands and saluted the audience. Their performances for this year have come to an end, and then they will go to the competition with all their strength. The audience burst into applause.
"Thank you!"
"Sweet sugar! Sweet sugar!"
“Good luck in the new season!”
"National team! Come on! National team! Come on!"
In this way, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi temporarily left the dance drama performance. Ji Tiantian asked Chen Yusheng to help take care of the ice dancers in the dance troupe, and then began to prepare for the competition.
She and Tang Yi, led by their coach, Clara, flew to the Montreal Ice Dance School to begin closed training before the competition.
Here, she began to try to transplant the street dance moves she had practiced on land to the ice.
"There are many types of street dance. After discussing with Clara, I decided to add POPPING elements to your short dance." Clara's husband Mark said to Ji Tang. Just like the Winter Olympics season, Mark is still in charge of the short dance for the two. He will complete the choreography of the short dance for the two with Clara. Xu Chi and Jiang Lin will serve as auxiliary coaches during the training period to help Ji Tang coordinate time planning and complete daily training.
Mark has worked in an ice dance school for many years and is very good at dance training on land and ice. This time, after seeing the emerging street dance rhythm, he also did a lot of homework.
"Popping is a broad category of street dance, which includes puppet dance and robot dance, and emphasizes joint control, with very distinct street dance characteristics." Mark continued, "Popping's puppet dance is similar to some passages in the ballet Coppelia, which I think should be easier for Tiantian to understand."
The dance drama "Coppelia" tells the story of a boy falling in love with a puppet girl. In past competitions, Ji Tiantian has seen other contestants use the theme of this dance drama to complete their ice dance programs.
Under the watchful eyes of Mark, Clara and the coaches, Ji Tiantian began to try to perform street dance moves on the ice with Tang Yi.
She had just started street dancing, so naturally she couldn't perform her movements as flexibly as Tang Yi, so Mark soon pulled her out for individual training.
Although Ji Tiantian had danced puppet dance on the ground before and performed similar dance segments at the Winter Olympics GALA, for her, dancing puppet dance while skating on the ice to fast street dance music was a different matter.
Ji Tiantian manipulated her arms, dancing up and down, but it was difficult to keep up with the fast rhythm of the music while ensuring the quality of her movements.
"Tiantian, your movements are a bit stiff. Go faster and keep up with the beat!" Mark gave instructions while standing at the edge of the ice.
Ji Tiantian then increased her speed, but immediately fell on the ice. The ice is not land, and it is difficult to control the speed of the dance.
During practice, she fell on the ice again and again, and her coach felt a little sorry for her.
"Is there no effective way to improve it?" Xu Chi asked Mark.
"It's the first time for me and other teachers in the school to come into contact with hip-hop rhythms. There is no complete teaching system at present." Mark said helplessly, "The few pairs of hip-hop rhythms that are currently trained in our school have not actually achieved very good results. Hip-hop itself emphasizes the control of joints and muscles, and the pauses between beats, but this is the anti-skating. You know what I mean? Skating emphasizes smoothness, while hip-hop emphasizes pauses. If you want to take hip-hop into account while skating, both dance skills and skating skills must be very strong."
As Xu Chi thought, the coach's inexperience is also one of the main difficulties of this season.
"How are the other contestants who chose street dance practicing now?" Xu Chi was silent for a long time, then asked.
"Some are still fighting hard, while others have switched directly to swing dancing." Mark said, "We can also switch while there is still time."
Xu Chi looked at Ji Tiantian who had just been helped up by Tang Yi on the ice. The two were discussing the details of the puppet dance and had no intention of giving up. "Try again, maybe it will work." Xu Chi said in a deep voice.
Once again, Ji Tiantian fell on the ice.
"Why did you choose street dance? You're just asking for trouble." Judy, who was watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but talk to Mia.
Judy is still the same as before. Although her training base is not at the ice dance school, she will occasionally come to see the training of the various pairs of players here and talk to Mia.
