Cāi Cāi

Chapter 20: Act IV "Out of My World" (1)

The male duck named Chen Ziran was the oldest boy in their class. It was said that he started at Huawu Academy of the Arts at the age of ten and took the exam for three consecutive years. Seeing that his age almost reached the admission limit, he crossed the acceptance score and entered the door of the musical theatre profession.

Although his grades were not dazzling, he had a lively personality. He was a sports committee member and was very 'jumpy', and he loved to shout — Qi Ji said that before Xiang Cai transferred to their class, she and Chen Ziran sat at the same table, and he didn't bother her.

Ever since Chen Ziran lost his face when he was publicly humiliated by the class teacher, punished to do the split in the corner of the classroom,  he had never caused trouble with Xiang Cai again.

Xiang Cai thought that the relationship between them was 'irreconcilable'. He would never imagine that Chen Ziran would actually come over and ask him for help!

Chen Ziran blushed, and the two pimples on his temples shone brightly: "That ... Xiang Cai, I used to be a tap dancer, and it's very different from ballet, so can you teach me?"

Tap dance was a branch of ballroom dancing, but wild and free. Ballroom dancing required a strong sense of muscle strength, while ballet paid more attention to lightness and stability.

Qi Ji stared suspiciously at him, wondering if he had any conspiracies or schemes waiting behind him.

Xiang Cai was rather calm: "Okay." He looked Chen Ziran up and down, "But I have never taught anyone, I have no experience."

Chen Ziran hurriedly said, "I see that you teach Qi Ji very well. I will stand behind her to watch and learn without delaying your time."

After saying it, Chen Ziran really took the initiative to stand behind Qi Ji, his two feet standing in a T-shape, and his hands in position.

Xiang Cai didn't shy away, he had the confidence to be a swan mother and teach the ugly duckling to swim. Anyway, he could teach one while the second catch up. It didn't make much of a difference to teach one or two.

He shouted one, and the two 'students' raised their arms.

He shouted two, and the two 'students' held on to the pole and started to do the relevé.

Xiang Cai's teaching skills was limited, but he was very patient. He found that the two had flawed movements, so he made the effort to correct them over and over again.

In the musical, the little swan dance of 'Tchaikovsky' was only half a minute. Don't look at just half a minute, but each version of 'Tchaikovsky' danced differently.

When learning the performance of a musical, they could refer to the experience of their predecessors, but they did not need to completely imitate them. Otherwise, it wasn't their own interpretation, but a poor copy and paste.

Taking into account the actual level of Qi Ji and Chen Ziran, Xiang Cai taught them only one of the most basic movements of ballet — stepping on the tips of their toes combined with swinging their arms upward like wings spreading, rotating with their arms extended: soothing and graceful.

Neither of them were stupid, but they hadn't found the correct way to use ballet before. Xiang Cai gave them a few pointers, and the two immediately got the know-how. After a few minutes of effort, they seemed to dance.

Standing before Xiang Cai's teaching, in the performance classroom, countless hidden eyes fell on them, all secretly watching their every move.

They also wanted to know, was Chen Ziran actually learning, or was he faking it? The two seemed more likely to be at odds with each other than to be teacher-learner.