() At noon on Saturday, Ron took a transport plane and flew to Los Angeles. However, the military airport was quite remote. After the plane landed, it took him another two and a half hours to get to the city. By this time, it was already

It was around 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Ron first came to the hotel he had booked. After putting his luggage away, he got the tickets for the ballet performance at 6 o'clock in the evening from the lobby and hurried out.

.

At the entrance of the theater, Ron saw a large poster, on which the actor playing the prince was holding Nadya up. Ron took one look at the poster and couldn't help but feel slightly jealous.

Probably because there was still quite some time before the performance started, when Ron walked into the theater, there were only a few people inside. Ron found his seat and sat down. This was a very nice scene.

The seat is in the middle of the sixth row, not too far but not too close, which is perfect for watching the show.

After more than ten minutes, more and more people came in. It seemed that it was very close to the start of the performance. At this time, a tall young man sat down next to Ron. Ron's height

He was only about 1.8 meters tall, and even if he sat down, this person was almost half a head taller than Ron. When he stood up, he was probably two meters tall. At this time, the lights in the theater dimmed, and Ron looked at

Looking at the luminous flight watch on my wrist, I saw that it was already six o'clock, and it seemed that the performance was about to officially begin.

The curtain slowly opened and the music started playing. Ron was very familiar with this piece of music. It was "The Candy Fairy Waltz" from "The Nutcracker". In the past, when Nadya was in a good mood, she would often sing this cheerful and lively song.

The song. Along with the sound of music, various candies appeared one after another and danced along with the music.

"This is the Candy Fairy, this is the Arabic dance - coffee, um, this is the Chinese dance - tea, and the next is the Russian dance - Trepak." Ron watched while using his supplementary ballet knowledge to communicate with

Correspondingly. "Ah, Nadya appeared, she danced so well, she was like an elf..."

At this time, the guy sitting next to Ron suddenly became excited. He stood up and raised his fishing rod-like hands high, waving towards the stage.

"Hey, what are you doing!" The guy sitting behind him was dissatisfied. This damn tall guy was sitting upright in front, which was already affecting his ability to watch the show, but now he actually stood up and waved.

Okay, why don't you let people see this?

The protest at the back made the young man restrain himself a little. He sat down embarrassedly, and turned around to explain in a low voice: "Sorry, I got carried away. My girlfriend is up there..."

Ron noticed that just when the young man stood up and waved, Anna, who played the Candy Fairy, stamped her foot hard - the Trepak dance music was cheerful and unrestrained, with intense changes in intensity and a strong sense of rhythm and dynamics.

There were a lot of sounds of people stomping their feet to make the beat. But Anna’s stomping sound seemed a bit too loud.

Nadya, who was dancing gracefully, was affected. She first saw the tall man, then turned her head and smiled at Anna during the dance, and then jumped up high to the beat, with a pair of jade feet snapping in the air.

Hit the combo, then start

The heavy machine - the Nutcracker Prince lifted her up high again and spun her around the stage. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Nadya looked towards Anna's tall lover again, but she didn't want to be by his side.

A familiar figure arrived.

When Ron saw Nadya's eyes looking over here, he quietly raised his hands to his chest, forming a heart shape for Nadya to see. Obviously, Nadya saw his action - Ron saw

Look, Nadya's eyes are shining like bright stars.

The prince put Nadya down, and Nadya spun rapidly in the cheerful music. Her dancing was so graceful. The American style of enthusiasm and the Russian style of subtlety came back to her body perfectly at this moment.

Since they started dating Nadya, Ron has often gone to watch Nadya's performances. After seeing them more often, Ron originally

Ron, who didn't know much about the art of ballet, gradually started to understand it. Although Nadya's performances were in place in the past, they often felt too restrained and Ulanova-like, but now, Ron

I feel that, at least in this dance, Nadya broke through some of the things that restricted her in the past and danced out her own spirit.

Although there were not too many people watching the ballet - a quarter of the seats in the theater were still empty - there were many people who knew ballet, and Nadya's performance immediately moved them. By the time the scene was over,

At that time, they all responded with the warmest applause.

The complete "Nutcracker" is very long, so under normal circumstances, people perform more fragments. For example, this time, we only performed the "Candy Mountain" scene. In fact, this is not the case either in China or abroad.

Rarely, Kong Shangren's "The Peach Blossom Fan" was written from

By the end of the 2010s, the number of complete performances was no more than the fingers of one hand, and Hitler's favorite composer Wagner's opera "Ring of the Nibelung" has never been performed in its entirety -

—Even during Hitler’s time.