Now that Victoria and William have retired, Judy and her partner Jayne have been promoted to Canada's number one ice dancers, with Mia and Lucas becoming number two.
"So far, the contestants who chose hip-hop rhythm dance have suffered a lot. Their short dance practice progress is far behind that of the contestants who chose swing dance." Judy looked at Ji Tiantian on the ice and couldn't help but smile smugly. "Just from the training, it can be seen that this season, those who choose hip-hop dance will definitely not have good results."
"Tiantian and Tang can create miracles." Mia couldn't help but say.
"You are too blind in your love for them. Their ranking has already declined, and their performance in the Winter Olympics may just be a flash in the pan." Judy smiled, then secretly clenched her fists.
Many new rules were introduced this season, and the leaders Victoria and William retired. For the ice dance community, this season will bring about a big change in both scores and rankings.
And she must seize this opportunity to surpass the Chinese team and strive to become the leader in the ice dance circle as soon as possible.
Watching Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi's unsuccessful practice, Judy felt that her future was full of hope.
In the first few days after arriving at the ice dance school, Ji Tiantian's practice progress was not satisfactory. Of course, this was largely due to Yunli's fault.
Mark gave her an ultimatum: if she still made no progress next week, she should switch to rhythmic skating and stop challenging herself with street dance.
Ji Tiantian was still the same as before. After finishing a day's training, she would still dance alone in the training room until the early morning.
When she was tired of dancing, she sat on the floor and stared at the floor-length mirror in a daze.
Did he choose hip-hop rhythm because that's what Tang Yi is good at? Of course not.
She wants to be an all-round dancer. She hopes to be able to handle any kind of dance, whether on land or on ice.
Moreover, she knew very well from last season's World Championships that the judges had become stricter in their scoring. If they used the traditional swing dance rhythm instead of trying new rhythms, they would still have no chance of winning in terms of program content.
They must be good at what European and American players are good at, and they must be even better at what European and American players dare not challenge. Only in this way can they fight their way out.
Ji Tiantian calmed herself down and looked at her hands silently.
Logically speaking, all dances are universal, and once you learn one, it won't be difficult to master the others, but street dance...it seems that it is really not suitable for her.
In addition to the fact that the upper body movements are completely different from ballet, hip-hop also has many joint adduction movements. In order to better imitate puppets, there are also many movements that show loss of control. This is completely different from ballet, which emphasizes opening outward and being in control at all times.
There was a slight sound of footsteps. Ji Tiantian turned around and saw Tang Yi. Ji Tiantian sighed silently. These days when she was doing extra training, Tang Yi always came to accompany her. Even if she refused, he would still come.
She knew that hip-hop was more of a battle between her and herself. Many habits she had developed needed to be changed. She needed to overcome this hurdle on her own.
Tang Yi saw that Ji Tiantian didn't take the initiative to talk to him, so he sat quietly beside her. He deliberately kept a distance from her to prevent anyone from seeing them and suspecting that they had a special relationship. This was also what Ji Tiantian repeatedly reminded him of.
"I know that people tend to doubt themselves easily after practicing for a long time." Tang Yi was silent for a long time, and finally spoke, "I just want to tell you that in my opinion, you will always be the most dazzling, just like in the beginning."
When Ji Tiantian heard Tang Yi's words, she immediately thought of his painting and couldn't help laughing.
"There's no one else like you in the world." She said, looking at him helplessly.
"Then we are all unique." Tang Yi smiled at Ji Tiantian, "You were on the stage at that time, dancing happily. I hope you will never lose that happiness."
"Are you unhappy when you dance?" Ji Tiantian asked.
"I initially chose dancing because I felt it was an effective way to express my emotions." Tang Yi lowered his eyes and fell into deep thought, "When dancing, I can express my anger and dissatisfaction to my heart's content. Rather than happiness, I feel this is more like a relief."
Ji Tiantian looked at Tang Yi quietly. She and Tang Yi danced for different reasons. She liked to interpret the content and roles through dance, feel the intense emotions, and convey them to the audience.
