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 Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:51 pm
The push-broom should really not have been as much fun as it was. Andrea applied the same grace to his cleaning of the hardwood floor as he did to his usual dance lessons that took place here, balancing on one foot and twirling as he turned corners. After this, he would have to buff the floor with the machine, which still intimidated him slightly in spite of having had the opportunity to use it a least a few times already.
The studio was still technically open for another half-hour, in spite of all of the lessons being over for the night. Andrea had just volunteered to stick around and help clean up after his own class. He was a bit sweaty still, but the lesson tonight had been relatively easy.
The boy twisted and swept dust from right up along the mirrored wall along one side longways of the dance space, then coaxed all of the dust kitties into a corner. Once everything was neatly in the corner, he could suck it up easily with the vacuum, take care of buffing the hardwood, then call it a night. It would be a quick closing-down tonight, especially if, as usual, the studio received no phone calls while he was finishing up the work.
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:14 pm
xxxxxTalia peeked in through the window of the dance studio. Dance meant it would have lessons on all types right? Maybe ... maybe even fan dancing? Talia couldn't contain her excitement.
xxxxxIt was pretty late in the day though. Was anyone even going to be there? As Talia popped her head in the building, she looked around to see any staff members. Zip. Zilch. The front desk didn't even have a secretary or anything at the moment. Had the studio been closed and they just forgot to lock up? The lights were on though ... so it couldn't be closed quite yet, right?
xxxxxHaving a moment of mischievousness, she ran into the big open room she saw. Ballet bars lined all of the walls and mirrors reflected her devilish intention. "Hello?" she questioned the air. No response ...
xxxxxTalia looked around to make sure no one was around. She could get in major trouble for this, but at the moment she didn't particularly care. She clattered into one of the classrooms, and set her bag down. Her hand slipped into the pocket of her backpack gingerly, and she produced two red fans. She never went anywhere without them nowadays.
xxxxxPlayfully, she looked at herself in the mirror, and then bowed, as though beginning a royal waltz. Though nervous at first, she began to relax as she twirled around in the studio. Mirrors made it seem like two Talias were whirling at the same place, giving off a beautiful sort of duet feeling. Hopefully there were no security guards in this studio. It didn't really seem very high maintenance...
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 6:34 pm
The floor dusted, Andrea returned to the back room where equipment was kept to trade the big push-broom for the vacuum. He thought he heard something from the room out front, but he figured it was just the studio secretary coming back from whatever brief errand she had had to run. The boy would have to wait for her to come back anyway, since she was the one with the key, but it was no issue since he had to finish taking care of the floor anyway. It was surprisingly difficult to hear much of anything from the studio while in the back room anyway, like the room just rendered all sound null.
So he was quite surprised to find someone dancing on aforementioned hardwood floors when he reappeared in the doorway, hoover in hand.
"Uh, can I help you?" he asked, tilting his head slightly as he blinked at the girl, and shifted his grip on the vacuum.
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 4:24 pm
xxxxxTalia was whirling in absolute ecstasy in the quaint studio. Sure, practicing in the park and her room was fun, but nothing could beat dancing in an actual studio. It just felt so much more official; the floorboards steady and in place at all times, the mirrors reflecting every imperfection and applauding every correct implication. It was absolutely marvelous.
xxxxxHer wonderful dance was interrupted by a stranger's voice at the doorway. Immediately her fans dropped to the ground, meeting the wood with a strange clacking noise. With a gasping sort of expression, she blathered, "Ahh uhh ..."
xxxxxTo catch her breath and calm her bright red blush of embarrassment, she bent over and gingerly picked up each fan. She carefully ran her fingers over the edge and inspected the fans to make sure they were okay. Truthfully, she was just biding herself sometime to think up a good response.
xxxxxNothing came to her, so she told the truth. "M-my name's Talia," she said quietly. "Uhmm ... well there was no one at the front desk so I figured I would just come look at the studio very quietly and nicely, and I didn't touch anything at all, well except the floor, and the studio is really nice and uhm..." She was positively babbling now. She fiddled with her fans nervously.
xxxxxHow would the boy respond? Did he understand the call of dance? He looked more like a janitor than a student. Her shoulders sagged as she realized he was probably just going to kick her out. "Ah ... sorry I really didn't mean to be in here. I'll just be going," she said quietly. Her feet were already taking her to the door in embarrassment.
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 8:40 pm
"Glad you like it here," Andrea replied with a patient and mildly amused smile. "I've been studying here for years. And it's fine, we are really still open for another twenty or thirty minutes or so," he added, leaning so he could see the clock.
Shoving the buffer out of the doorway, he stepped out of the back room and onto the wood floor himself, and approached the girl. "Nice to meet you, Talia," he said, extending a hand to shake. "I'm Andrea. I'm not like, official secretary person here or anything, but if you're interested in the ballet lessons, I could definitely leave a note? Or I think we have a few more cards left with the number here."
