Hard to Escape

Chapter 27

I finally got to put on a leotard. But matters were far from progressing smoothly.

My teacher was apparently the languid woman from the registration counter. Her name was Wu Ke.

She shot me a glance. "I haven't taught the basics in a long time." She turned around and started playing a recording of a piece by Tchaikovsky. "If you can't perform to my standard or if you feel I'm too strict, you can request a different teacher. As for now, watch me and copy my movements. Get a feel for it."

Her attitude was always very indifferent, and equally as cold. However, when she stood upright, with her back facing towards me and a hand on the rail, and began to move, she transformed. As cold and indifferent she was before, she was now just as refined and focused. It was like she was a whole new person. She was no longer that ordinary woman. Every lift of her hand and stretch of her feet was dazzling.

As I faced the mirror, I strived to mimic her. She would turn around to correct my hand placement and hand shape, or mistakes in my posture.

"Your feet! How many times have I said it! You have to turn out for a turnout! Lower your shoulders and draw out circles with your leg while remaining in place. No good! Your turnout isn't large enough! And your feet don't have enough strength!"

The hand movements were easy to learn. However, the foot movements were also an important essence of ballet. Yet every little thing was difficult for me to do. The car accident made my legs weak. Merely practicing like this for one morning made me feel like they couldn't support my body anymore.

"Are you a pig? Why can't you do even do a simple turnout properly?! How could you even dream of learning ballet like this? I've never seen a student as idiotic as you!" Wu Ke indeed wasn't a teacher with a good temper. When she started teaching, she was no longer that even-tempered, languid person. Instead, she was quickly and easily angered.

For a whole week I continued mechanically practicing those basic steps. Meanwhile the eyes with which Wu Ke looked at me seemed to become increasingly impatient. Even as she corrected my movements, her mocking and scolding grew more and more frequent.

"With your sort of 'talent', forget about going en pointe for the rest of your life! Not to mention, the scars on your legs are a defect that no stage can tolerate. With all these, forget about performing on stage. Especially with how stupid you are!"

"It's best that you just stop dancing. I'll refund your money. Consider this as me begging you."

Her mocking words became even more hurtful to hear. But I just gritted my teeth and turned a deaf ear to it. I continued practicing facing the mirror. Sometimes, I wouldn't progress for the whole afternoon. She stood there on the side, her impatience written on her face. Yet I continued to dance.

But today was different. There was a problem with the electric wiring in the practice room. The air conditioning and fan were all on strike. Even the advanced class, which was full of girls who aimed to test into the top-tier ballet companies, were so hot that they all stood to one side to rest and gossip. Of course, I was also sweating buckets. But after thinking about it, I faced the mirror anyway and continued to practice.

It was very awkward to practice all by myself. All the people who could dance a million times better than you, stood right behind you. They used all sorts of critical, sarcastic, or mocking gazes to look at you.

"I bet she won't last till next Wednesday. Haha, she apparently got assigned to Wu Ke, the teacher with the worst temper. Even we wouldn't be willing to have Wu Ke teach us. She's so talentless and Wu Ke's words are so harsh. No matter how thick her skin is, within a few days she'll be crying from all the scolding and quit." They merrily fanned themselves with their hands while mocking me like this.