Chapter 74 Try harder
The biggest difference between the new season and the previous ones is that figure skating has finally moved from the pure music era to the vocal era. The rule of "no vocals" has been abolished, and among the background music choices for today's short program alone, one-third of the skaters had vocals.
However, Mary Connie is a cautious choreographer. She did not arrange vocal music for He Hui immediately, meaning that she could observe the situation for a season before making a decision.
He Hui's goal of arranging a Chinese-style song every season has not changed.
This season, the music she chose for her short program came from the ancient guqin piece "Jiu Kuang".
This is a relatively unfamiliar choice for ice fans and also a challenge for Mary. Therefore, He Hui found a guqin and classical dance teacher to learn from, and put forward many unique insights into the choreography.
It is not an exaggeration to say responsibly that the choreography of this short program is a joint work of He Hui and Mary.
Lin Xiaoman is often amazed at how serious He Hui is about figure skating. According to her, there are very few skaters who participate in the entire program from the choreography stage, and there are probably only a few skaters like He Hui who seek advice from experts and professionals to achieve perfection.
She once asked He Hui the reason. After all, in the eyes of some people, song selection is important, but its validity period is usually only one season, at most two seasons, and it changes very quickly.
Unexpectedly, He Hui simply replied: "I just want to leave no regrets."
Lin Xiaoman suddenly understood why He Hui refused to lower the difficulty.
"You are so stubborn." Lin Xiaoman said.
He Hui wanted to say that she had finally gotten a chance to start over, and she wanted to live more purely, follow the voice of her heart, and give up something in order to gain something.
*
The competition in the women's singles short program at this year's Wudi Cup was not very fierce.
Most of the players were not in good shape at the beginning of the season. Some fell and some missed their jumps, which made the atmosphere on the ice rink a little depressed.
Li Chumiao also came to participate in the Wudi Cup. After vocal music was allowed this year, she immediately chose a rather wild and outgoing rock song in her short program.
Performing in her comfort zone, Li Chumiao performed well as expected and is currently ranked third.
The backstage was very busy, and He Hui only had time to quickly congratulate Li Chumiao before watching her leave in a hurry.
Li Chumiao looked a little strange, but He Hui couldn't tell what was wrong at first.
The current first place is taken by a young player from Russia who has just been promoted to the group. She has a strong momentum and started early in the order, but she led all the way to the end.
"It feels like Anna's development has no impact on their national team at all." Lin Xiaoman sighed backstage.
"Yeah, it's actually pretty cruel."
This fierce competition is almost cruel. Every player is a "product" that can be replaced, and there is always fresh blood coming to replace them, just like an assembly line.
"But she also won an Olympic bronze medal. There are also some athletes who developed before the Olympics. They..."
Lin Xiaoman didn't say anything else and sighed.
He Hui didn't know if it was due to the influence of her growth, but she became more sentimental than before.
She followed with a long sigh: "Yes."
He Hui made the final appearance at the Wudi Cup.
When her people stood on the sidelines, she felt her head was still in a mess. The desire to win and fear of losing were playing tricks on her. The ambition to prove herself and the uneasiness brought about by the development barrier mixed together, causing bubbles to surge in her chest.
"Don't think too much. There aren't many difficult moves in the short program. Just keep calm."
The jump arrangement of the short program was indeed not difficult for He Hui before, 3Lz+3Lo, 3A, 3F, with two single jumps in the second half.
But He Hui felt like there was always something blocking her chest, making it difficult for her to breathe.
"Didn't you slowly find your form later?" Seeing that He Hui didn't say anything, Lin Xiaoman continued to comfort her and gave her confidence, "Breathe in, exhale, and believe in yourself."
Lin Xiaoman's words seemed to have magical power, which slowly calmed He Hui's troubled heart.
She stood on the court, took a deep breath, and waited for the music to start.
The infectious sound of the guqin broke the silence and added a completely different oriental color to the entire venue.
The Fodi Cup was not broadcast live, but there were many ice hockey fans who flew all the way from China to attend the event.
When the music started, they were stunned at first, and then they couldn't suppress their excitement.
"Ahhh, I was at the Wudi Cup, and He Hui's short program was a guqin piece. The moment the sound came out, you had no idea how it felt like the hairs on your body stood up!!"
"He Hui really sings a Chinese-style song every season. What is national is also global! I'm suddenly very moved."
"It goes straight to my head! Isn't it so beautiful? Why didn't I realize that the song "Drunkenness" is so beautiful before?"
Although the Guqin music made Chinese ice hockey fans feel very close, it also put forward more requirements for He Hui's performance. After all, the other contestants present did not understand the cultural background behind it, and the emotional expression of Guqin was relatively implicit, which added a lot of difficulties.
He Hui's body language was finalized after many rounds of polishing. In her persistent interpretation of Chinese traditional style season after season, she has become more professional and better at it.