But Tang Yi is different. He dances because he simply wants to express his emotions. He doesn't think about the audience or the stage. Street dance is more suitable for expressing emotions than classical ballet and social dance. Many young people who choose street dance have the same mentality as Tang Yi. Express emotions and don't care about other things.
"You're right. Maybe if I can find a way to express my emotions, I can dance well." Ji Tiantian stood up. She closed her eyes to digest it, and then began to practice puppet dance in front of the mirror.
"It doesn't feel right." Ji Tiantian sighed silently. Puppet dance doesn't seem to be suitable for expressing emotions.
"Don't worry about hip-hop for now, just find a way to express your emotions." Tang Yi stood up and asked Ji Tiantian, "What makes you most angry now?"
"Those referees who gave unfair scores." Ji Tiantian said without hesitation, anger slowly filling her eyes. "I don't know when we can stop worrying about our P scores being suppressed."
Tang Yi looked around the training room, then found a pair of boxing gloves and handed them to Ji Tiantian. He then put on the curved target and signaled Ji Tiantian to punch the target.
Boxing exercises are part of their physical training to develop upper body strength and upper limb muscle lines.
Ji Tiantian put on boxing gloves and punched at the target.
"Ji Tiantian, what are you thinking about now!" Tang Yi asked her in a louder voice.
"I want to win!" Ji Tiantian hit Tang Yi's target with force, and raised her voice, "No one can stop us!"
"We'll keep jumping!" She threw another fierce punch. "Keep jumping!"
"We will win!" Tang Yi spoke loudly.
"We will win!" Ji Tiantian shouted and threw a punch hard.
She felt like there was a wild beast that would never give up, roaring inside her body.
Strong emotions surged in her heart, and she suddenly felt dizzy. She had been practicing dancing before, and now she felt exhausted, her steps were weak, and she fell down. Tang Yi caught her in time.
He held her in his arms and sat on the floor with her.
Her breathing was heaving and sweat was pouring down her body, but she felt more refreshed than ever before.
"Is this how it feels like when you dance street dance?" Ji Tiantian rested her chin on Tang Yi's shoulder and smiled gently, "It's great." Although she didn't know how to overcome the difficulties of puppet dance yet, she felt that she understood street dance better.
"What's going on?" Just then, two coaches, Mark, and some curious dance school students appeared at the door of Lu's training room.
"What are you shouting so late at night?" Xu Chi asked, while taking a deep look at the two contestants hugging each other.
Ji Tiantian was stunned for a moment, then immediately pushed Tang Yi away, stood up, and kept a distance from him.
Xu Chi and Jiang Lin's eyes lingered on Ji Tiantian's face for a moment, then they looked at each other at the same time.
"When I was practicing boxing just now, I suddenly thought of something." Tang Yi coughed lightly and spoke thoughtfully, "LOCKING has a classic move, which is PUNCH."
LOCKING, like POPPING, is a type of street dance that emphasizes large movements of the upper limbs.
"If you don't choose the POPPING puppet dance, but use the LOCKING element to complete the short dance." Tang Yi was silent for a moment, then looked up at Mark, "I think LOKING may be more suitable for Tiantian to perform."
"Some athletes in school have tried it, but they didn't do it well. It was like doing radio gymnastics on the ice." Mark thought for a moment, "But you can try."
The next day, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi began to practice LOCKING on the ice to the accompaniment of lively street dance music.
They began to improvise along with the music.
On the ice, Ji Tiantian followed Tang Yi as she skated at high speed, punching up, down, left and right quickly. She imagined the feeling of expressing emotions in boxing, and every movement was done with extraordinary force.
She followed him, letting out all the emotion in her, they stepped on the ice together to the beat, facing each other in a shouting gesture, with their fists raised high.
Angry, unwilling, and never giving up. Their street dance expresses such strong emotions.
At this moment, his skillful technique pulled her strong emotions, causing them to surge up like a tide and spread across the entire ice surface.
The surrounding contestants stopped one after another and couldn't help but cast their eyes on them.
