Beep. Beep. 98.9. My fever's gone. I can dance today. I'm so happy. I take my shot and pill. I feel a hundred times better. I feel like I wasn't sick yesterday. I'm all smiles when Mom and I are in the car, bouncing up and down in excitement.
The girls and Brady are very happy when I arrive. It's a little overwhelming, to be honest. Today we are going to start privates. It's a new thing Ms. Abby is trying. We have nine one-hour weekly privates. We knock out six of them on private days, an hour of schoolwork after private one, private three, and private five, and then do the remaining three throughout the next day.
We're split into two groups. One with four dancers and one with three dancers. I'm in the one with four dancers. This week, Hannah, Sarah, and Pressley are in my group. I have a jazz private with Ms. Abby while the other group has a jumps and turns private with Ms. Gianna.
When we walk into Studio A, Ms. Abby's surprised to see me. I guess she thought I was going to be out. But I bounce back. I always bounce back.
As we start stretching and warming up, retrieving our jazz shoes from our bag, Ms. Abby asks me, "How are you doing sweetheart?"
"I'm doing good, actually," I reply, chipper and bouncy as I keep stretching. Soon the jazz private begins.
"Ok, girls. Step, dig right, jump, ball, change, right, left, out," Ms. Abby calls out and we do so accordingly. That's kind of how you do a private. It's basically Simon Says with tips.
"Take your left hand, break your knee down to the floor, pose. Slide-out to your left knee, push out, pose."
"Hannah! You're not bending your knee enough!"
"Close down onto the floor and battement. Open your right hand out and sit towards the back."
"Sickled feet Lilly! Press to fourth opening your left arm in a circle. Sit back to where you came from. Press and arch to standing. One. Good, let's try that again."
We do the moves again and then Ms. Abby adds more moves to the jazz routine, adding, "Turn to the right, click, bend the knee. Point your foot, Pressley! Bring your arms to first position, ball, change. Tilt. Lengthen your neck, Hannah! Go!"
It is the same thing over and over again, making the routine more complicated and complex.
"Step forward, hands on the floor, developing that leg forward. Other leg, Sarah! Bring it through, snake it up. Step, arms lift up, open to our knees, ball, change, and open. Wider, Hannah! Start from the arch."
"Bring that right hand, it's gonna close that right leg in, hold. Roll up really slow. Bend that right knee, that left hand going up the leg. Slower, Sarah! Step back, right, popping our left, and step back one more time. Your arms are gonna pull up and go down. Start from 2," Ms. Abby instructs.
This is one of the easier dances I've learned in a private class. Ms. Abby seems pleased, adding more to the dance, "Step into fifth and prep. Do a double coupe. Hannah, don't fall out of the turn! Again! Step, prep, double coupe. Step out into your right hip and improv a pose. Let's go over that one more time from the arch. Good, Lilly!"
"Okay, girls. You're going to step, fan, coupe, battement, arms pressed out. Don't sickle your foot, Pressley! And step, your left hand is going to help your left leg into an arabesque and into your right leg, and snake out of that. And do some improv for like, three counts or something like that. Good job, you learned half the dance. Let's take a five-minute break, and run it once more and then add. Lilly, I need to fix those feet. They're getting a bit fat."
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Une Fleure Fanée
Fanfiction***MATURE WARNING*** "The hunger is good. You had too many calories already. You're already fat." "They'll love you even more when you're skinny. You'll be their perfect little angel when you're nice and pretty." "Lilly, I heard you puking up the c...
