Dance, like no one's watching, class

[Prudence Warner]

Prue watched as her students worked through the next task she had given them, very impressed with the work that those who were new to the sport were putting into getting the plié as near to perfect as they could.

It didn't slide past her as the unfamiliar girl slipped into the room, who placed herself at the front of the line behind Aurora, and then the entrance of two gymnasts - one and then the other - quickly put their slippers on, the woman held her tongue as she watched Cara put on flat slippers and each found a place at the barre at the back of the line. She would talk to all three girls after class, but right now she had students to help.

"You are trying to watch your feet when you plié." She told Cortney quietly as she walked to stand behind the girl and placed her hands on the girl's hips. "Now, keep your head up, your back straight and hips aligned." She let go of the girl as she bent down, her heels only coming off the ground by a hair. "Well done."

The young woman walked back to the front of the line. "Alright, last thing before we put some music on and I let you guys just dance for the sake of doing so." She placed her right hand on the barre and moved her feet into first position. "Right, with your feet as they are now, I would like you to adjust your centre of gravity and slide your right foot over so that you have a foot's space between your heels." She moved her left foot across, as she was working to the opposite as the students facing her. The term seconde generally means to or at the side."

Second Position

[Monique//Aurora Chambers]

Rory tried her hardest to do the plié without lifting her imperfect feet off the ground, and she found that she could actually do it if she put her mind to it. She did a small victory dance by wriggling her hips and then giggled and cast a glance over her shoulder. She jumped when she saw that there was a girl standing behind her, where there had been space earlier. "Hi!" She said in a stage whisper. "You're good at doing plié." She looked at the girl's feet and almost fell over as she was only turned at the waist to stop her feet from moving out of the position she had them in.

She turned back to the front as Ms Warner started speaking again and she watched the woman's feet carefully as she moved one away from the other. She frowned as she didn't understand the whole "centre of gravity" thing, but brushed it aside, she'd Google it later.

Even though she knew she shouldn't, Rory looked down at her feet as she slid the right one to the, well, right so that there was a gap between her heels, she guessed it must be about a foot space. However, when she moved her foot to the side, she didn't shift her weight and had to grab hold of the barre to catch herself from toppling over. "Oops." She whispered as she readjusted herself and moved her feet back to where they were. She found that it was easier to turn her feet out more this way and stood taller when her feet were almost as straight as the teacher's.

[Henrietta Charleston]

Henri focused on the class and lowered her knees; holding her heels down the best she could. The class was somewhat full, though she figured the teacher had noticed her as she came in. The girl looked around her as she did her plié. Henri smiled slightly as she did pretty well for after quite a few years. She wondered if her mother would be happy at the fact she was dancing again, though Henri then remembered how Clarence was already doing competitions. The girl sighed in annoyance at the thought of her family. At times she really resented them, as Gabe had put it.

She smiled softly at the girl in front of her as she said hi in a friendly voice before complimenting her dance form. Henri blushed at her easy compliment before chuckling “Thank you.” she winced as the girl nearly fell over from attempting to talk to her and stay in the position as she did. Henri pushed her feet out a bit further till her limit was reached and she smiled at the little flexibility she had left. “Looks I’m quite a bit rusty…” she commented quietly, not sure exactly who she was saying it to.

Henri listened intently as Ms. Warner asked them to move onto the next position, her confusion of the step coming only for a bit before she attempted it. The steps weren’t her main problem; the flexibility issue would come quite quickly when they started to move onto the harder stuff. Henri slid her right leg out, keeping her balance and flexing her knees ever so slightly. She looked down at her ballet shoes, they were brand new, though stiff and she winced. Her eyes skipped onto the girl ahead of her as she barely escaped from falling. She smiled however as the girl managed to get it, and Henri was taken back to the days she was learning to dance. Hell, she had been terrible. Henri shook her head at the memory before waiting for the next instruction.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara 's heels may as well have been glued to the floor as she did her pliés, hips open, heels touching and toes facing the walls to either side of her, back straight, shoulder back and down, head up and chin held just so - every inch of her was the prima ballerina that she was. However, she still criticised everything that she did, her knees weren't out enough, they bent too much, her heels shifted as she had gone down. Anything that could be wrong, she yelled at herself for doing.

She halted the movement as Ms Warner spoke up and she listened to the woman as she explained about how to do the second position. Since she was down the back, she couldn't see the woman's feet, but she knew the five positions - six if you studied in France - and easily slid her right foot over so that her feet were now in the new position, opening her hips some more and moving her centre of gravity as she did it. Even though they were only told to shift their outside foot, she couldn't help but do a grande plié, left hand still on the barre and the fingers of her right hand brushing the floor before she straightened her legs again.

She was looking forward to a chance to do some freestyle dancing and couldn't wait to get started, wondering what kind of music the dance instructor would put on.

