Chapter 71: Impromptu Dance Change – Inviting a Big Shot…
Chapter 71
Meng Yingying glanced at Chen Xiaoxiao, who was a little nervous. She was actually quite afraid that Meng Yingying would reject her.
She had finally managed to plead with Director He and get another chance to compete.
However, Chen Xiaoxiao was overthinking it.
Meng Yingying and her friends were late last time too. If it weren't for the back door being opened, they wouldn't have even made it into the preliminary rounds.
Therefore, Meng Yingying wouldn't make things too difficult for Chen Xiaoxiao in this regard, as she had previously asked Ye Yingtao to fetch the underwear.
Actually, she had selected a large group of people, but since they were all outsiders, she didn't want to involve them, so she decided to put her own in the picture.
It was such a heinous crime that, after much deliberation, they finally chose Chen Xiaoxiao.
First, Chen Xiaoxiao is definitely not clean. Second, she actually agreed to join forces with Su Mingda, which is framing the contestant.
On this point alone, it wouldn't be wrong to accuse her of taking her things and letting Su Mingda keep them for himself.
Meng Yingying's prolonged silence made Chen Xiaoxiao increasingly uneasy.
Fortunately, just when she was about to explode with nervousness, Meng Yingying spoke up, "I'll take number five. I'm destined to be number five."
"As for Chen Xiaoxiao, she can just cut in line and be number four."
With these words, Chen Xiaoxiao finally breathed a sigh of relief. She glanced at Meng Yingying with a complicated expression, hesitated for a moment, and then bowed to Meng Yingying.
"Thanks."
Meng Yingying avoided it; she didn't want Chen Xiaoxiao to bow. Chen Xiaoxiao noticed, and her face turned red. She had learned her lesson and was no longer as bossy and domineering as before.
I could only bear it and sit down.
She comforted herself, thinking that the fact that she was able to come out unharmed and continue to participate in the competition was already a very good result.
As for the details, they're not that important.
Just bear with it.
On stage.
Shen Meilan was quite unlucky; she had already been interrupted twice because of Chen Xiaoxiao's sudden arrival, which also caused the broadcast to be temporarily suspended.
In those short five minutes, she thought it over and over again. Just before going on stage, she reported to Director He and the others in the audience, "Reporting to the judges, I want to change the list of programs I will be performing."
Director He and the others instinctively wanted to refuse, but Shen Meilan interrupted them first, "You interrupted my rhythm first, twice in a row, which made me very nervous and caused me to lose confidence in the pieces I had submitted before."
"Where does it grow?"
Shen Meilan remained calm. She didn't throw a tantrum or act unreasonable; instead, she tried to reason with them.
"You are the ones in the wrong, not me. You are the ones who disrupted my rhythm."
"That's why I had to change the song on the spot."
Of course, Tong Jialan also played a part in this. She was the first to go on stage, and she set the tone too high, which resulted in her getting a high score.
This led to the direct reason she changed the song.
Obviously, using "Good Menba on the Snow Mountain" to compete against these people is no longer appropriate.
The piece "Snow Mountain" was too conventional. During the five minutes that Shen Meilan waited backstage, she thought it through very clearly. If she were to take this piece on stage again, she might not even have a chance to beat Tong Jialan.
The only option left is to change the song.
Challenge yourself, break through your own limitations.
Tong Jialan's reasoning was sound, making it difficult for Director He to refuse. Instead of giving a direct answer, she looked at the judges' panel.
What are your opinions?
Clearly, she wanted to leave the decision-making power to the judges rather than take the blame herself.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. "In principle, it is not allowed to change the song before the competition, but your situation is special. Chen Xiaoxiao's presence did interrupt your performance on stage twice."
"Let's decide by voting."
Now, no one objects.
All four judges voted in favor. Director He then asked Shen Meilan, giving her one last chance, "Are you sure you want to change the piece right before going on stage?"
"Shen Meilan, think it over. After all, you've been practicing the best Monpa from the snowy mountains for the past month at the training camp."
Changing the song before going on stage didn't affect the judges the most, but rather Shen Meilan herself.
