His Tiny Dancer [COMPLETED]

III

~Monday, January 3rd~

"What does 'échappé relevé' mean? Yes, Natalie?"

"I need to go potty."

"Oh okay, go ahead. Does anyone know what 'échappé relevé' means?"

"Spaghetti!" This earns a laugh from both Miss Erica and myself.

"No, it doesn't mean 'spaghetti', Brynn. Miss Theresa, will you tell us?"

"It means 'to escape and re-rise,'" I say showing an échappé relevé for the six-year-olds to copy. I bend my knees in a plié, then slide my feet out to a wider position, rising onto the balls of my feet.

"Thank you, let's all practice that with Miss Theresa while I get the music, okay?" Miss Erica, the teacher, says as she walks towards the stereo. An hour and a half later I finish helping to teach pre-ballet classes like I do most days before taking my own classes. I love working with little kids, and the extra brownie points for volunteering is a nice bonus. While it is tiring, it's also amazingly encouraging to see the improvement on not only each student's behavior, but also their technique over the course of just one year.

I throw a t-shirt over my head, grab my phone and the apple I packed from my dance bag, and settle down on the couch in the lobby to wait for my class to start. I spend the hour scrolling aimlessly through different social medias on my phone, eating my apple, and watching the class that is currently going on in the studio. The class is just one level below mine, so I recognize a lot of the students. They are well trained, they're in the second highest level at a pre-professional studio after all, so they make up the corps in most of our productions, the corps being like the background dancers. Don't be mistaken though, the corps de ballet - as it is called in professional companies - is the backbone of most ballets, creating movement on the sides of the stage and making transitions flow easily. One could even argue that the corps de ballet is more important than the soloists and principal dancers, though these two roles are the goal for most dancers' careers.

Once it nears time for my class to begin, other girls in my level begin to arrive at the studio. I greet them all and they return kindly. Soon Riley walks in, punctual as always in arriving exactly fifteen minutes before class begins. Her light brown hair is pulled into a classical bun at the crown of her head, her caramel brown eyes, freckled nose, and round face making her look younger than she is, when really she is a junior. We immediately make eye-contact, and when a smile stretches across her face I can't help but feel one grow on mine. She puts her bag down next to mine before sitting down next to me on the couch.

"How were the kids today?" She asks.

"Pretty good, the last class got a little crazy by the end, but they're a big group so that was to be expected." Soon Andrea joins us, she is taller than both of us but it's all leg, with reddish brown hair that brings out her dark hazel eyes.

"How's life?" She says when she joins us on the couch.

"Not bad. I can't wait to get back to classes after vacation though. It's all going to hurt much more than normal tonight," Riley says with a devious glint in her eye. Riley loves dancing with her whole heart, like the rest of us, but even when everyone else is dying from exhaustion Riley wants to do another set of fouettés.

"Oh, have I got a story for you two," I say realizing that they don't know about Olivia and I's mishaps with Noah today. I briefly tell them the story while they listen with interest until it is time for our class. We take our normal barre spots, Riley and I standing next to each other at a center barre and Andrea standing on the other side. Our teacher is still setting up the music, so the class takes this time to stretch and chatter. At six o'clock our teacher, the owner of the company - Miss Marie - stands at the end of the barre nearest the stereo.