Get on your dancing shoes.. (306 views)

Daphne did not want to rehearse her dance moves in her house today. The moves she was currently working on were for a class, just a basic overview of a new movie that Daphne was struggling to acquire a taste for. Because her housemates tended to wander in and out of the house of their own accord, Daphne would be subjected to the sounds of them yelling and opening and closing the door if she rehearsed in the living room. Besides, pushing aside the furniture was annoying. She would rather come here, to the rehearsal studio, where there was no furniture to be moved.

Daphne wore a pale purple leotard underneath a pair of black short-shorts and a loose fitting tank top. Once she entered the building she approached the room that she usually used, though she heard the sounds of music coming out of it and her steps slowed. She came to a stop at the doorway, watching as another girl whom she had never seen before practiced twirls. Daphne’s expression looked angry as she stepped into the room. Her long brown hair was pulled up into a high bun on top of her head. Daphne walked towards one of the poles in the room and began to stretch, ignoring the other girl in the room. This was easily the best room for dancing, given the mirrors surrounding the entire area – she was not about to give it up. Typically Daphne was the only one who used the room at this day and time. She did not know who this girl was, but assumed she must be new.

”Did not know someone else used this room. At this time.” Daphne asked in a cold tone, moving her body slowly to ease herself into the motions required of a dancer.

Daphne’s expression did not change or soften as Summer noticed her, instead she focused on her stretching. She was only going over some motions today and thus didn’t need music. It was the mechanics of what she was doing that needed practice. Though she wanted some sort of background – so what the other girl turned off her music Daphne stopped moving and wordlessly grabbed her own from the bag she had placed near the door.

”I do not care.” Daphne said bluntly, pressing play as something classical and instrumental began to play in the background. ”The studio is not sign up based. I am not telling you to leave. I am just telling you to stay out of my way. I am working on the mechanics of my dance. Not the performance.”

Daphne then continued her stretching. Whether or not Summer decided to stay was her decision, as Daphne slowly stretched one leg out behind her and kept the other posed straight, resting her hands on the handlebars a few feet in front of the mirrors. Daphne could see herself, and then the scrambling form of Summer as it looked like she tried to rush out.

Daphne silently nodded as she continued to move to the beat, twisting and turning her body fluidly. Out of the corner of her eye, though, she spotted something that captured her attention. She watched as Summer moved fluidly. This girl was better than some of Daphne’s classmates – most of them, if she was being honest. Metric was a prestigious academy and no one in her class was bad – but it was impressive this girl could surpass their motions with added fluidity to rival the motions Daphne herself made.

Daphne stopped stretched and moved onto her actual dancing, going over a few motions as the classical music played in the background for her to get enthralled into the tempo. She wasn’t going to do kicks or jumps – not with another person in the room – but she could perform small lunges when they were supposed to happen.

Summer’s question caused Daphne to pause her dancing and turned towards the other girl with dark, unimpressed eyes. Though Summer’s motions were impressive it did not show on Daphne’s expression.

”I only take the teachers who are, as many say, hard.” Daphne said, for dance anyway. She didn’t care about the fundamentals. What use had she for science or history? Perhaps math was the most useless core class, but she didn’t bother to explain. ”Metric is filled with top notch teachers. If you have any hopes of succeeding, you will take the best of the best classes. Nothing less. The, as you say, ‘pushy’ types are most common.”

Daphne nodded in approval when Summer expressed joy that the teachers were pushy. There was nothing more annoying than those in Daphne’s classes who looked forward to canceled classes, and those who did not do their best in the classroom. If you were here to study dance why would you not want to learn? It confused and frustrated Daphne to no end.

”I do not pay attention to my classmates. I am in the class to do work, yes?” Daphne said, and her wording might have sounded cruel or off-putting to Summer but she really wouldn’t mind if Summer was in her classes. After all, Daphne would rather have someone who was taking the dance lessons seriously in her courses. She wondered if Daphne attended the high school or the college. She supposed either way she’d be seeing the girl around.

When Summer opted to take a break, Daphne decided to use the whole floor to her advantage. She did a leap and caught herself gracefully, completing it with a light twirl of her feet and body. She liked to dance around so fluidly – it made her feel like a leaf blowing about in the wind. She was keeping the motions simple but impressive. It’d be a lie to say she wasn’t holding back – but she was also making sure that her skill was clearly visible to Summer.

Daphne paused her dancing when she was asked a question and wondered if this girl was looking to compare herself to her. Well, that was what Daphne was doing anyway – measuring herself up to this girl whose name she didn’t even know. She saw in Summer someone of equal talent to her and thus, a rival at the school. Daphne longed for better rivals, to compare herself to and strive to improve against. All she had now were her instructors. They were skilled and talented, no doubt about that, but Daphne longed for people her own age to take dance as seriously as she took hers.

