first of all if youve never seen classical chinese dance techniques before watch this video to have ur mind blown
bb wwx would totally get scolded in his early lessons for using lotus fingers (hand style typically used by female dancers bc it looks delicate and pretty, men keep their fingers together to look more masculine)
he’d b like: 😠😠😠 but it looks pretty! i saw jiejie do it!!
lwj’s first doki-doki moment is when the class pairs up to practice 翻身 turns and he’s w wwx...wwx keeps a palm on top of lwj’s skull to make sure his head is stayin in the same place as he turns
lwj: HHHH WEI YING IS TOUCHING MY HEAD
when they’re training their extensions the laoshi does the hold-a-needle-under-your-leg-so-u-can’t-drop-it and does it for so long wwx cries
everyone else is like lol classic laoshi move but lwj is the only one whos like 🥺 wei ying r u ok
they do a dai folk dance!! wwx’s forearm cramps bc he’s not used to keeping his hand in the perfect 90degree and he’s like er-gege it hurts :(( and god what is lwj supposed to do? NOT massage the cramp for wei ying?
so he spends their water break kneading wwx’s arm for him
juniors class does a group umbrella dance but the umbrellas are from taobao n shitty and break So Easily
show day backstage some kids break the umbrellas n FREAK but wwx swoops in w clear duct tape to save the day, and all the younger kids idolize him from then on
wwx would 100% smack ppls butts with the practice sleeves. the only one who doesnt get smacked is lwj bc wwx is too flustered at the thought of doing that to him
wwx’s butt 100% gets sleeve-smacked by lwj when theyre older. but NO ONE believes him when he says so
imagine nhs vibing in this dance. he totally would
lwj gets a sword solo his senior year. he practices without tights and dance swords are just sharp enough that they can still cut you if you swing them fast enough
wwx is like hnggg...Lan Zhan Legs In Shorts.....but he also notices that lwj has little cuts all over! oh no!
well. he already has bandaids in his dance bag bc he gets injured all the time!
so he insists on putting bandaids on the cuts! lwj is sitting on a side-bench so wwx just plops himself on the ground btw his thighs and gets to work :)
lwj: OH GOD OH GOD DONT THINK HORNY THOUGHTS
wwx, watching lwj rehearse w a sword: God That Is So Hot. Stab Me Gege
some saltier thoughts: wwx would be VERY outspoken against the massive amounts of body-shaming in the dance industry
he goes to beijing dance academy to train for a summer and finds out about how they police dancers’ body weights
(take the following w a grain of salt, i only heard thru word of mouth and personally have never experienced it so i cannot confirm if that particular situation is true. but knowing this culture, it probably is 😕)
he’s chatting with his new pal mianmian when she tells him abt the scale. they put it in the doorway of the girl’s dorm, she says; they have to weigh themselves each morning as they leave for class. if they aren’t light enough, they can’t leave.
what. the. fuck.
he sneaks out of the boys dorm that night, goes there, grabs the scale, throws it out the window.
academy keeps replacing it. he keeps smashing it. eventually he gets caught and is kicked out. but everyone rmbrs the boy who would sneak girls food when they were on mandatory diets
more things: (in this au im thinking they r chinese american)
competing in the taoli cup (well-known overseas chinese dance comp) is great, but it’s not fun to only compete once or twice a year; his team tries branching out to mainstream dance competitions
they get there, and it’s horrible. the other dancers are visibly looking down on them for their costumes, their dance style. theyre the only academy in the “folk” genre. theyre treated like a circus attraction, like a bunch of aliens
wwx HATES it, snipes back at anyone who gives them dirty/condescending looks. lwj has to hold him back a couple times.
they get the comments from the judges a week after the competition.
wow, one writes. very exotic! i love the ethnic flair!
they get invited to perform on cctv, fly all the way out to beijing to film. they get treated like aliens AGAIN, this time bc theyre american.
at the closing ceremony for the filming, they are the only team not given a table to sit down at.
(i hope this works)
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.