Chapter 4: Performing Arts for Sale Is Not Shabby
Jing Xiaoqiang used to be a hard worker.
In the previous life, I completed four years of stage design studies in Pingjing and became one of the earliest migrant workers in Beijing.
Because of my mediocre luck in connections, I spent several years working in various production crews and on various stages without being able to display my talents, feeling frustrated and depressed.
Coupled with a broken heart and unemployment, he worked hard to go abroad, wanting to prove himself on Broadway, the highest temple of musicals.
What happens in the end?
I am most afraid of being asked about the original intention, because all the dreams are in vain.
When young, one aspires to travel three thousand miles, but hesitates for a hundred steps and achieves nothing.
Living in this mediocre world, half a life in ignorance.
I woke up in a trance and fell asleep again. The house was still the same. My parents had no white hair, but wrinkles had quietly appeared on their brows.
I can only sigh that time flies by so fast.
All ideals have become idealizations.
It’s better to make money steadily, buy a house and live a relaxed life.
In this life, I must make sure my parents live comfortably as soon as possible.
He was so ashamed that he didn't even dare to face his parents.
I took the train to Shanghai and slowly sorted out my thoughts.
In fact, he only vaguely remembered the domestic situation in the 1990s.
After going abroad in 1998, he only occasionally learned about fragments through the Internet, and he didn't like to go online to care about these trivial things.
It was not until a certain audio app spread its short videos across the ocean that we realized the earth-shaking changes that had taken place in the past 30 years.
So all Jing Xiaoqiang knew about was buying a house.
Especially in Shanghai, a benchmark city for soaring housing prices.
The earlier you come to Shanghai, perhaps you can achieve financial freedom earlier.
God knows when house prices will start to rise.
So when I got out of the train station, the first thing I did when I landed was to buy a stack of newspapers and look for real estate information.
"…In January this year, 11,000 houses were sold in the Shanghai residential market, but less than one-tenth of them were sold. Buildings were left unsold, and hundreds of thousands of square meters of new residential buildings were empty."
"The reason is that the price is expensive. The highest price per square meter has reached 2,300 yuan, which is staggering."
"A college student has been saving money and cutting back on his spending since he started working. 50 yuan a month is the maximum he can save. It will take him 100 years to buy a two-bedroom apartment."
"The people can only sigh at the sight of the building, and the country must be under control."
Well...very good, very satisfying.
Others save 50 yuan a month, but I can save 500 yuan!
That’s 60,000 a year!
Jing Xiaoqiang stuffed a stack of waste newspapers into the trash can.
Stroll towards the busiest street to find a dance hall.
These days, it is extremely rare to see nightclubs openly selling prostitution. Unless you have a very strong background, you could be shot if caught.
Even dance halls have experienced a series of policy changes from the Ministry of Culture in the past decade, including "banning dances", "strengthening the management of dances", and "improving the management of dances".
The famous Shanghai foreign scene is limited to a few large foreign-related hotels, restaurant dance halls and jazz bars that have been able to maintain small-scale operations.
It was only after 1987 that dance halls and music teahouses opened to the public, and they suddenly sprang up like mushrooms after the rain, with the number reaching several hundred, ranking first in the country.
As people from Shanghai, who are the most fashionable and trendy people in the country, how much do they love dancing these days?
The 17 ordinary dance halls in Yangpu District, known as the lower corner, can have one million visitors and a turnover of two million a year!
This was the 1990s when the average wage for all people was only a few dozen or a hundred yuan!
In fact, this is the only form of entertainment for the people . A large number of unmarried young people rely on this to come into contact with the opposite sex, and of course there are also many who do this after marriage.
So the downtown area with a stronger atmosphere is simply amazing.
After a quick inquiry, Jing Xiaoqiang found out that some of the best dance halls in Shanghai were located in the city center.
There is a dance hall in an old hotel that opened in the 1930s, equipped with a professional band from the Radio and Television Art Troupe;
There is a tertiary industry dance hall under the Science and Technology Bureau, which mainly targets employees in the science and technology and medical systems;
The third industry of the education system is the dance hall, which is the favorite gathering place for teachers;
There are also theaters and dance halls with the most charming girls and old gangsters.
But it happened to be the height of summer in July, and Jing Xiaoqiang, an expert as he was, asked a few more places and chose the ballroom of the city symphony orchestra without hesitation.
It’s not because the symphony orchestra’s accompaniment is so professional, but because this ballroom is their own singing and dancing rehearsal hall.
People like Jing Xiaoqiang who have been in the musical theater for decades understand it very well!
The cooling effect of air conditioners these days is far inferior to that of later generations.
It’s only the beginning of summer and many dance halls have poor air conditioning, even if they put a few floor fans around the dance floor to cool down.
As more and more dancers come shoulder to shoulder, the smell of flesh and sweat fills the air, making it very disgusting!