Shen Meilan had thought about it for a long time before making this decision, so when faced with Director He's question, she nodded and said, "I'm sure."
He Chang made a note in his notebook, "Which piece of music do you want to change it to?"
Shen Meilan uttered four words, "Changqing will guide the way."
As soon as he said that, the room fell silent, and everyone turned to look.
Including Meng Yingying and the others.
"Changqing Points the Way" is a carefully selected excerpt from the dance drama "The Red Detachment of Women," and it is the official version produced by the National Ballet of China, without exception.
Meng Yingying also skipped the scene from "The Red Detachment of Women," but she skipped the condensed segment "Changqing Points the Way."
It's not that she can't, but that she can, but everyone in the Harbin Cultural Troupe, from top to bottom, including the coaches, can't.
"Changqing Points the Way" is an abridged segment from "The Red Detachment of Women," and only the Central Ballet of China can perform it.
There is an information gap between these dances, and those performing arts troupes outside the capital are not qualified to obtain this information.
Just like the college entrance examination, the textbooks and teachers in the capital are better than those in other provinces.
This is an indisputable fact.
Therefore, when Meng Yingying performed the Red Detachment of Women dance, she naturally deleted the scene where Chang Qing gave directions.
For a local cultural troupe like theirs, it's quite normal to skip the deleted version of The Red Detachment of Women.
Because none of them knew how a true evergreen guide jumps.
No one teaches them, and no one knows how; this is a natural information barrier.
Now, Shen Meilan is being forced to bring out her best pieces ahead of time. She clearly knows that if she were to use "Good Menba Under the Snow Mountain" to compete again, she would obviously not be able to win.
Since the existing repertoire is no match, the only option is to switch to more difficult and novel pieces to deliver a decisive blow to these local cultural troupes.
Shen Meilan was not surprised by the shock in the audience after she chose this song.
He Chu paused for a moment, then asked, "Shen Meilan, are you sure you want to dance this piece?"
"This piece of music is not performed by our provincial song and dance troupe, nor by any local cultural troupe."
This was exactly the effect Shen Meilan wanted. She nodded, "I want to dance this."
Since she joined the local song and dance troupe as a member of the Capital Song and Dance Troupe's youth team, she came with the intention of thoroughly defeating them from the very beginning.
However, what Shen Meilan did not expect was that in this local competition, Tong Jialan alone put so much pressure on her at the very beginning.
In addition to Meng Yingying's talent, the temporary promotion of Shen Qiuyue as a substitute, and Chen Xiaoxiao's sudden entry into the queue.
Every variable in this process forced her to change her repertoire.
Director He's expression was complicated. "Since you're sure you want to jump that one, then we'll have to wait."
Seeing everyone's confusion, Director He then said, "I've only seen the selected clip of Changqing giving directions, and it's obviously unfair for me to be the only judge, so we need to invite outside judges."
She went to see Director Liu, who shook his head. "The Changchun Film Studio is only good at things in the three northeastern provinces. They really don't know much about the capital. So we've only heard of the dance drama 'Changqing Guides the Way,' but we've never actually seen it."
They are not qualified to be judges if they have never seen a piece of music before, because they do not know it and cannot judge whether the other person's performance is good or bad.
Director He then went to look at Judge Li, who also shook his head. He hesitated, then said, "I do know someone in Changshi who understands 'Evergreen Guides'."
"who?"
Director He and Director Liu were the first to ask the question.
"Yang Jie".
Upon hearing this name, everyone present seemed somewhat bewildered. However, Director He suddenly realized, "Yang Jie? Isn't she the one who retired from the Central Ballet of China?"
"Yes, it's her."
"As far as I know, after she left the CCTV Ballet Troupe, she grew tired of the industry and returned to Changsha to retire. She currently holds a position at the Federation of Literary and Art Circles. If you can invite her over, you'll basically have an expert to critique the dance drama 'Evergreen Guides the Way'."
As the person in charge of this matter, Director He naturally stood up and said, "I'll make the contact."
"However, during this period, the trainees will take a break and wait for Comrade Yang Jie to arrive before they can perform on stage."
