Meredith Grey stood outside the imposing doors that led to the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Everything she had worked for and trained for her entire life stood beyond those doors and had led her towards this moment. For her entire life she had ascended through classes and the pre-professional program at the Royal Ballet School, taking correspondence classes through an elite private school in Boston, her mother harping on her to be the best she could be. That was easy for her mother to say; she was Head Ballet Mistress at the Royal Ballet School. When 13 year old Meredith had told her mother she wanted to dance professionally like her mother, her Ellis had simply sighed and continued signing her expensive tuition checks. As long as she didn't bring shame to the name Grey and she stayed out of her mother's way, Meredith could do whatever the hell she wanted.
That was why Meredith found herself staring at the doors of PNB, her hair pulled back in a tight bun, a light September Seattle rain falling around her. She had moved here less than a week ago, settling into the old house that she'd lived in, once upon a dream it seemed. Everything had been covered in dust and she'd managed to clean it up a bit to the tune of Tchaikovsky, an old friend of Nutcracker's past. She was 18 years old and, after an apprenticeship with the Royal Ballet, had decided to move clear across the world from her mother because she had to have the best, and the best had offered her a corps position in their ballet company. That and, well, she wanted to be clear across the world from her mother.
Finally she mustered up enough courage to enter the building, following signs to the women's changing room. She was intimidated like crazy as she walked into the room and everyone's gaze focused on her. She blushed timidly and ducked her head, moving to a corner as she dropped her bag and took off her coat, stripping off her clothes and pulling on an old, ragged pair of pink tights and a lavender leotard, piling on a black wrap sweater and her trusty pair of black trash bag pants, tying a skirt around her waist. Dirty ballet slippers went on her feet with down-filled booties on top before she turned herself around, deeming herself ready for class. Once she had turned around she saw a tall, bubbly blonde heading for her.
"Hi!" she chirped, holding out her hand. "I'm Izzie, I'm one of the corps girls," she said with a wide smile. Meredith timidly took her hand, trying to match her smile. "Meredith," she managed to say, before dropping her hand and tucking a piece of hair back into her bun. The girl was tall and thin, lithe and beautiful. Meredith was a bit shorter, thinner, but of course the stakes were high for all of them. They were in the corps de ballet, the most expendable dancers in the company. "I just came as an apprentice from The Royal Ballet," Meredith said shyly, knowing that her words had meaning. An Asian girl in the corner stood up as she pulled her hair back. "If you were with The Royal why the hell did you come here?" she questioned. Meredith toyed with the laces on her skirt before stretching out her leg against the wall. "I wanted the best," she said simply, before grabbing her pointe shoes and bottle of water and leaving the room for the dance studio.
She wasn't quite sure if there was a hierarchy at the barre, so she held back and watched people file in. It seemed that the older principal dancers took the barre by the windows, soloists against the back wall, and the corps dancers took the wall opposite the windows. Meredith filed in and quickly took a spot, preparing herself for class. Looking over to the barre at the mirrors, she noticed two older men and a very tall red headed woman, seemingly joking around. She knew exactly who they were, having studied who was who in the company. Derek Shepherd, Mark Sloan, and Addison Montgomery. Addison was basically a legend, having become a principal ballerina when she was only 23. She was now nearly 27 and was as amazing as ever. The dark haired man, Derek, suddenly turned and looked right her, offering her a smile, which in turn made Meredith blush and suddenly become very involved in making sure that her leotard was on right.
Suddenly she felt the straps of her leotard snap against her skin and she scowled, turning around. It was the Asian girl, who looked to be around her age. "What the hell was that for!?" she hissed, glaring at her. "I'm Cristina and I know exactly who you are. You were scouted by American Ballet Theater, San Francisco Ballet, AND New York City Ballet. You've won top prize at Youth America Grand Prix and Prix de Lausanne more than once. Your mother is head of The Royal Ballet. Why did you choose here?" she questioned her. Meredith spun around and bit her lip. "Haven't you ever wanted an escape from your everything you've known?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she crossed her arms in front of her. "Besides, this is a world class ballet company, anyone would kill to dance here," she stated. Before she whirled back around, she offered a small smile. "And my name is Meredith, but I'm sure you know that already," she teased, straightening herself up as she turned around, ready for warm up.
