Hard to Escape

Chapter 30

Under the admiring gazes of the other corps de ballet members, Yin Xuan "bestowed" upon me a supporting character role, and I "shot up through the ranks" just like that. The director brought me a copy of the script. He still had his doubts about me. After all, compared to the winner of an international competition, there wasn't anything even slightly newsworthy about me that they could use to hype up the movie.

"Ask me if you don't understand anything."

Right after he said that, I started reading the script. In fact, my screen time was relatively short and I was only needed to dance one scene.

"Only I Dance" told the story of a single ballet dancer. The dancer grew up in poverty and with hardship. She began her journey on an uneven dirt road, sandy and filled with potholes. Yet she persisted, step by step, until she ended up on the big stage. It was a feel-good story about someone's path to success.

My role would be the female lead's younger sister, who was disabled and confined to a wheelchair. Every day, the female lead would care for her sister and push the wheelchair tiringly in hopes of freeing her sister's worries. Even though the female lead's journey took her from her rural village to the resplendent stage, she never forgot to bring her sister along. She wanted to share her glory with her sister every step of the way and let her see the outside world.

Though the sister was grateful, she at the same time hated the female lead. She hated how her elder sister could stand on stage, receiving flower bouquets and thundering applause. She hated her handicapped fate. Her elder sister grew more famous, yet her own heart only grew more twisted.

The younger sister was a bit of a controversial villain.

Other than the majority of my time spent in the wheelchair acting out emotional scenes with Yin Xuan, I had a scene where I was dreaming. In this dream, the younger sister stood up from her wheelchair and danced with her sister. The elder sister's classical dancing was graceful and gentle. In contrast, the younger sister's dancing was frenzied and intense. It was as if they were sparring to determine a victor. The two figures followed closely after each other like a body and its shadow.

This was the only scene where I would dance with Yin Xuan.

After assigning me the role of the younger sister, Yin Xuan was indifferent to me, yet she also didn't trouble me any further. Quite the opposite; she diligently danced and shot her scenes.

I couldn't help but admit that when she danced, it was as if she became a whole other person.

She was a proud, shining dancer who used her body to tell a story. Her gaze was focused. From the tautness of the muscles in her legs, one could tell that she spared no effort in her dance. Often, after a scene, her makeup had entirely melted off. Even though the director had hired body doubles in fear of her tiring out, she never once used them.

Once she put on her ballet shoes, she no longer seemed like such an arrogant, unreasonable young miss. She became a dancer seeped in a ballet fantasy.

Her dancing was restrained yet elegant. It carried a timeless rhythm. People couldn't take their eyes off her. No other arms could be as soft and graceful as hers.

Watching her solo variation, I felt like I could almost experience for myself the dreams of a struggling, impoverished dancer.

My hands trembled and grew cold. She was a much better dancer than me.

Once the scene concluded, the entire set sounded with applause from admiration. Yin Xuan stopped, but she then turned and smiled in a certain direction of the crowd. Like a butterfly, she gracefully bounded over in her ballet shoes. The crowd parted for her. At the end of the parted path, I saw Yin Li.