What are everyone's opinions?
Director Liu and the others had no objections and didn't want to stand out anymore. Clearly, this mess had made everyone want to play it safe.
Seeing that none of them objected, Director He stepped off the stage and addressed the students and coaches below, saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, there has been a sudden situation. Comrade Shen Meilan has changed her dance piece. None of the judges present here are very familiar with the piece she is going to dance, so we need to invite new judges to come in and evaluate it."
"Please wait in the meantime."
As soon as he said that, the audience and the students' seats erupted in cheers.
"What does this mean? Just because one person changed the song, we're all made to wait?"
"Is this still a competition venue? The competition has already started, how can everyone have to postpone their matches because of personal issues?"
"Exactly, why don't we stop calling it the Northeast Three Provinces Joint Performance and just call it Shen Meilan's Individual Competition?"
The atmosphere at the scene was getting heated.
Shen Meilan's face was a little pale. She hadn't expected that changing a song would cause such a commotion.
Standing in the middle of the stage, Director He waved her hand and said, "Quiet down, everyone. Since no one accepts postponing the competition, then so be it. Number three will come on stage now, and we will schedule Shen Meilan's match for last."
Shen Qiuyue, who was number three, was also unhappy. She stood up and refused tremblingly, "Director He, we do not accept going on stage early."
Okay, that's good.
He agreed to change the song for Shen Meilan, but everyone present objected.
Director He was also troubled. He went to see Shen Meilan, but Shen Meilan turned her head away and said, "You broke the precedent first, ruining my determination to compete on stage halfway through."
He Chang frowned slightly, knowing that the problem initially stemmed from Chen Xiaoxiao, and that if Chen Xiaoxiao hadn't been allowed to join in halfway through...
Then none of these things would have happened.
But whether it's Chen Xiaoxiao or Shen Meilan, these things have already happened, and all she can do is try to find a solution from this mess.
Director He glanced down at his watch. "It's 10:10 now."
"Give me half an hour. If I can get Comrade Yang Jie over, Shen Meilan, you can go on stage and perform as usual."
"If you can't get it, either you go back to the original piece, or you change the piece and don't dance to 'Evergreen Points the Way' anymore. These are the two options, Shen Meilan, you choose."
She put the pressure back on Shen Meilan.
The problem originated from Shen Meilan, and the judges all agreed with her proposal, but the people below disagreed.
Shen Meilan hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Okay."
The two sides have reached a temporary agreement.
Director He called out to those below, "Everyone, rest here for twenty minutes."
She personally went to the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, hoping to try her luck and invite Comrade Yang Jie to be a judge.
After Director He left, the scene instantly became lively.
What is "Evergreen Guide"?
Ye Yingtao and the others had never even heard of this piece of music before, and Lin Qiu next to them was in a similar state of confusion.
Clearly, the piece that Shen Meilan wanted to change was one that most people were unfamiliar with.
Meng Yingying did know, but she couldn't explain it from her own mouth. Even Ye Yingtao and Lin Qiu, who had been in the art troupe for over ten years, didn't know what the piece "Changqing Guides the Way" was. If she did know, it would be too suspicious.
She went to see Coach Zhao, hoping he could answer everyone's questions.
Coach Zhao looked somewhat dazed. It took her a while to say, "Changqing Points the Way is a selection of excerpts from The Red Detachment of Women."
As soon as she said that, Ye Yingtao denied it, "Really? Coach, are you trying to trick us?"
"Who doesn't know the Red Detachment of Women? Yingying even danced to it last time, but we watched the whole thing from beginning to end, and there was no 'Changqing Points the Way' segment at all, let alone that song."
"Judging from the names, these are two different tracks."
As a result, Coach Zhao insisted that "Changqing Points the Way" was a scene from the Red Detachment of Women. Isn't that a joke?
"I'm not joking."
Coach Zhao sighed, "There is indeed a segment called 'Changqing Points the Way' in The Red Detachment of Women, but not many people know about it. This is because 'Changqing Points the Way' is a selected segment, and only members of the Central Ballet of China know how to dance it. Even if it is revealed, it is limited to places like the Capital Song and Dance Troupe. As for local art troupes and provincial song and dance troupes, most of them have only heard of the piece but have never learned it."
