I went though the “jian mian” (see/view face) session this morning. The school wanted to see where I was at physically and what skills I already had. It was pretty simple, a few flexibility tests and a quick demo of other skills that I had. It all went well except for my subject choices.
First, the school refuses to let me do Aerial Silks or Lyra. They initially didn’t even want me doing straps. But after lots of arguing, I’m officially studying straps. Still no other aerials. And I’m doing Feicha too, officially, which means that Liu Laushi is able to directly instruct me.
The excuse that the school gives is that I only have 2 weeks left (which is their fault), and that I can’t learn much in 2 weeks. But despite having prior aerials experience, they refuse to let me even practice on my own (but I’ll find a way around that). More excuses on their part.
Then they say, that I should focus and do only 1 or 2 skills. Unfortunately for me, 1 or 2 is too few, I know how my mind works. With 2 things to focus on, I’ll lose focus and then waste any additional time spent on the skill. 3 or 4 is a number that works better with me.
And to add to the annoyance, they want me to learn tumbling too. It’s not that I don’t want tumbling skills, but it’s something that I can learn back home if I wanted to. It’s not my main focus and it also greatly increases my risk of injury, which I can afford to have happen since I’m only here for a few more weeks.
Looks like I have to work out some way to sneak into the aerials hall after hours and train on my own.