2017-01-29

【Aiden in English】

        I’ve always been on the Chinese Yo-Yo club since I heard about it in Guanghua Chinese School. Although many people have come and gone, I was the person who never quit. It really isn’t much to be proud of. Yet it’s a passion that I have, which is why I feel somewhat closer to the club than some other activities.

        It is also why I’m now its teacher assistant.

        Being a TA seems like a double-edged sword. I can learn and teach kids, which is oddly soothing at times, as well as follow a hobby that has grown on me. However, it requires many performances, and performances lead to disappointing failures. I think the thrill with the lights shining in your face is an interesting experience. The pressure mounted on the performers is exhilarating, and it really gives you a good scare when the Yo-Yo is in motion on a trick. There’s always that one factor of fear when your friend might mess-up. Funny thing is, usually when I feel scared for others, it’s me who screws up the show the most. Maybe I should do my job well and then worry about others.

        Chinese New Year has come around again, and none of the Yo-yo team is quite enthusiastic. We aren’t quite prepared, to say the least. Most of this year’s song entitled “Sky Is Blue” was about the blue sky, so we finally got down a similar costume for everyone: a white t-shirt and light blue pants. The pants were ordered from a website, which is kind of why they arrived so late. And that was only one of the minor problems. The song being played in the background was about 3 minutes long. We kept going over that limit. The thing is, with performances like the Gala, timing is the key. Therefore, in order to time everything out, we needed a signal to show where the ending was occurring. Not only for the performer but for the little kids as well. Because of the age gap, there were the more experienced folks like me who understood the outline of the show. Then there were the little kids, who basically frolic around in the background during the climax of the performance. This year’s preparation was the reason our teacher decided to not have younger kids or new additions to perform next year; some children just can’t be controlled. Luckily, there wasn’t much embarrassment on stage this time. Those who were expected to screw up pretty much screwed up. For once, I didn’t have any issues with my great combo that I did every year because I had nothing else to do. The highlight, however, came last, and it was a friend of mine performing double Yo-Yos. Its name is quite self-explanatory, as he circled two Yo-Yos on one stick for as long as he could, or until the end of the song. After messing up once, he quickly recovered and tried once more, in which he successfully pulled off a great series of tosses.

        As for the overall performance, I must say, it was one of our best ones yet. Simply because there were no areas where we felt embarrassed, the entire performance seemed to be in our control. It feels good to be able to go out into the lights and deliver.

【红霞译文】

        自从听说宾州光华中文学校开设空竹班起，我便报名参与至今，其间有不少同伴像走马灯似的来了去去了来，可我始终没打退堂鼓，在此并非有意标榜自己，是热情伴随我体尝到没有其它任何运动所能替代的乐趣。

        这也是为什么现在我又走马上任当起空竹老师的助理。

        助教好比一把双刃剑，一方面我可以边学边教孩子，这么一来反倒意外地调和了上课节奏；另一方面我还能趁机发展自己的兴趣爱好。抖空竹离不开舞台表演，而舞台表演势必要面对挫折，镁光灯下每幅摄人心魂的精彩画面无不蕴藏着有趣的经历。精神压力促使演员兴奋，刺激他们死死盯住急速飞转的空竹，紧张状态无可避免地导致同伴发挥失常，滑稽的是我杞人忧天，往往替朋友捏一把汗，结果自己出错最多，结果自己最有可能出错，或许我应该先做好分内工作，然后去助人为乐。

        农历新年再度来临，空竹班学生没有表现出高度热情，依我看大家准备得并不充分。这次舞台配乐为《天蓝蓝》，曲中大多描述蓝色天空，因此我们决定统一服装：白汗衫浅蓝裤，裤子都是网购产品，到货时间直逼登台日子，除此而外，其它一切按步就绪。串场音乐前后仅有三分钟，但凡每次练习我们肯定超时，像这种大型文艺演出关键因素在于遵守时间，因此为了确保如期完成走台过程，我们安排一个暗号提示全班人马做好收尾准备，这样不仅对身经百战的老油条有用，而且对初显身手的嫩豆芽照样管事。由于空竹班彼此之间年纪相差悬殊，以我为代表的老生派对登场一招一式早已心中有数，而活泼好动的后备军时不时呆在蓝天白云背景屏幕前嬉戏玩耍，我们老师见状横定决心，来年避免启用不知天高地厚的愣头青儿，大庭广众面前有些小不点管不住自己真让你没辙，好在这回大家并没有尴尬得下不来台，原来平日活蹦乱跳的小家伙因为怯场而有所收敛。针对本人实况，我破天荒头一次毋庸担心全套组合，既然没有推出新花样，只好吃老本把看家本领拿来重新演示一番，然而最精彩的压轴戏要算咱哥们抖的双空竹。顾名思义，他让两个空竹围绕一根棍子转悠，直到曲终整个节目完毕，中间虽出过一次意外，但迅速找回感觉恢复竞技状态，并成功完成一系列高抛惊险动作。

        就整体表现而言，我承认今年恐怕是历来表现最棒的一次，好就好在事后大家没发觉有啥遗憾，每人都发挥出正常水平，众目睽睽之下如愿实现心中设想，着实让人欣慰。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2008: 多米尼克首都罗索(Roseau)

Crosslinks(相关博文):

The 2016 Year of Monkey Celebrated w/ Yo-Yo(抖空竹过猴年)

The 2015 Year of Goat Celebrated w/ Yo-Yo(抖空竹过羊年)