"It's amazing... This is the first time I see someone who can perform street dance so well on the ice." One contestant exclaimed.
"Some athletes before did not feel anything when doing LOCKING." Mark looked at the ice in surprise, "But Ji Tang is different. They are very imposing. The infectiousness during the Winter Olympics seems to have returned."
"It's still the same as before. As long as they find a way that suits them, everything will go smoothly." Clara said with a smile.
"I thought puppet dance was suitable for a delicate little girl like Tiantian, but it turns out it's not. There's a fierce beast living in her heart, and majestic movements are suitable for her." Mark looked at the Chinese group that continued to skate on the ice and couldn't help but smile helplessly, "I often feel that they don't need me. It's better to say that they have been guiding me rather than guiding them, which has opened my eyes again and again."
Xu Chi looked at Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi on the ice and couldn't help but smile with relief.
Finally, their contestants overcame another difficulty.
Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi started to perform a short dance using the LOKING element. Their progress was very smooth and they quickly selected the music. Then, the free dance was also completed smoothly.
In the blink of an eye, the 2016-2017 Grand Prix races started one after another. This season, Ji Tang decided to participate in as many international competitions as possible.
The races they participated in were the same as during the Winter Olympics season, first the China Cup in China and then the NHK Cup in Japan.
In mid-November, Ji Tang returned to China from Montreal, ready to enter the China Cup.
Many fans would not miss the game at home. On the day of the game, many fans arrived early and started talking while waiting at the ticket gate.
"I heard that this season's short dance can be a street dance, I wonder what it's like!"
“I’m really looking forward to it!”
"Why do I feel like this is another type of dance that's easy to fall in? I hope Tiantang won't fall again!"
"Yeah, it seems like Tiantang's first game of every season isn't that good, I wonder how she'll be this time!"
"Wow, I hope the referee is more supportive. The score for fighting on home soil shouldn't be low, right?"
Not long after, Ji Tang came to the competition venue accompanied by his coach. Ji Tiantian saw Feifei, who was selling silver suits of sweet goose at the door, and Ni Chuan who was accompanying her.
Ji Tiantian walked over and greeted the two of them. She suddenly thought of something, so she pulled Ni Chuan away and asked in a low voice: "I forgot to ask you before, you were not blamed by Tang Yi, right?"
"Blame? Why?" Ni Chuan was confused.
"That's right... I showed Tang Yi the painting you gave me..." Ji Tiantian said in a low voice.
"Ah, that was such a long time ago! You still remember it!" Ni Chuan scratched his head, "I was wondering why Brother Yi ignored me for several days in a row... But then he invited me to dinner again, which made me confused."
Tang Yi must have been unhappy about his secret relationship at that time, but later he gradually got used to it and was in the mood to invite Ni Chuan to dinner.
Ji Tiantian thought so and couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth.
"Sister Tiantian, what's your situation now?" Ni Chuan couldn't help but ask.
"We are a very good pair." Seeing that Ni Chuan wanted to ask more questions, Ji Tiantian quickly pulled Tang Yi over and gave Ni Chuan a hasty smile, "Then let's prepare for the game first! Thank you for your continued support! I'll treat you to a meal some other day!"
After saying that, she and Tang Yi entered the venue together, sorted out their respective costumes, and prepared for the competition.
While Ji Tiantian was tidying up the costume, she also looked around the entire stadium.
There are a total of ten pairs participating in the ice dance competition. As the host of the sub-station, China sent three pairs of domestic players this time. The pair of Ji Tang and Lin Aili, and the pair of Qin Nian who won the third place in the National Winter Games.
As for foreign opponents, Canada’s Judy Jayne and Mia Lucas will both take to the field this time around.
Judy did not forget to cast a hostile look at Ji Tiantian while tidying up her costume.
Ji Tiantian knew very well that this season, Judy and Jayne would not give up any chance to surpass her. Everyone wanted to seek opportunities in this change.
"The ice dance short dance competition is about to begin. Contestants, please prepare to warm up in groups." Soon, a cold voice came from the radio.
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