Chapter 1215: Taking an Unconventional Path
The next day, the Moscow International Ballet Competition officially kicked off. The competition categories were very detailed. According to age, there were junior and youth groups; according to the number of dancers, there were solo dances, duet dances, and group dances; according to gender, there were male solo dances and female solo dances, just like the different events in the Olympics.
Lina signed up for the women's solo dance event in the youth group.
There is only one competition for solo dance, and the winner is decided by one round. This puts a lot of pressure on the contestants.
Lina was not the only one who brought an accompaniment. She had 34 competitors in total, half of whom had their own accompaniment partners, but all of them had piano or piano and an orchestra as the accompaniment. Piano and ballet are recognized as the best and most official combination.
Because the Moscow Piano Competition encourages contestants to bring their own accompaniment, the organizers have set up a special award for this purpose, the "Piano Accompaniment Award". Even if a contestant's ballet performance does not win, his piano accompaniment partner may win.
Lina is the only contestant in the 70 years since the competition was founded to use Chinese instruments that the judges were completely unfamiliar with for accompaniment.
When Lina reported her competition repertoire and accompanying instrument to the event organizer, the organizer confirmed with her three times, "Are you sure you want to use this instrument?"
"Yes, I am quite sure of it."
Because of her unconventional accompaniment, the organizers and judges paid special attention to her. Coincidentally, one of the judges was a Chinese ballet dancer named Zhao Wenting. After her popularization, everyone got to know what "Guzheng" is.
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Zhao Wenting is a Chinese living in Russia, who is over 50 years old. She is the first Chinese to win the first prize for women's solo dance at the Moscow Ballet Competition, creating a historical legend. Since her, more and more Chinese have participated in this competition and won awards.
She has retired, but still has a high reputation in the industry. She is a master-level figure. She often serves as a judge in major ballet competitions around the world and is very experienced. She has participated in or watched others participate in so many competitions, but this is the first time she has seen someone use Chinese instruments and Chinese-style music to participate in the competition. What's even more strange is that this person is not Chinese!
Zhao Wenting kept this name firmly in her heart.
She also noticed the name of the accompaniment: Shen Mozhen.
Just like major sports championships, the ballet competition is broadcast live to the world.
Zhang Pei, Peter, Alan and Luke arrived at the Bolshoi Theatre early as cheerleaders and sat in the audience. They were all looking forward to Lina's performance.
Liu? was backstage, helping Lina and Shen Mozhen with their styling together with Miao Xiaomei.
Nearly a month later, Miao Xiaomei took on another long-distance job. She flew from New York to Moscow overnight, without even having time to catch her breath, to do makeup for the two protagonists.
This time, Lina specifically asked Miao Xiaomei to help her with her makeup. She said, "I myself, or the makeup artists I know, don't know how to do Chinese-style makeup. I don't want to perform "A Thousand Returns" with a perfunctory face."
Lina's look is completely different from other contestants wearing traditional ballet skirts. Her costume was specially designed by Zhong Jiangnan for her performance. Ballet performance has two elements: showing dancing posture and showing body shape. Complex Hanfu is definitely not suitable. So the flesh-colored skirt only reaches above the knees. It is not as complicated as ordinary Hanfu, simple and light. Zhong Jiangnan used silk fabric, which is skin-friendly and slightly drooping. The skirt, even the lowest edge of the skirt, fits the skin perfectly, outlining her graceful and slender figure. Moreover, this skirt has no sleeves, so when Lina raises her hands high, her shoulders will not be subject to any resistance.
Miao Xiaomei combed her hair into a seemingly simple but actually very complicated bun. The golden hair was meticulously combed together and then a gold hairpin was inserted. The bun was very tight, pulling Lina's scalp a little deformed, just to prevent a strand of hair from falling off during the performance. If the hair was loose while dancing, it would be a major mistake in the performance! Miao Xiaomei could not bear this responsibility.
Lina has a very deep outline, so Miao tried to blur her outline as much as possible, making her eyes softer, her brow bones less prominent, and her nose smaller, everything in line with oriental features.
Although it is different from the real ancient costume style, when foreigners who don’t understand see Lina’s style, the first thing they think of is the East and China.
A Russian ballet girl in the same dressing room said curiously, "This is the first time I've seen such a costume. It's so beautiful!"
Shen Mozhen's styling is relatively easier. She still follows her usual Chinese classical beauty style. To match Lina, she wears flesh-colored Hanfu, which is more like rubber powder to be precise. She is a zither player and cannot steal the limelight from Lina. Her makeup and hair accessories are very simple and elegant. Overall, she is similar to the white-clothed zither player in "War of the North Wind", both of whom have a dull and cold style.
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