"It's not that we don't want to learn, it's that we don't have the resources to learn, do you understand?"
That's why everyone is desperately trying to get into the provincial song and dance troupe, while the provincial song and dance troupe is desperately trying to get into the capital.
We are all fish in a fish tank, and we all want to reach the sea, but the road to the sea is really too difficult.
Only a very small number of people can make it up there.
People in local cultural troupes are like fish in a lake; many of them may never be able to leave.
Trapped in this place, they naturally became unaware of the ocean.
After listening, Ye Yingtao murmured, "That's so unfair to us."
The dance that Shen Meilan performed in the competition was one that even the judges had never seen before, so they had to ask outside help to score it.
“From the moment she chose this piece to participate in the competition, it was already unfair to us.”
Shen Meilan danced a piece that no one else had ever danced before, and it was a unique piece that could only be performed in the capital.
Coach Zhao didn't know how to persuade Ye Yingtao, just as she hadn't been able to understand it back then.
"This is due to regional differences and information differences."
Coach Zhao said, "So everyone is desperately trying to climb up, to move up, because the resources are better at the top."
Ye Yingtao didn't speak; the usually boisterous girl lowered her eyes.
Lin Qiu whispered, "If she really dances this piece, how will we win?"
The question caused everyone to fall silent.
Shen Meilan's move completely crushed everyone, both mentally and physically.
They had never even heard of the dance their opponents were performing. Honestly, there couldn't be anything more ridiculous.
Seeing that everyone was in low spirits, Meng Yingying comforted them, "It's not that time yet. Let's not even talk about whether we can invite Yang Jie as a judge. Even if we do, and Shen Meilan really dances 'Evergreen Points the Way,' she might not be able to dance it particularly well."
"Because the selected excerpt 'Evergreen Guides the Way' is very difficult, if she was really confident, she would have skipped it when she first submitted the song, instead of changing the song at the last minute before going on stage like this."
Ye Yingtao asked curiously, "How do you know that the 'Evergreen Guides the Way' segment is difficult?"
Meng Yingying realized she had misspoke, so she smiled and smoothly smoothed things over, "If it's information that even the Central Ballet Troupe doesn't release to the public, it must be very difficult. If it were really simple, they wouldn't have been able to grasp this information so well."
Moreover, so many people have heard of or seen the dance "Evergreen Points the Way," but no one has been able to replicate it.
This shows how difficult it is.
That makes sense.
Coach Zhao even stood up and said, "Yingying is right."
"The Evergreen Guide is indeed very difficult. I was fortunate enough to observe it from afar once, but that was just a look. When I wanted to come back and tell my students about it, I only remembered a few classic moves and the rest."
“If that’s the case,” Ye Yingtao looked at Meng Yingying, “Yingying, then you’ll be under a lot of pressure in the upcoming competition.”
The other side brought out their grand finale dance; what do they have left to compete with?
Meng Yingying pursed her lips. "It's okay, she's very strong." She smiled, a smile playing on her lips. "I'm not bad either."
She never told anyone that the "Celestial Maiden Scattering Flowers" dance was one of the pieces she was best at in her past life.
The difficulty of the "Celestial Maiden Scattering Flowers" is no less than that of "Evergreen Guiding the Way".
As for who will win in the end, that depends on their individual abilities.
Over the past month, Meng Yingying has been using sandbags to bind her wrists and ankles, and her physical strength has improved significantly compared to before.
Therefore, although changing her repertoire puts a lot of pressure on Shen Meilan, it also gives her something stronger.
Meng Yingying's talent has always been to become stronger when facing stronger opponents; if her opponent is strong, she becomes strong too.
Seeing how composed she was, Ye Yingtao felt a little envious. "Your innate talent is something that others can only envy."
Shen Qiuyue, from the Jilin City Cultural Troupe next door, also heard this. Her face turned a little pale. To be honest...
