Chapter 27

Act IV: Billy Elliot (8)

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Xiang Cai’s sudden intrusion shocked everyone in the vocal classroom.

The little boys in the ballet department stared at each other. You look at me, I look at you, they didn’t know how to deal with the situation.

The one who they were all staring at was Xiang Cai — their brother and the legend of the Ballet Department. Suddenly, this ‘legend’ came to contest the male lead role, how could they not be nervous.... ...

"Xiang Cai, why are you here?" The vocal teacher was speechless, facing Xiang Cai, he said embarassedly explained, "I'm sorry. This selection is not free registration, but based on recommendations put forth by the ballet teacher, but you ..."

Before he could finish, a strong male voice interrupted him.

"Xiang Cai? He is Xiang Cai?" Director Tang Fengyu got up and looked at the boy outside the door with interest, "Do you want to run for male lead?"

The crew has been at the school for a month, and he has heard a lot of rumors about Xiang Cai. He had thought that a young boy having suffered a calamity, would surely become gloomy and arrogant; but just a few minutes ago, Xiang Cai had rushed in with his head raised high like a hurricane, a fire burning brightly. 

Xiang Cai nodded, standing there neither overbearing nor servile, accepting the director's scrutiny.

Tang Yufeng asked again, "Were you singing in the corridor just now?"

Xiang Cai affirmed.

"This time, we hired a professional lyricist to fill in the lyrics for the Chinese version. For the sake of confidentiality, we only distributed the lyrics to these students." Tang Fengyu pointed out the row of little swans with interest. He asked, "Who did you get the lyrics from?"

As soon as he spoke, the ballet boys all glanced at each other and swallowed nervously. One should know, before they were given the lyrics, not only did the teachers make them promise not to leak information but they even had to sign a confidentiality agreement. If anyone leaked it privately, they would be automatically disqualified!

"No one gave it to me." Unexpectedly, Xiang Cai denied it. "It's just that when they were practicing, I ... I heard it and memorized it."

He blushed a little after confessing. In the wuxia novels, some male protagonist often had to climb the wall to learn martial arts secretly. When it came to Cai Cai, he actually listened in secretly, hence he felt he was cheeky.

"'Eavesdropping'? ... This child has a good memory." Tang Fengyu was not only not angry, but instead turned his approving eyes to the boy.

A musical's dozen songs and countless lines added up to nearly ten thousand characters. If the musical actor didn’t have a good memory, he could make a fool of himself if he forgot his words on stage!

Although Xiang Cai’s eavesdropping behavior was a little unethical, seeing the longing on his face, Tang Fengyu couldn't say anything critical.

Director Tang turned to the side and looked at the producer beside him. "Mr. Song, look at this ..."

Song Lin was holding a pen in his hand. He knocked the cap on the script in his hand, making a few muffled sounds once, twice, and three times.

Song Lin was an old-fashioned man: serious, unsmiling, and with neatly combed hair. He was the leading producer of musicals in China. He had a unique vision and created several ‘small and beautiful’ explosive musicals.

Xiang Cai was so nervous that his heart was about to jump out of his chest, but he forced himself to stand upright and still, not allowing himself to show a hint of cowardice.

After a while, Song Lin finally spoke.

"You sang well, very contagious. You've passed the singing segment." Song Lin's old-fashioned face suddenly showed a rare smile.

Everyone: !!!!

They looked at Song Lin in shock. There were countless words that they wanted to say in their stomachs, but when Song Lin raised the pen in his hand, all they could do was pressed those words back down.

"Xiang Cai, I admit that your vocals are better than everyone else’s," Song Lin said. "But you know, this musical needs more than just your voice."

"I understand." Xiang Cai answered.

"That's good." Song Lin pointed to the clock on the wall with his pen. "—At half past eight tonight, all candidates will undergo a dance assessment. Bring your dance shoes. You’re not allowed to be late.

※

How can secrets be kept at this school? They can't! This freshly released explosive news spread to all the classes in the six grades in just one hour during dinner.

At 8:30 in the evening, there were crowds of people outside the dance classroom, all came to see the excitement.

Everyone wanted to know, with Xiang Cai’s current physical condition, could he really pass the dance segment smoothly?

It was a pity that the teachers were selfish and didn’t allow them to watch or bother, shooing them away like chicks.

The hallway finally quieted down.

In the dance classroom, several contestants each took up a barre, warming up.