According to the program, there will be an after-show after this segment. Nadya will perform a solo dance - The Death of the Swan. This arrangement was originally a remedial measure taken out of concern that Nadya and the American actors would not cooperate well. And it requires a lot of work.

It's different in "The Nutcracker" with two people. In the solo dance, it's easier for Nadya to show off her skills.

"Death of the Swan" is the most classic ballet solo. At the beginning of the 20th century, the famous Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova was invited by the Petersburg Royal Opera House to perform a solo dance at a concert held in the Noble Hall. Music

French composer Saint-Saëns (1

835-1921) The thirteenth song in the "Carnival of the Animals" suite is "Swan" played by cello and piano. Since ballet works at that time often used "Swan" as the title, choreographer Mihai Fokine included

It was changed to "The Death of a Swan" to show the difference.

Today, this dance work, which took only five or six minutes to choreograph, has become a symbol of Russian new ballet. Countless actors have performed this dance, and Nadya has tried this dance more than once before.

But now, Ron is a little worried about Nadya's performance: Nadya has just achieved an epiphany breakthrough, which is gratifying, but this breakthrough has not settled down and is not stable yet. If it is before the breakthrough,

Nadya started to dance in a decent manner, although she couldn't compete with those real people.

Compared with a real master, there will definitely be no trouble. But now, Najia, who is between the rules of the past and the breakthrough of the present, does not have such stability. Although she may dance better, she also

It may be completely messed up because of the entanglement between old habits and new ideas.

Moreover, in terms of style, the difference between "The Nutcracker" and "Death of the Swan" is also very big. The "Candy Mountain" segment in "The Nutcracker" is full of joy and fun. But "Death of the Swan" is completely different.

It depicts a dying swan eager to flap its wings again,

The figure struggled alone on the calm lake and finally died silently, symbolizing the tragic spirit of human beings' unremitting resistance to death and fate in real life. "The Death of the Swan" is elegant, heavy and tragic, and "The Nutcracker"

Completely two extremes.

But it was obviously impossible to change the program now. Taking advantage of the intermission, Ron stood up and walked towards the backstage. The tall man next to him also followed.

"You must be General Ron?" the tall man asked.

"Yes, you are?" Ron was not wearing a military uniform at this time, and he did not recognize the person.

"Robert Hughes." The man stretched out his hand to him, "I heard Anna mention you. Just now I saw Nadya smiling at you, so I guessed that you must be General Ron."

Ron held the man's hand. The man's hand was very big, with thick joints, but there was no flesh on the palm.

A staff member tried to stop Ron, and Robert stood up. The staff member was obviously very familiar with him. After they whispered a few words, the staff member let him look at Ron with envious eyes and opened the way.

.

The backstage was busy, and the actors were busy taking off their makeup. Perhaps because Robert's height was too conspicuous, Anna saw Robert and Ron from a distance. She happily ran over with Nadya who had not had time to change:

"You really gave us a surprise Nadya! Why didn't you tell me beforehand... You idiot, always likes to make a fool of yourself in public. Look at what Ron did." He said.

, Anna also imitated Ron's movements. Then she pushed Nadya, who was about to pretend to be angry, into Ron's arms.

"Okay, I won't take up your time anymore, hurry up, it's your show soon!"

Ron hugged Nadya, and Nadya struggled a little. Seeing that she couldn't struggle out, she stopped moving and just buried her head deeply in Ron's arms.

"Nadia, you danced so well today!" Ron held Nadya's little face with both hands, looked into her eyes and said, "At least in this clip, you have surpassed your previous self. I'm really proud of you.

You are so proud. I never thought that my Nadya could be so beautiful! My ugly duckling turned into a white swan."

"Am I ugly before?" Nadya seemed a little unhappy and frowned slightly.

"No, of course not." Ron continued to stare into her big eyes, "It's just not like tonight, Nadya, you don't know, you are so breathtakingly beautiful tonight." Ron paused, and he saw

Nadya's big, shining eyes were covered with mist.

"Humph, you finally know how to come see me! Do you know that every time..." Nadya stopped, her shoulders twitched, and tears as crystal clear as diamonds poured out of her eyes.

"I know, baby!" Ron whispered, lowering his head and preparing to kiss the tears on her cheeks.

Just then, a voice shouted: "Nadia, come and change your clothes! It's time to go on stage!"

Nadya seemed to have woken up from a dream. She suddenly broke away from Ron's arms, wiped the tears from her face, and responded: "I know, come right over!"

Then she turned around and showed Ron a smile as bright as the sun emerging after the rain, so much so that Ron felt that the tears on her face that had not yet had time to wipe away reflected a colorful halo.
Chapter completed!