”I have been dancing since I walked.” Daphne said, which wasn’t really a lie. Sure she didn’t officially start dancing for a few years down the line but Daphne had always been light on her feet and a natural born dancer. And as she got older she was given instructors and her talent was honed in on and improved. As she outgrew her instructors back home in France, Daphne came to Metric where she hoped to improve under the instruction of the best and then become a choreographer someday. ”You. What about you? You have talent in dance, must have been dancing for a long time.”

”Ah I see. Very young, like me.” Daphne said, impressed at a solo at four. The image she had in her head was of course of a naturally talented child performing alone at such a young age. Daphne had natural talent but did not start her dance troupe until she was 6 years old. She wished her mother and father had enrolled her younger. With a few more years under her belt, how much better would she be? Daphne tried not to dwell on the past, because it only made her angry… but still. When she imagined how much skill she might have had if she started lessons younger… ”I did not have such an experience. I knew since I was enrolled in my troupe that I wanted to dance. The clapping in performances, it was only to confirm what I knew already.”

At Summer’s compliments, Daphne offered a small bow of appreciation.

”Thank you. I have, as my mother would say, a dancer’s body.” She said. Examining Summer she looked the same, like a natural born dancer. ”It is as though God knew we were meant to dance, when he gave us talent and our bodies. Of course it takes work to maintain, but He did His part.”

Daphne looked Summer up and down again.

”Ah, yes, working with someone like you would be doable.” She said, as though she was talking about an appliance being appraised rather than a person. But still – she knew she could learn from Summer’s skill and that Summer would not drag her down. ”I am annoyed when I am working with those who do not care. You are aware of the type, yes? They are those who come to school, believing they do not need to be taught nothing. That their natural talent, that it means they do not have to learn. Very annoying.”

Daphne gave Summer another cold stare as the song changed on her iPod to another instrumental piece. She did not waste time lingering and got back to practicing her turns. Once she stopped turning, she took a steadying breath and went over the step she felt she did wrong in the turn. She preformed the move again, this time, remembering to move on the beat of the song rather than the downbeat.

”Are you scheduled for a performance?” Dpahne asked, not knowing if she was on the roster to perform for any of Metric’s shows yet. Likely not, she assumed.

Daphne nodded approvingly when Summer agreed, though Daphne could not even be sure she meant it. She could be saying anything to get on Daphne’s good side – she could sense the discomfort that the other woman was feeling in her presence. Daphne was not unused to making others uncomfortable with her presence, and would not be surprised if a slacker tried to act as though they cared to get in her good graces.

She would know nothing unless she took a class with Summer or was put on a performance with the other girl.

”In the classes, sometimes, they will have a dance performance. The classes are smaller, less noteworthy, but they are still performances. There are also soloes given to those with outstanding talents.” Daphne said. ”Every semester, there is a Metric Academy dance show, at end. I have a solo in it, as well as two classes that I am in, that are performing. Have you seen your schedule yet? Perhaps your class is one of the performing classes.”

”Ah, you may be in it. There is no point in a class if you do not perform at the end of the semester – otherwise, what is that point? There would be none, if you do not show for the effort you put in.” Daphne said, remembering the times when she was newer to the academy and had showed off her solos. The instructors had been impressed and it had granted her the first solo she’d ever performed in the school. She wondered why Summer had waited so late to enroll – how old was she?

”How old are you?” Daphne bluntly asked, not one to beat around the bush. ”I enrolled at 14, here. I got my first solo after I had my private studio time. The time you are no doubt going to shortly. Is to practice and chose a dance why you are here, in this room, now?”

Daphne shrugged her shoulders as she continued to move to the soft music of her iPod, everything leading up to the performance what mattered most to her. The show that she put on was her finished product, and if her performance was not perfect it meant that all her time had been wasted because she had not improved. She turned towards Summer.

”Improvement is why I perform. There must be a pressure, to improve.” Daphne said. So she and Summer were roughly the same age. She could have seen her as younger, with her light facial features and novice status to the academy. Still, Summer was the kind of person Daphne would see as a rival if she was close to the other girl in age.

”Homeschooling? Would be difficult, to reach your full potential. A school like this is very much better.” She commented, never seeing the purpose of being taught by oneself or someone who was a parent. They were obviously not an expert in their field – well she supposed if they were, they wouldn’t have the time to homeschool a child – and so trying to learn from somebody of lesser knowledge than a professor or a hired professional seemed mute. When she mentioned she won nationals with a routine, Daphne paused her moves and placed her hands on the bar a few feet away from the mirror, turning her blank face onto Summer. ”Nationals? What is this routine – I only caught a few moments.”