[Samantha 'Sam' Lawrence]

Sam continued following what Cara had been doing for a while. Holding the dem-plié began to make her legs tighten more and more. Her heart was relieved to hear that they were almost to the freestyle dancing. She smiled lightly, completely forgetting that she might get torn up by Ms. Warner later about being late. Then, she did as instructed, sliding her right foot out farther, and bent her knee's just the slightest bit more. Her eyes glanced around to the others in the room.

Of course she was the tallest person in the room. She always hated that she had most of her father's tributes. He was tall, muscular, and had blonde hair and baby blues. Sam was tall, lots of muscle for a girl, and had the blonde hair and blue eyes. Her sister and brother had been lucky and gotten their mother's features. Short, lightly built, and brown hair and eyes.

Once Sam had done the last of the instructions she straightened out. Her shoulders rolled back and fourth while waiting for the final instructions. Blonde locks of hair fell, draping down over her shoulders. Sighing quickly she tucked the stray pieces of hair back into the messy bun she had made earlier.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney grinned as she managed to do the movement, even if she did have Ms Warner standing behind her, coaching her along. When the teacher moved away though, she remembered what she had been told and ignoring her feet, she kept her head up and did another demi-plié and managed to keep her heels down... well much more than she normally could.

She straightened up and lifted an eyebrow as the teacher began speaking, she was looking forward to some free dancing, that way she couldn't get anything wrong, but right now, she needed to move her feet into second. She slid her right foot over, well a foot and adjusted her weight so that it was evenly on both feet and then pushed her toes out a little more, drawing in a sharp breath as a pain shot up the inside of her leg. Oh well, if it was her hamstring, she didn't have the issue of the other students, she didn't have any riding classes to attend after lunch.

She bounced on her toes, waiting to be able to stop doing ballet and doing what she loved doing the most, just dancing for the sake of it!!!

[Prudence Warner]

As the students worked their way to second position, Prue bounced over to the stereo and flicked through her CD collection until she pulled out on of the disks she'd got while on a Zumba instructor, and put it into the stereo.

She then walked down the line of students, critiquing those that needed it and praising the ones who didn't need any help. "Right! You have done brilliantly during the class, as for those of you who haven't done ballet before or haven't done it for a while, those are not easy positions to hold for as long as you have. Standing tall with your feet together, reach up to the ceiling with your fingertips and then just drop." She bent at the waist, her fingertips easily touching the floor. "Ok, now let's have some fun. Listen to the music, you may notice it has the odd instruction in there, but this part of the class is about having fun! Listen to the music and then just move your body, and shake your booty!" She clapped her hands, applauding her students for their hard work then jogged over to the stereo and pushed play.

Da Music

[Monique//Aurora Chambers]

Rory bounced into the air and landed with her feet together, both of the pointing the direction she was looking. Stretching her arms up, she stretched her fingers toward the ceiling as Ms Warner had instructed. She could feel the pull through her back, which she guessed meant that she had been a little tense throughout the class. She wasn't too surprised though with the amount of concentrating she had been doing with making sure her feet and legs were in the right place. She was going to practise first and second position lots before the next class in a couple of days. She then flopped over at the waist, even though her fingers didn't quite reach the floor, so she also made a note to work on her flexibility. She looked through her legs at the other girls and saw that the two gymnasts; Cara and Sam, both of them looked as though they were folded in half, she needed to talk to them about how she could do that.

She straightened up as the teacher began clapping her hands and the girl beamed with pride when she realised that the woman was clapping for them, rather than at them.

When the music started, Rory began to sway her hips in time to the beat, and as she allowed the music to flow through her she moved her hips more confidently and began to move her feet and then the rest of her body, bounding in circles as she punched her arm in the air every now and then, just forgetting about the other girls in the class and allowing the music to carry her away.

[Henrietta Charleston]

Henri grinned at her classes; so far she had only been having fun with them rather than boring tutors at her old estate. While she did miss the hundred percent attention she received from them, there were many benefits to being in a class with others. Most definitely the fact she could actually have a shot of making friends was probably the main reason she loved school. Henri’s loneliness had gone to nearly nothing, though her homesick problem had been increasing. For have never been away from home for even one night, the girl did shed some tears secretly in her room at least once a night.

Henri finished her last move as Ms. Warner gave her last instruction. Henri obliged quickly; though careful to not twist her ankle as she brought her feet back forward. The girl’s hip bent in half as she reached down to touch the ground; an immediate pain spiking behind her knees. Still, determinedly the girl skimmed the floor with her fingertips as she grinded her teeth and came back up. You did it fine at two, you can do it again. she repeated quickly in her head. Henri realized the state of her flexibility. It was nearly nonexistent. The girl sighed, realizing the dance class could only make it better.

The sixteen year old grinned at her teacher as she clapped her hands for them energetically. Blue Ridge seemed to be filled with the greatest teachers she had ever had, enthusiastic about their class as well as their students. Henri’s eyes than filled with some kind of embarrassment at the thought of “shaking her booty”, though it evaporated as soon as the music came on. As the younger girl began to dance, Henri chuckled and let herself loose. Hips swaying, limbs moving; the girl joined Rory in her dance.