In terms of mindset, she was not as good as Meng Yingying.
At least, she was nervous when she heard that Shen Meilan was going to change her repertoire and dance Changqing Zhilu.
There was even a sense of despair. She had finally managed to earn a chance to play as a substitute and replace Su Mingda, but was this really the right thing to do?
With such a strong opponent, can she win if she goes up there?
Shen Qiuyue was unaware of this, but when she saw Meng Yingying's calm and composed demeanor, she was somewhat devastated.
I'm really starting to feel overwhelmed.
She even prayed in her heart that Director He would not find Yang Jie, and that Yang Jie would refuse Director He.
In that case, at least we won't have to face "The Evergreen Guide," which is simply unbearable.
Unfortunately, just when things were getting chaotic in the audience, Director He returned, his face still covered in sweat.
And following behind her was Comrade Yang Jie.
Comrade Yang Jie is in her forties this year. After retiring from the Central Ballet Troupe, she returned to Changsha to take care of her parents in their old age.
Never married or had children.
She is now 43 years old and still single.
However, judging from her appearance, she looked exceptionally young, even though she was several years older than Director He.
Perhaps because her brows had not yet been eroded by life, marriage, and children, she still carried a sense of ease and composure that only unmarried girls possess.
The room fell silent the moment Yang Jie entered.
Everyone turned to look.
"I think Comrade Yang Jie is very beautiful."
“Look at her figure, long neck, straight shoulders, from back she looks like an unmarried young girl.”
Ye Yingtao was somewhat envious.
Meng Yingying slapped her, "Listen carefully."
Ye Yingtao then stopped talking, and Director He in front began to introduce, "This is Comrade Yang Jie, who will join the judging panel next to score Comrade Shen Meilan's dance 'Evergreen Points the Way'."
Yang Jie looked around and asked, "Who is Shen Meilan?"
She left the group more than ten years ago, so it's normal that she doesn't know any new people now.
Being reminded by a senior figure made Shen Meilan a little nervous. She could be arrogant in front of others because of her high birth.
The title of the youth team of the Capital Song and Dance Troupe is quite impressive, even in Northeast China.
But when it comes to Yang Jie, it's not quite up to par.
This is because Yang Jie was a pillar of the National Ballet of China and a genius who created one legend after another in the capital's circles.
Later, for reasons unknown, she fell out with the people in the troupe and left the National Ballet of China in a fit of anger.
She later returned to her hometown and never danced again.
As a native of the capital, Shen Meilan had naturally heard of Yang Jie's reputation.
So, she stepped forward nervously, took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, and said respectfully, "Teacher Yang, I am Shen Meilan."
Yang Jie glanced at her, her eyes sharp, "Your figure isn't quite up to par. It's probably a bit much to ask you to dance 'Changqing Points the Way'."
Shen Meilan's face turned pale instantly, but she insisted, "But I want to try."
She had a small, square face, her hair stood up high, and there were many yellow downy hairs on both sides of her temples. In the end, Shen Meilan was not very old; she was only twenty-two years old this year.
Yang Jie hummed in agreement and said calmly, "Then you can try it."
"But since you've invited me to be a judge, don't cry when I'm giving my comments."
Shen Meilan nodded, "No, it's already an honor for me, Teacher Yang, that you would give me your feedback."
Yang Jie had heard too much flattery in her life, so she remained noncommittal. Perhaps it had been too long since she had interacted with young people, and too long since she had been to a competition like this.
This made Yang Jie feel nostalgic and somewhat dazed.
Just like back then, she casually glanced at the trainees on site, but they were all of average ability.
That's true. With the higher-ups selecting the best, what good talents can be left in the three northeastern provinces?
Just as Yang Jie was about to head to the judges' table in disappointment, Meng Yingying, who had finished using the restroom, came over.
Yang Jie paused, bypassed the judges' table, and walked specifically to Meng Yingying. Her eyes lit up for a moment before she said, "Child, turn around and let me see you."
Meng Yingying, “?”
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Author's Note: Second update. There will be an extra update tonight. Wait for me, I'm going to grab some dinner.
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