Watching all kinds of beautiful girls dancing in the dance hall makes people excited...
In fact, it was filled with a strong smell of stinky feet!
Therefore, any professional dance studio or rehearsal room must have the best ventilation and air-conditioning.
On the first day Jing Xiaoqiang arrived in Shanghai, he sat in the symphony orchestra ballroom until the end of the show.
The polite waiters began to clear the room, and the accompaniment band also stood up, packed up their instruments and prepared to go off work.
Jing Xiaoqiang mixed in and helped move things and arrange the tables and chairs.
It's not surprising that young people like this just want to get to know the crowd. There will be many free tickets in the future.
So the old waiter saw that he had done almost enough and sent him away: "Little bastard, go away, go away..."
Jing Xiaoqiang actually rubbed against the singing stage: "I have a new disco dance song that can help you improve your performance."
The eighteen-year-old high school graduate was still wearing the same wrinkled round-neck T-shirt. He hadn’t showered for two or three days, and his disheveled hair showed that he was sleep-deprived.
The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra has spared a few people to take turns to provide accompaniment for the ballroom dance. What level of professionalism is this?
The nearby Shanghai Conservatory of Music is one of the top two professional colleges in China. After graduation from various majors, only top students can join the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
These are all similar to the Wudang Sect's Elders Council, and I almost laughed out loud.
You don't know your place!
But they were all gentlemen and just ignored them, packing their own things, which were mainly a small band consisting of standard electric guitar, electric bass, keyboard and drums. Because the symphony orchestra had a strong foundation, they could also add orchestral musicians such as saxophone, trumpet, euphonium and violin.
Take turns to earn extra money.
The youngest trumpet player had nothing to do today, so he shooed him away like he was flicking a fly: "Go ahead, go ahead. Our band doesn't need any dance music, and the music school is nearby, so you can go there and sell your songs."
The others chuckled.
Jing Xiaoqiang didn't waste any time. He stepped onto the stage, grabbed the wired microphone that had not been turned off, and reached out to take the tambourine next to the drum set at the back.
It is the kind of hand drum with a single-sided leather cover on a circular wooden frame that many families use to amuse their children and is also found in some KTV rooms in later generations. The wooden frame is also equipped with some metal sheets that can be shaken to make sounds.
Northeast Asian music, South American and African music all have similar rhythm instruments.
He casually slapped his thighs, and after seven or eight seemingly random slaps, he sang into the microphone!
This was the song "Lambada" that he had never heard while sitting in the dance hall today and listening to all the dance music over and over again.
Lombard dance, a South American-style Latin dance music, later became a very famous disco erotic dance music!
And he spoke in Portuguese!
How to describe it.
This kind of dance music obviously uses the powerful and lively rhythm of disco, but the dancers cross their hips and rub against each other!
So the singing style is bright yet lingering!
The kind of silky and enchanting charm that Chinese cannot express!
An expert can tell whether something is true or not as soon as he opens his mouth.
Many people in China who sing foreign languages memorize the pronunciation by rote , which is a far cry from the ease and freedom that comes with singing as if they have mastered their mother tongue.
There were seven or eight band members, and as soon as they heard the clapping of their hands they knew there were some signs.
When the grape language singing started, everyone froze in their places, looking at Jing Xiaoqiang in disbelief.
The words he just said when he walked over were clearly in standard Mandarin with a southwestern accent, but he actually sang them in such a fluent minority language!
This alone makes it unique among all the dance halls in Shanghai!
Do you think there is something wrong with his singing?
there must be.
But even if you look all over Shanghai... no, maybe even all over the country, you won't be able to find such a professional accent of Portuguese singing.
What’s more important is that this young man, who obviously looked very young, was not at all stage-frightened. He was able to sing with full charm just by relying on a rhythm and even twisted his waist and jumped on the stage!
He took off the microphone with a cable, spread his arms as if hugging a beautiful woman, and swayed his hips and waist. The movement of moving his hips in a circle showed his skill!
But Jing Xiaoqiang himself felt, oh, my waist!
Crunching sound!
Musculoskeletal system cannot keep up with body awareness!
Need to practice!
But in the eyes of others, I am just a good boy!
Can sing and dance!
This is a huge difference in the threshold, ever since Fei Xiang came to the Spring Festival Gala with "A Fire in Winter" and showed his great advantages in being able to sing and dance.
He instantly became a monument, but he still dreamed of showing himself on Broadway, leaving only a legend in the world.
How many people can maintain steady breathing and accurate voice while performing various large-scale body movements?
The business requirements are very high!
However, South American song and dance is a unique art. Most of the movements involve shaking the lower body, which is very suitable for beginners like Jing Xiaoqiang whose body and soul have not yet fully merged.
Even so, his smooth and silky dance moves have an authentic Latin style.
It is definitely unique!
