Janet watched Mariah stretching the next day. She was remarkable in heels and had stretched in them the entire day. The older woman just didn't see how Mariah was doing it.
Mariah hadn't noticed the woman looking yet for she was in her own head. Today was the day, the day that she danced for Janet Jackson. She had been practicing all night and she knew without a doubt that she had the routine down. After spending hours studying the woman's previous choreography, Mariah had made the best routine possible.
The woman had made sure that it would fit into Janet's style of dance while pushing her outside of the box at the same time. Her music was on shuffle and suddenly her favorite song began playing through the speakers as she stretched. Mariah did a little happy dance before getting into position. She had stretched enough and this dance would get her ready to teach Janet. Or at least she hoped. Really, she didn't believe nothing would ever have her ready.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Marsha Ambrosius began singing as Mariah slowly went into a heel stretch. She held it until the bass dropped as she went into a split. Janet still watched silently with her eyes widened. Seeing it in person was way better than on video.
Mariah danced her way aimlessly through the entire song before it went off and she hopped up as if she wasn't tired. As if that song wasn't 4 minutes in itself. It left Janet asking, 'How in the hell is she not even sweating from all that?'
Clapping brought Mariah out of her world harshly and her head shot up at the sound. Her eyes met with her new boss as she panicked slightly. Damn it, there goes the anxiety. Her head dropped as she spoke. "Sorry. I didn't see you there. H-how long have you been there?"
"Saw the heel stretch split. You expected me to do that? Apart of me is honored but the other part is appalled that you think my 53 year old self can hit that."
A chuckle left Mariah's lips. "I'm pretty sure with time I can get you into a heel stretch split."
"With time you could get me into anything, I bet."
The couple met eye contact before Mariah changed topic for she had began to get nervous again. "Ready to learn the dance?"
Janet nodded. "Let's do it."
Mariah hesitated when she watched Janet drop her bag and come stand next to her. Finally, she mumbled a question. "No heels?"
The singer shook her head. "53 Mariah. 53."
"So? You're Janet Jackson. You can dance in heels."
"53." She sung back as a response.
The dancer chuckled before giving up. If the woman didn't wanna do a heels dance, then she'd teach it to her on her feet. Might change a bit of the dynamic but it was nothing major.
Janet watched as Mariah nodded before walking over to her dance bag and unzipping the back of her heels. She took them off as she spoke. "If you don't do heels, I won't either. It's better we practice how you're gonna perform."
"So where's your shoes?"
Mariah's face blanked before replying. "I'm Aisha's dance child. I barely own those. I'll dance barefoot." She walked over to the Bluetooth speaker before grabbing her phone and putting the song they would need on repeat. "You ready?"
"Always."
Two hours had passed and Janet had gotten most of it. She had made it to the end of the verses but the head whip into the chorus was slowing the progress down. Mariah could spot the frustration beginning to play on the woman's face.
It caused the younger woman to pause the song. Janet glanced at her as Mariah's voice replaced the music. "Why did you want new choreo to the song?"
Janet knew why, she was pretty sure everyone close to the woman knew why but she wasn't comfortable with the true answer. Instead she settled for, "I needed a new change."
"Why?"
"Why?" The singer wasn't used to being asked that. People usually didn't question her moves. Not people outside of her family at least.
"Yeah, why do you think you needed a new change? Did you get bored with it?" Mariah didn't think much into asking the woman about the reasoning. The people she worked around never seemed opposed to answering the questions she had.
Janet shook her head. "No, I never really had anything to it. I just sat in a chair for the most part."
"Wanna incorporate a chair into the routine?" The dancers eyes sparkled in excitement. She loved dancing with props. She rarely got the chance with Aisha.
"Maybe next time. Right now I want to get this hair flip."
The younger girl nodded before speaking. "So it's literally super easy. You're probably over thinking it. You rotate left to right and as you rotate let your body follow your rotation." Mariah did it as she spoke. "Let your knees bend slowly with your head still spinning and land on the ground. Slowly. No rush. This number is all about the sex appeal so if you miss the next point, it's okay because you can easily move into it with your hips. Don't stress it, just let it flow."
Janet began doing what the younger woman instructed and found herself actually catching the hang of the move.
"See? You're a natural."
"No," The woman disagreed. "You are just a good teacher."
"Nah, I just teach what Aisha's taught me." Mariah answered. She felt her shyness creeping back in as her head dropped and she tucked some of her hair behind her ear.
"You honestly think that's what it is?" Janet was shocked at Mariah's words. Did she really think that she didn't have the spark? Sure Aisha had groomed her but the woman's drive had come from her own personal being. She seemed to give all of her success to Aisha, and that wasn't okay.
The younger girl nodded. "It is what it is. She made me who I am."
The music in the background lessened for it was the breakdown of the song. "She groomed you, not made you. God made you who you are. He gave you the gift, then you were put in dance classes which brightened the gift. Next you met Aisha, who enhanced the gift, but nevertheless the gift is yours. Only yours. It's good to give others credit, but it's never cocky to give yourself credit as well."
"I hear you, but it's not much credit to be given. Come on, let's work on the ending of it, we will fill in the rest later." Mariah tried desperately to change the topic and get back to work. She was never one to get to the nitty gritty of who gave her what and why she is who she was.
Aisha had never told anyone that she'd made Mariah, but Mariah couldn't help but to believe it to be true. Without Aisha, she wouldn't be in this studio today— let alone any other opportunities that came her way. Joining the pregnant woman's dance studio full time was the best decision she ever made. So didn't that give Aisha all the credit anyways?
The older of the two stood trying to figure out what to reply to the woman before settling on holding her words for a moment. Instead she walked over to the stereo and cut her song off. Mariah watched her silently, and Janet turned around and looked at her. "Let's do lunch."
