The studio was empty, it was after class, which was the perfect time to work on form and generally have a little bit of free dance to herself. Ballet wasn't the only thing she knew how to do and thank god there were acrobatic ribbons that she could practice her ribbon dancing with. She had no dreams of joining a circus, but it was also a nice feeling to be so high in the air.
Andy hated Swan Lake. Not because it was difficult to dance – on the contrary, it was one of the more challenging ballets ever written, and therefore rather enjoyable to perform. No, it was the story. He thought Prince Siegfried was a stupid jerk for abandoning Odette for Odile, and yeah, he deserved to die in the end. This production, though, had the alternate ending, in which Siegfried and Odette go off to live happily ever after. He hated that. But he'd danced Siegfried last year for the first time, and evidently did a good enough job that the director of the production wanted him back again, and as long as he kept landing principal roles like this, he was happy. It didn't matter to him – furthering his nascent ballet career was what mattered in the end.
He arrived at the studio after classes had ended for the day, which meant he could cut loose without anyone getting in his way. Stowing his backpack in the back, he changed, grabbed a towel, and headed for the floor. This was the perfect time of day to really work out; he could feel his muscles screaming for a good stretch. Andy figured Aberdeen would be here, since she would be dancing Odette, so he wasn't surprised to find her working the ribbons. "Hey Abby," he called to her, dropping the towel and indulging in a luxurious big stretch. "Having fun yet?"
Ah, Andy, one of her peers that didn't get on her last nerve. Granted, Abby knew she wasn't the easiest to approach and work with given her competitive nature. She was currently hanging upside down in a splits pose with the silks wrapped around her legs for security. She raised her eyebrows as if he should know the answer to that question already, twisting and turning till she was in more of a sitting pose, swinging lightly, “Of course. However, your decision to ask that question every time we meet is illusive.” She twirled in a circle, “You obviously know I'm having fun Andy.” Although the bun all of her blonde locks were in wasn't something she was having fun with. She could tolerate it for practice during the day but never after, which is why she reached up to remove the pins, bands, and other things keeping her hair up.
“Would you mind placing that on my bag?” She lowered herself enough so that she could reach down with her hand closed to keep everything in there.
"Sure, no problem." Reaching up, Andy carefully took the handful of hair holding-in-place supplies from Abby and set them on her bag, stretching some more as he did so. He straightened and watched her on the silks, just having a grand time dancing in the air with the ribbons to support her. She was pretty, but she knew it; and she was competitive, always vying for the principal roles. Much like he did, but he had to be fairly competitive – not many fantastic male roles in ballet. Luckily, he was good, and much like Abby, he knew it. Perhaps that was why they were often cast together in studio productions.
Stepping away with a flourish, he began casually dancing Siegfried's variation from Act 3, twirling and leaping across the studio floor with deceptive ease. Not a long piece, but a tasty one, and good for a warm up. "Hey, you want to practice the Odile pas de deux?" he said to Abby when he was finished. "I know the fouettes must drive you crazy." He did a few himself, though not en pointe (he wasn't that crazy), then staggered around acting playfully dizzy. "Whoa, so boring," he teased.
]Abby casually watched Andy practice while she continued to work the silks, bending into a beautiful arch where her head met the back of her feet. Being the best means acknowledging the best and Abby could at least admit that Andy was the best male dancer out of their age group. Once she figured her little warmup with the silks was done, Abby gracefully twirled down to the ground, picking up her towel and water bottle. “Yes, admittedly. I'm not sure why however, I have no issues with anything else~” As much as she did not want to admit she struggled with fouettes sometimes, this was Andy and not the entire class so it was okay. She flipped her hair behind her, “I suppose we should continue practicing even if we have the roles already down to a “T.”
She did release a small giggle at the playfulness her dance partner displayed, quickly clearing her throat to cover it up. “Shall we?”
Andy assumed the opening position for the pas de deux and grinned at Abby. "Ready when you are."
They didn't need the music, it was ingrained in their minds. Andy and Abby ran through the segment with practiced ease, making one of the most difficult dances in ballet look effortless. Lift, twirl, jump, lift, pose and act confused (and stupid, Andy thought) for Prince Siegfried, act coy and teasing for Odile. As tiny as Abby was, it was no problem to perform the lifts, and there were quite a few of them. Spin, twist, lift, jump again, pose again. If anyone had been watching them, they would have thought the pair were on stage performing instead of in a studio practicing.
