Vol 2 ~ What if I ain't no Violinist?

28. Twoset Choreographers II

"Brett!!"

Brett shifted his gaze to the entrance of his bedroom and grimaced. His mother stood with her arms crossed. She pointed her index finger to Brett's Bluetooth speakers in his room, she then used that finger to gesture a slice across her neck, miming him to "kill" the music. She looked as if she was prepared to kill her own son if he didn't comply.

Brett quickly muted his music.

"S, sorry Mum."

His mother shook her head.

"Too loud Brett. Just way too loud. Ever heard of headphones? Not that I'd want you to listen to your music that loud with headphones."

"But mum, I can't feel the music if it's through headphones or if its not loud enough."

"..Just where exactly were you trying to feel the music? In your spleen?"

Brett looked confused.

"Sorry Mum, I didn't get that."

"..I meant it as a joke. Any louder and I thought the sound waves would injure your internal organs."

"But I actually decide how I dance based on how I feel the music."

"I'm sorry sweetheart but you might have to work all that out while you are at the dance studio. Your bedroom is not the best place for assigning dance moves to your music if this is how it's done."

Brett sighed.

"Oookay.."

"Hey Brett, are you alright? I don't think you're supposed to stretch like that.. you might pull something you don't want to."

Eddy noticed straight away that something wasn't quite right when Brett was grunting and forcing his warm-down stretches.  That was something Eddy might do, but not Brett. Classically trained, old school Brett.

"Eddy. Yeah, I'm fine. Just.. a bit miffed I don't have a place to practice. They won't let us stay behind after class here cos the studio is booked out by the instructors"

Eddy furrowed his brows with concern.

"What, to work on your choreography?"

Brett nodded.

"Yeah. You know a place I could blast my music without getting into trouble? I don't need a lot of space. I mean, it would certainly help, but I almost don't care if I only have a space the size of a shower booth."

Eddy looked totally confused.

"Why or how on Earth would you practice in such a small space?"

Brett shrugged.

"I can work on the detailed choreography later.. I mean I could even do most of it without a large space. But not the beginning.. I need to assign the key movements first by checking when and where the music hits me... And I need to hear the music LOUD to work that bit out."

Eddy furrowed his brows in confusion, then shrugged.

"Look Brett, if you want, you could come over to my place? I've got a.. practice room downstairs.. well, it's actually part of our garage. It's pretty well soundproofed.. you'd go deaf before my mum would complain that your music is too loud. How much time would you need to play your music?"

Brett perked up.

"You have a practice room?"

"Um, yeah.  It was originally built for my sister cos she plays piano but I use it for dance too."

"Wow. Um.. I dunno how much time I would need.. it's for the choreography exercise we were each given to do..I just want to listen to the music a few times to check where it hits me the most. Y'know, work out a few key movements that come naturally with the music."

Eddy smiled.

"Yeah, I get you. I do that, too. Wanna come over now?"

Brett bit his lower lip. Eddy was a relative beginner of dance of only 2 years and had beaten Brett, a classically trained dancer of 10 years in a recent dance competition.  The blow was a double whammy as Brett was beaten by choreography and also its execution. So to be brutally honest, Brett had mixed feelings about even being in the same space as Eddy, let alone owing a favour to him. But Brett was curious about how Eddy-the-dancer was put together and how Eddy-the-choreographer put his dance moves together.  And what better way was there to find out than going over to his house and seeing where and how he practised? To be able to see how Eddy put together his choreography which was so highly acclaimed by the competition judges.

"..Sure, that would be great, thanks Eddy."