He glanced over the fans, canting his head slightly to one side with curiosity as he inquired, "You dance with fans? Do you take lessons already elsewhere?" Then a hopeful grin. "Branching out into ballet?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:23 pm
Talia blinked in surprise. Why wasn't the boy scolding her about her unruliness? Well, it would be sort of odd for a boy who looked about her age to scold her. Still, it seemed like the appropriate thing to do in this situation.
"Ah... nice to meet you Andrea," she said blandly. Years of introductions by her father had made meeting new people rather dull. Still, it was actually his next sentence that caught her off guard.
"Did you say ballet? Like ... Swan Lake and stuff?" Mentally, Talia was smashing her head against the wall. It wasn't a dance studio, it was a ballet studio. How could she be so stupid? Sometimes I wonder why we keep you around! You're so dreadfully stupid, she thought to herself.
At the mention of fans, Talia tucked her own into her bag bashfully. "Ah ... I do, but as you probably saw, I'm not very good. Ah ... no lessons. I haven't found a single place in DC that teaches it!" She realized she was getting rather casual, letting her elegant guard down. "Not ... ballet in particular," she said, avoiding the question. How was she supposed to say "nope, I was an idiot and didn't read the sign!" Talk about embarassing.
Out of sheer politeness though, Talia said, "I'd be happy to take your number down though," and never call you again, she added mentally.
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 11:24 am
"Swan Lake and the Firebird and Nutcracker and all sorts of things exactly like that," Andrea confirmed. He balanced carefully on one leg and bowed like that, hoping to advertise the great lessons the place had to offer - look what they had done for him! And, true, while it was unusual to get someone coming in to waltz around the floors right at closing, Andrea was a bit too amused to be quite angry. At worst, he would have to sweep the hardwood again, but it was not like it was raining out or anything, so he doubted Talia could have tracked too much inside.
He led her over to the desk and crouched behind it, pulling open a couple drawers before withdrawing a business card and presenting it to her. "We don't teach fan-dancing here, unfortunately, but here you go in case you decide you want to join us here." Andrea frowned and looked upwards, going through his mental list of places he knew in town, then shook his head. "I don't think I know of any places off-hand, either, that might have lessons," he added, his frown turning from thoughtful to sympathetic. "Sorry."
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:30 pm
Talia's mood drooped even more when he started listing ballet things. She was really hoping that this would be the place. The dance studio where she would learn to professionally dance, where she would take her leap to stardom, and then be immortalized as a dancing legend!
Okay maybe that was going a bit far, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed. As if to enforce her disappointment, the way the boy was tilted, Talia couldn't help but feel that ballet wasn't for her. She knew her limits; she was a strong, powerful type- not a graceful type.
Nonetheless, she clapped when the boy finished and said, "That was a beautiful dip. I can see you really love ballet." Talia was disappointed, not rude.
Politely, she took the card from his hand, and said, "Oh ah, thank you. For the card I mean." This was going straight in the trash as soon as she got home.
"That's okay," she nodded, "I've had a lot of trouble finding a place to. The thing that sucks is that it's not a common form of dance, and it's mostly done for ah..." She paused to think of the right word to use. "sultry dances, shall we say." Sultry was the polite way to put it. Slutty, was the truthful way to put it.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:59 pm
"Thank you," he replied with a grin. Andrea thought he caught her disappointment that the studio only had ballet, but took it in stride; he totally understood that ballet was not for everyone. He knew his schedule was fairly lenient, since he had time to work a few nights a week, but it could still take up a fair amount of time when there were performances on the horizon. And it was always more competitive for the girls at the studio.
His eyes widened slightly as Talia conceded that her chosen style of dance had a bit of a reputation, but Andrea did not judge her for it. Was she embarrassed at enjoying something with that sort of connotation? Even if she was not, it was her thing, not Andrea's. And after all, he was a boy who danced ballet.
"Ah, yeah, I can see how that would make things tough," he told her. The black-haired boy thought a moment, then suggested, "I dunno if you've tried the rec centers? This place takes up all of my dance time, so I haven't tried lessons there, but I know they have a lot." Andrea smiled sheepishly and added, "I know I've heard of like, belly-dance classes there. Is your thing anything like that?" He was honestly not sure, but figured the suggestion at least could not hurt.
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:41 am
Talia could tell Andrea was a bit weirded out by her dance choice. Embarrassed she said, "Ah! But ... I don't use it for that, honest!!" Now she'd done it. He probably thinks you're some sort of slut Talia, she thought. How miserable.
The embarrassment only made her itch to leave even greater, but she couldn't exactly run out now. She was mid conversation! To leave would be positively rude and unbecoming of such a wonderful young lady as herself.