After sifting through candidates, there were only five boys who made the cut and entered the final dance test. They were all elites in the Ballet Department, among them was the legendary "Corner A". Xiang Cai cut in the line and his signing number came last. He was to dance after everyone else.

[T/N: I may have edited the previous chapter differently, but ‘Corner A’ is the student that Xiang Cai was listening to sing.

Xiang Cai practiced for a while, and stopped after warming up. He sat on the sidelines, looking down at his feet.

In the basic dance class, other students were wearing exercise shoes with bare feet, because that was the only way to cultivate a better grip on the feet and toes. But Xiang Cai had never taken off his socks in public since his injury. He had always wrapped his feet tightly to isolate them from probing eyes.

But now, Xiang Cai didn’t want to hide them anymore.

He suddenly reached out and tore off his socks, exposing his feet that hadn't seen the sun all year round to the bright lights.

The boy's feet were very pale and white, his ankles thin, and his feet well-defined. Because he practiced ballet at an early age, more than half of his ten toenails were deformed, and his toes were covered with calluses.

The most frightening thing was that his feet were covered with several scars. The flesh-colored centipede-like scars lied on the boy's ankles and feet. The longest one was nearly ten centimeters, almost spanning across his entire foot.

Staring at the scars, Xiang Cai suddenly realized that he had never observed them so carefully.

For a long time, he forced himself to seal up the pain, afraid to face it. But he forgot that overcoming the pain was the only way to heal.

The Xiang Cai who was standing there at that moment, had only been able to make it there by walking through the healing process precariously on the tip of the knife. Now that he could stand up normally again, he would continue to dance.

He was also curious to know if he could be transformed from an ugly duckling into a swan again, as Wang Qingyun had said.

...

For the final dance test, the crew did not choose any well-known ballet dance, but let all candidates perform "Electricity" in turn.

This song was more than five minutes long, and it was a one-man show completely done by the actor. For the first two and a half minutes, Billy sang loudly, expressing his love for ballet; then, he dropped his schoolbag and began to dance on the stage.

The accompaniment music also changed its key, combining the famous Swan Lake suite with light jazz, giving little Billy ample room to improvise.

When Tang Fengyu and Song Lin entered the dance classroom, the five young boys lined up in front of the mirror and bent over to greet them.

Wearing the same white clothes, black pants, and black training shoes, the five boys were fresh like a row of small poplars.

In the last place was Xiang Cai. Tang Fengyu's gaze fell on his feet vaguely. After seeing the scars on the boy's instep, he looked away uneasily.

Song Lin's style of doing things was different from his partner’s. It was concise, cold, and hard-hearted.

He dragged a chair and sat down, without any further ados, and said directly: "Two and a half minute solo, each person has only one chance, let's start."

Tang Fengyu was responsible for alleviating the atmosphere, clapping his hands with a smile: "Don't be nervous boys, I believe this solo dance is not difficult for you."

As the director said, compared to other classical ballets, this solo dance was not difficult.

Two and a half minutes passed, and the competitor No.1 not only completed all the movements neatly, but even ingeniously interspersed several more complex jumping movements in the dance. It did not destroy the integrity of the dance itself, but greatly increased the difficulty; it was really ‘dazzling skills’.

After the dance, the boy finished out of breath, looking at Xiang Cai several times with an obscure gaze.

This competitor No.1 entered school one year after Xiang Cai and grew up listening to Xiang Cai’s legend. Because his grades were also excellent, there was no shortage of students and teachers comparing him to Xiang Cai. After what happened to Xiang Cai, he felt sorry for his experience on the one hand, but selfishly rejoiced on the other, thinking: ‘Good, Xiang Cai left, no one will be pressing down on my head in the future!

It was just that he never imagined that Xiang Cai would suddenly be enlisted at the final selection meeting of Out of My World!

Before Xiang Cai appeared, he was the director's most promising actor, the ‘internally determined role’; but now that Xiang Cai was back ... Was it possible that his spot was about to be taken away by Xiang Cai?

Because of this concern, he specifically increased the difficulty of the dance and added a lot of extra performances, hoping to prove his strength by doing this.

As he expected, after his performance, the director and teacher showed satisfied expressions and nodded frequently. The other students' faces were full of anxiety, and they had unspoken worries. At first glance, they were planning on how to adapt the dance.

However, there was no slight change to Xiang Cai’s face.

Xiang Cai’s black eyes were still so calm. He didn't seem to realize that the performance of Competitor No. 1 just now was meant to ‘scare’ him.