Therefore, even if the people watching the performance have no understanding of the theme at all, they can still feel the free and easy beauty of drunkenness from He Hui's performance.
Beauty is something that requires no language or background. It is revealed naturally in He Hui's graceful dance and the hems of her flying skirt.
The opening is 3Lz+3Lo.
The first jump of 3Lz went smoothly. After all, she was a woman who could do 4Lz, and He Hui had good control over this jump.
But the height of the second jump and 3Lo was slightly insufficient, and He Hui's rotation speed was subtly affected by the growth period, and the number of circles of landing on the ice seemed very ambiguous.
Lin Xiaoman was sweating for her on the sidelines. This 3Lo had cast some shadows on He Hui before, and it was estimated that he would really be caught again this time.
He Hui's heart tightened, but she did not stop, and continued to perform a relaxed and gorgeous step.
The special thing about this series of steps is that it perfectly depicts the staggering feeling of a drunk person. But the specific details are well grasped, and the person seems to be pretending to be drunk even though he is about to fall.
As the melody repeated, He Hui completed a series of jumps and spins, bringing the first half to a close.
In the second half, He Hui first did 3A. It was also a difficult jump that required an edge jump, but judging from the jump height, it was not as high as in the previous two seasons. If He Hui had not always been good at it, and if he had not struggled enough recently, he would probably have suffered the same survival crisis as 3Lo just now.
In sharp contrast is the neat and tidy tano 3F.
......
Lin Xiaoman said to He Hui who was leaving the competition: "It seems that your edge jump was more affected, while your toe jump was quite smooth."
He Hui naturally noticed this, but to be honest, she didn't expect the impact to come so quickly and make her feel so frustrated.
She sighed, but it was just a sigh.
"I just hope 3A doesn't let down the team too much. I'll try to be more stable about 3Lo."
He Hui is not the kind of person who will give in easily. In her worldview, she cannot back down when encountering difficulties. Maybe if she tries again, it will work.
Lin Xiaoman patted her on the back: "Take your time, don't rush."
*
The next day was the free skating competition. When He Hui saw Li Chumiao again, he realized what he felt strange about yesterday.
"Where is your coach?" He Hui asked.
She had a vague premonition that something seemed to have happened between Li Chumiao and Colin again.
"Our contract expired after Sochi," Li Chumiao said calmly, "It was not renewed."
Although it was a huge change, He Hui was mentally prepared for it.
"Have you found a new coach?" He Hui asked.
"Finally, we have decided on two main candidates, but they are both on the other side of the ocean, so relocation is probably inevitable." Li Chumiao smiled bitterly, "You also know that the local figure skating resources in Malaysia are too limited."
He Hui nodded in agreement.
"By the way, is your Coach Lin still recruiting?" Li Chumiao suddenly asked with a smile.
"My coach?" He Hui remembered that he had talked about this with Lin Xiaoman before, and looked up at Li Chumiao, not knowing how to respond.
"It's okay. I just asked casually." Li Chumiao shrugged and said with a smile, "Come to think of it, I also met those American coaches in the first round. I think it's pretty good to have a female coach."
Li Chumiao continued, "Her name is Vanessa. She used to be a national ice dancer, but she doesn't have much coaching experience."
"What about the other one?" He Hui asked curiously.
Li Chumiao thought for a moment: "The other one is Coach Simon. Do you know him?"
He Hui nodded to indicate that he had heard about it.
"His club recruits business students like us, but I may not get much attention." Li Chumiao's concerns were very realistic. "You know, Colin didn't choose me between me and Jin Huimei."
"Have a little faith in yourself?"
"I'm pretty confident, but I don't know if Simon is still alive."
He Hui was amused by Li Chumiao's remarks. "Indeed, the one who is suitable is the best. I feel that as a coach who lives with you every day, we still need to get along well with each other."
"I think so too, so it's probably Vanessa."
After Li Chumiao said this, the topic changed naturally.
"How are you?"
Li Chumiao didn't say what it was, but He Hui immediately understood what she meant.
He Hui shrugged: "Trying to save my blade jump."
"Are you still skating in the same configuration as last season?" Li Chumiao raised her eyebrows.
"Of course." He Hui looked calm.
Li Chumiao gave a thumbs up and glanced at the clock on the wall.
"I'm in the group ahead of you, so I have to warm up first. You know, I'm in a free-range state without a coach right now, so I have to plan for myself."
"Well, I have to fight to the death too." He Hui replied with a smile.
The pressure on He Hui in the free skating increased exponentially. If she didn't want to lower the difficulty, she would inevitably face the possibility of making mistakes, or even multiple mistakes.
But she was unwilling to give in. She was unwilling to bow even a little to the so-called fate.
"He Hui, representing China."
The host called out her name.
He Hui took a deep breath and stepped onto the familiar ice rink again.
This time, her mood was different from before. She felt a little uncertain, but also had a bit of drive to move forward no matter what.
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