"I really like the way you dance Odile," Andy said as they stopped before the coda, barely breathing hard from the effort he'd just put into the dance. "I like Odile better than Odette anyway. And I think Siegfried is an idiot. Okay, yeah, maybe he's supposed to be like my age, but whatever. He's so dumb."
Lift, twirl, jump, lift, pose.
Abby had this whole pas de deux memorized by now, and yet she still felt the sheer adrenaline coursing through her every single time. It was the best feeling, one that she would chase over and over as long as she was still interested of course. By the time the pas de deux was over, Abby’s breathing was just barely faster. Had this been the first time she was doing this then she would’ve been completely out of breath. “Really Prince Siegfried? Should I take that as a genuine compliment?” The comment about the prince being an idiot really rang true there, but also, “Is he? You would rather he fell in love with the evil witch instead of the swan queen? Granted, witches, especially evil ones, are usually the ones that are better equipped for drawing one in.”
She twirled a little bit away from her partner, facing him with a grin, “Evil witches are especially good at telling pretty little lies as well, wouldn't you think?” Another twirl here, a leap there, Abby danced around the room with a sort of practiced grace. “It's rather unfair when you think about it. The bad guys always have the most fun.” She stopped back in front of Andy with a concentrated frown on her face. Considering her new status as a corrupted senshi, would that make her the evil witch instead of Odette? Thinking back to how her powers work, she would like to think so. But, the decision to corrupt wasn't something she regretted in the slightest, she finally got to help Alex, Lorcan, and Hudson to the best of her abilities. She also had the cool excuse for going out at night when her father would ordinarily just ground her. She supposed being the evil witch was a really sweet deal.
Andy didn't know anything about corrupted Senshi or evil witches. A diehard skeptic, he would have demanded proof of such things existing before he'd even consider believing them, if he had been told of them even by a trusted friend like Abby. And even then, he would have been hard pressed to believe them despite the evidence in front of his eyes. Science and empirical evidence were the only truths as far as he was concerned.
"I guess you're right," he sighed. "I guess I'd rather he fell in love with Odette. Dumb as he is. Evil witches do seem to have more fun, though." Andy watched Abby dance around the studio, once more appreciating her skill and grace. Then she stopped in front of him, facing him with a frown. "Yeah, that was a genuine compliment. Odile's role is I think a bit more challenging than Odette. Although… one is pretending to be a bird, and the other is pretending to be a girl pretending to be a bird, so it's hard to say. Hmm." He stepped away and fluttered his arms, doing a not half bad imitation of Odette's dance from Act 1 (except again not en pointe). All that was missing was the tutu. "No, maybe Odette is harder. It's slower, more graceful, less athletic but requires more control. Also she's the Swan Queen, the good guy. Girl. Whatever." Frowning, he stopped. "I don't know which ending I like better, though. Should Siegfried and Odette get a happily ever after, or should they both die?" The frown became a wry smile. "Would it be too emo of me to say I like the dying thing better?"
“Not so much emo so much as I think it is a bit on the morbid side? A kind of romantic morbid? I personally think that happy ever afters are fictional and very far-fetched. But I don't think they should die. Romance doesn't happen at first sight, or at least that is my understanding of it. A lot of shows and plays make it seem like it's so easy to see someone and just…instantly fall for them. It's extremely illogical and deceiving.” Clearly she did not believe in love at first sight if it wasn't obvious. Feeling the need to move again, Abby made her way back to the silks, flipping her hair over her shoulder once more. “Odette and Odile are easy as far as routines go. All you need is practice and dedication.” Something she could confidently say she had in spades.
Andy laughed. "That's me, a morbid romantic," he grinned, watching Abby return to the silks. "No, you're right, love at first sight is a fallacy, a fiction. At least from my admittedly limited experience." He hadn't ever experienced anything remotely close to love at first sight, but he'd seen some of his fellow students at Azure Valley go through what they thought was that level of intensity in a relationship, only to have it blow up in their faces. Usually in a spectacular and public way. Nope, even if it did exist, he wanted no part of it.
"Practice and dedication. Both of which you have," he agreed with her unspoken self-assessment, walking over to the barre and putting one foot on it to stretch and cool down. "Both of which I have as well. We make a good team. No wonder we always get the good parts." Dancing the role of Prince Siegfried was no challenge to him. Now, the Mouse King, on the other hand? That was a role he'd be able to sink his teeth into. Yeah, it was a brief role, but a really tasty one. Someday he'd get cast as the Mouse King, and he'd be able to show what he was really capable of.
tatterpixie