After that, competitors No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 performed their solo dances one after another. Two of them temporarily added movements, and although the difficulty coefficient was not as high as the first competitor, theirs was also quite interesting.

The director and the producer occasionally exchanged a few comments, but their voices were low and none of the competitors could hear them.

"Alright," Tang Fengyu said, "The fourth student has finished performing, so one candidate left."

Everyone seemed to be waiting for this sentence. For a moment, all eyes focused on the boy at the end of the team. In their eyes, there was curiosity, inquiry, encouragement, and some other complicated emotions.

The stage had been cleared—

—Xiang Cai’s solo dance was finally about to begin.

Don't knock at the fact that this dance was only less than three minutes, the amount of intensity of the dance routine was scary.

The dancer first opened the field with a series of front flips, turned his hands sideways, and then immediately connected to the grand jeté, also known as the ‘big jump’.

They ran up first, and then jumped up high. While the dancer's body was in the air, their legs were splaid 180 back and forth, forming an extremely graceful split in the air. The higher the jump, the longer the flight time, and the greater the impact on the ankle when landing.

Xiang Cai leapt to the accompanying music, and every time there was a drumbeat, he would jump high and then drop gently.

However, even if the action was light, the burden to his ankle could not be reduced. After a few dazzling and beautiful grand jetés, a sore and painful sensation rose from his ankle, and the pain was like a shadow, like mud in the swamp, climbing up Xiang Cai’s body inch by inch.

It was as if Xiang Cai didn't realize it, with a pleasant smile on his face, but his forehead was already occupied by fine beads of sweat.

Here, the dance had only just passed a minute.

In addition to the crew, there were also two ballet teachers. They were all professionals and their eyes were hot. When Xiang Cai made his last big jump, his support leg suddenly softened, and his ankle fell to the side. Fortunately, his body only slightly swayed, and he quickly stood up again.

Instantly, another layer of sweat appeared on Xiang Cai’s head.

"No!" A female teacher was nervous and murmured, "Xiang Cai can't leap any longer!"

Xiang Cai was once their favorite student. As teachers, how could they bear to see him suffer this kind of pain!

She was about to speak up to interrupt but unexpectedly the producer Song Lin suddenly raised his hand and motion to her to be quiet: "Don't interupt. Trust him and wait for him to finish."

After continuous grand jetés, the dance entered a relatively gentle phase, and Xiang Cai also received a hard-won respite.

But soon, the soundtrack sang violently, entering the final cadenza, and Xiang Cai also entered the most difficult part of the entire dance — 16 consecutive ‘fouette’ turns!

Fouette comes from French, where it means ‘to whip’, so this action is also called the whip. These whips often appear in ballets, and laymen think that this is a basic action that anyone can take, but in fact, it tests the dancer's skills.

When rotating, one leg is used as a support, tip-toe, lower, tip-toe, and lower; the other leg is used as a power leg, ‘swinging’ at a very fast speed in the air, driving the body to rotate.

During the movement, all the weight is concentrated on the dancer's single toe. At the same time, this foot also bears the angular momentum brought by the body's rotation.

And now, Xiang Cai has to make sixteen consecutive whips without a half-second break!

In Swan Lake, the most famous is the stunning 32 turns of the black swan’s onstage debut. In order to pay tribute to this great ballet, the musical Out of My World not only used songs in the soundtrack, but also inserted 16 fouettes in the dance.

These 16 turns were the essence of the whole dance, and every Billy Eliot must complete it.

Xiang Cai stood firmly, withdraw his left leg, and focused his strength, kicking the ground!

Accompanied by severe pain tearing through his entire right foot, his body quickly spun!

The first lap.

The hot wind brushed his ears.

The second lap.

Sweat fell into his eyes, but he couldn't rub it.

The third lap.

HIs breathing was heavy and his lungs were burning.

The fourth lap.

The pain spread, like stepping on broken glass and walking through fire.

The eighth lap.

It turned out that when pain broke through a certain magnitude, only numbness remained.

The ninth lap.

Numb.

The tenth lap.

Numb.

The eleventh lap.

Numb.

The twelfth ... No, there was no twelfth lap—

—Xiang Cai’s right foot could no longer bear the weight of his body. He was like a robot with missing parts, falling to the ground amidst everyone’s exclamation!

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The author has something to say:

PS: I posted this dance on Weibo yesterday and it was really intense.

Guess it's not easy to stick to the last action QAQ.

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