When She Stops Being Dramatic

Chapter 222: Chapter 93: Top Star of the 1960s Art Troupe (32) (2)

Jie Xiaoqin still held the position of lead dancer, performing in coordination with the other dancers.

She had been dancing since she was a child. Her body was flexible, her movements precise and beautiful. With a composed expression, a serene temperament, and a poised demeanor, she perfectly embodied all the characteristics of the lead dancer in this story.

When she leaped and twirled, there was no trace of the mediocrity and clumsiness mentioned before. Even the teacher would nod in satisfaction from time to time.

”Not bad, not bad,” the teacher said with a smile as she adjusted the arch of Jie Xiaoqin’s backbend and the position of her arms. ”Your movements need a little more tension. In this section, you need to clearly distinguish between gentleness and force...”

With just a few words of guidance, Jie Xiaoqin’s movements became even more perfect.

There were many teachers in the song and dance troupe, but Teacher Su was the only one who could choreograph and had come from the Central Political Department. The troupe had three performances entered in the selection for the touring show, and all of them were her creations.

Even though this was the dance most likely to win an award, Teacher Su only led everyone through it three times before heading to the other rehearsal rooms. As she passed the doorway, she glanced at Xia Zhaoyun, who had been silently watching the others, and said flatly, ”You, come with me.”

Xia Zhaoyun raised an eyebrow and followed, pulling the door to the rehearsal room shut behind her.

The people who had been rehearsing in the room immediately gathered together, discussing in low voices: ”Why do you think Teacher Su called her out?”

”I bet the teacher is going to criticize her and make her back down so she doesn’t hold everyone back from winning the championship. The lead dancer and us backup dancers need a breaking-in period. We can’t all have to adjust just to get used to her, can we?”

”I don’t get what’s going on with Mr. Xue. Why is he so set on her?”

”Little Qin, do you know? You’re Teacher Su’s favorite. You must have a guess, right?”

Jie Xiaoqin pressed her lips together, her brow furrowed with a hint of worry. ”I... I’m worried Teacher Su will move Comrade Xia to another performance.”

Hearing this, everyone nodded repeatedly. ”Hey, that’s a good idea. Mr. Xue only insisted on Xia Zhaoyun being a lead dancer, but he didn’t specify which performance.”

”In our performance, Little Qin is the lead—that goes without saying. Her fundamentals have always been solid and her stage presence is great. But even among the backup dancers, who here isn’t one of the troupe’s top talents?”

”Why should the talent of so many of us be used just to make her stand out?”

”I hope Teacher Su transfers her out quickly. Otherwise, won’t all of Little Qin’s hard work this week be for nothing?”

Jie Xiaoqin smiled and shook her head. ”How could it be? This is an opportunity for me to train. It doesn’t matter to me whether I’m the lead dancer or not. As long as I can be on stage, I’m happy!”

The group showered her with praise, taking the opportunity to put Xia Zhaoyun down in the process.

Teacher Su led Xia Zhaoyun outside and all the way to the door of the next rehearsal room. Without going in, she gestured for Xia Zhaoyun to look inside through the large glass window.

”Xia Zhaoyun, I admit that your talent, technique, and fundamentals are all excellent. With time, it’s not impossible you could even make it into the Central Political Department. But as for the future, who can say for sure.”

”However, if you had arrived a week earlier, I would have absolutely followed Mr. Xue’s suggestion and made you the lead dancer for that last performance—the one most likely to succeed.”

”But you know as well as I do that this is a group dance. Even the lead can’t perform without the coordination of the other dancers. A last-minute change of the lead dancer is a huge taboo. What’s more, Comrade Jie Xiaoqin’s performance is quite good. From the perspective of the troupe’s best interests, I can’t possibly pull her to put you in.”

”But making you a backup dancer would truly be a waste of your talent. I’m planning to have you try out for the other two performances.”

”I’ve put my heart into choreographing and designing every performance, but the higher-ups have given the song and dance troupe a direct order: we must take first place. That’s why all the troupe’s best dancers have been allocated to the last performance. The dancers in the other two are, more or less, a bit unsatisfactory.”

”The director says you have excellent stage command, so pick a performance and prove your abilities.”

Teacher Su spoke nonchalantly, the curve of her lips tinged with mockery.

She was a teacher from the Central Political Department, a place that was a paradise for all comrades in the song and dance troupes—its allure was no less than that of Imperial University to students.

She had always been proud of this and had grown up hearing others praise her for her talent and artistic sensibility.

No matter how much of a promising talent others thought Xia Zhaoyun was, she didn’t agree. In her view, a qualified dancer needed to have a pure and dedicated heart, but Xia Zhaoyun had too many distracting thoughts; there was a darkness perpetually hidden in her eyes.

’How could someone like that be worthy of stepping onto the stage, let alone becoming a lead dancer?’