However, with his newest suggestion, Talia couldn't helped but let out a bark of laughter. Coming off of her laughter she said, "The community centers? Gosh the moment those little old ladies sitting at the front desk heard me asking about fan dancing, they'd think I was just some cheap sideshow whore!" She continued laughing, because the image was just too damn hilarious.
She began to pick up her things. Apologetically she said, "Ah, I'm sorry I've overstayed my welcome, haven't I?" Truthfully, she wanted to stay a little longer to use the room, or even watch the boy dance- anything but return home, but she knew that wasn't an option.
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 10:38 am
Honestly, Andrea had really only heard snippets about fan dancing prior to today, and none of it was too terribly unkind. He had no idea how much the non-dancer might know. "That's assuming the little old ladies even know what you're talking about," he pointed out, fidgeting uncomfortably at her laughter. It was almost like she did not want the help.
"Listen, I was just trying to help out as well as I could with your question," the ballet dancer chided her gently. "You came in with a question, I tried to answer it, and really-" Andrea spread his arms and shrugged a little. "I have no problems with whatever style you want to dance.
"But if you're really interested in pursuing fan dancing," he went on, trying to sound encouraging now, as well, "You'll need to stop worrying about what other people think. I mean, if you really enjoy it, that should be all that matters." Andrea smiled, hoping to reassure her. "I wish I could help more, but I'm not really sure I can. But I'm sure there are other people who might know more who would be willing to help you out without judgement, too."
As for overstaying her welcome, "Well, I have to close up shortly, just after I buff the hardwood." The black-haired boy pointed back over his shoulder towards the machine. "I guess you can stick around while I do that if you want, but it's a little hard to talk over that thing. Before I go turning it on, though, do you have any more questions?" Might as well offer.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:29 pm
Talia shook her head and said, "No no, you should'nt be apologizing. I'm the one who came in here and crashed the party." Seriously, this kid was way too sensitive! Well maybe he wasn't, but Talia certainly thought so.
Still, she would obviously have to tread lightly with him. Politely, though she wasn't really thinking it, she added, "I appreciate the help, really I do!" Talia was very good at lying through her teeth it seemed. Well, he was a nice boy at least. A little snippety maybe, but that could be because it was rather late and there was a complete stranger in his studio telling him off about a suggestion. Nahhh couldn't be that.
Waving her hands though she said, "No no, I don't want to get in the way of your job. That would just be way too rude!" Especially since she'd been here way longer than intended. She was just going to peak in and then leave- that was the plan. Now she had been here for about 15 minutes and was just making awkward conversation with some boy; things were not going according to plan.
Carefully, she started inching towards the door, casually, so as to not be rude, but she was still doing it. "Oh! I do have one more question though. Do you ever have like ... open studios? Like times when people could like ... just come in and dance? Or is it all classes?" Talia was apparently going for the "how many times can I say like in a sentence" record.
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:38 am
Andrea thought the girl rather sensitive, as well, but shrugged it off easily. He had offered what help he could, and his advice, as well. That was really the best he could do for her; it was up to her to choose whether to take it or not.
But the floor did need to be finished up before he could head home. "Thanks, I mean, it's no big problem, but this does have to get done soon," he told her gently, with a sheepish smile; the boy did not want to look like he was chasing her out, but it was about closing time anyway.
He frowned in thought at the mention of open studio time, though, and moved back over behind the desk, pulling a drawer open and retrieving a binder from within it. "Aah," he intoned momentarily as he paged through it. "I know we were wanting to schedule some, but I'm not sure if we've finalized that yet," Andrea told her. He scanned one page, flipped it, scanned the other side, quirked a brow, then shrugged before snapping the book shut again. "Yeah, I don't think we have anything set in stone yet, but I think they'll be deciding on that soon." He smiled at her. "Keep walking by and checking the door on the street level. We'll definitely put up signs about it when we figure out which days the floor will be open. The dance classes are just shifting around with the summer schedule and all that, so we have to figure out which days will work. I think it'll probably be one evening and two afternoons a week.
"I hope you'll come by, though, once we schedule the open studio time," he added with a smile, slipping the binder away and moving back towards the floor buffer.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 3:32 pm
Talia nodded and then said, "Ah, I see." It was a shame they didn't have open studio. They could probably make a lot more money that way. Talia tapped her heels on the ground, as thought she was shaking off some invisible chunk of mud.
"Well!" she said abruptly, "It's been lovely Andrea, but I think I better head home. It was a pleasure to meet you," she concluded. Yeah right. This had been an incredibly awkward encounter no matter how you looked at it. Not to mention an extreme disappointment.
With that, Talia shuffled towards the door and said, "Have a wonderful evening!" She laughed a sort of jingling, bell-like laugh and then darted out the door. So much for that encounter.
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