After an intense but invigorating barre, the women took a few minutes to put on their pointe shoes for center work. Meredith sat on the floor with a new pair of pointe shoes, knowing they'd be dead by the end of the day. Once she was confident they were broken in enough for her strong foot and arch, she tied the ribbons and stood up, shedding the trash bag pants and cropped sweater; she was sweating buckets anyway and they were no longer needed. Standing up, she tested the strength of her shoes before taking a place in the center of the room. Again, Derek caught her eye and again, she shifted her gaze elsewhere. How the hell had she managed to catch the eye of a principal dancer, not to mention Derek Shepherd, on her first day in the company!? She had just turned 18 and he was in his late 20's. Rolling her neck and popping her joints, she sprung into position for the adagio, slowly lifting her leg to her ear and holding it there to the counts of the music.
After adagios and petite allegros, after grande jeteing across the floor to her hearts content, after jumping and beating, bourreing and pirouetting, class was over. Meredith had survived her first class with the company. Next came pas de deux, where she was paired up with some guy named George. He quickly found her and introduced himself. "Hi, um, I'm George, you must be the new girl Meredith." "What gave you that impression, that I was the new girl?" she smirked, as she practiced her fouettes. 32 without stopping, she grinned to herself, adding some doubles in there. She stopped when one of the ballet mistresses, Mistress Bailey, walked into the room and began to instruct the corps de ballet on the Grand Pas from Swan Lake. Meredith was no stranger to partnering; she had started when she was 13, but partnering with this guy…was pure hell. He was sweaty and kept fumbling her, letting her slip from his hands when he was supposed to be holding her above his head gracefully. How the hell did he get into this company? She thought bitterly, glaring at him for about the tenth time. As he nearly dropped her again when she was in a fish dive, her face missing the floor by mere centimeters, saving herself only because of her quickly moving arms, she looked up at him with disgust. "Ugh, have you ever partnered before?" she said, standing up straight and dusting herself off. Fortunately the class was over and she snatched her water bottle, walking out of the room to view the rehearsal schedule for the fall season.
She finally made her way to the front of the crowd at the bulletin board where the rehearsal list was posted, and she smiled. She was called to rehearse Serenade, several corps roles in Swan Lake, and several in Coppelia. She smiled to herself; luckily for her she knew most of the roles already and just needed to practice them before she was stage ready. Heading back into studio she grabbed the towel she had placed at the barre, wiping herself down before heading to the center again for rehearsal. This time, ballet master Webber would be teaching them choreography. She paled slightly and balked; she knew him from her childhood and from England. He had been her teacher before he came to Seattle to take up the position of head of Pacific Northwest. She didn't dare go closer to him; she wasn't here for favoritism, she was here to dance and show them what she was made of.
She was thrown together with Izzie and Cristina, along with a girl named April who was overly peppy despite the nearly four hours of dancing they'd already done today, and were told to keep warm at the barre while Webber worked with the principal dancers. Meredith watched Addison Montgomery with awe; she was the epitome of beauty and grace. Her pointe work was flawless, especially as she leaned into a deep penche, her legs a complete 180 degrees. "She's flawless," Meredith whispered to Cristina, who nodded back. "Look at that, her ankle isn't even wavering," she said, shaking her head a bit, her eyes glued to her. In that moment Meredith didn't feel like the girl who had had ballet companies running after her; she felt small and expendable like the corps de ballet dancer she truly was. "She's gorgeous, AND she's dating Derek Shepherd," Izzie said, wiping her sweaty face on her arm, sighing. If he's dating her, why the hell does he keep looking at me? Meredith wondered, keeping an eye on the couple, who were working on the Grand Pas of Swan Lake together. They made the intricate work looked completely effortless, but Meredith knew better. She couldn't help but notice the jealous looks being thrown their direction by Mark, and she bit her lip, wondering what was going on with that.
There was no show that night; the first show was in two weeks, and they had a lot of work to prepare for it. Meredith was gathering her things from underneath the barre when she felt a shadow above her. She looked up from the already ragged toes of her pointe shoes to meet the dark blue eyes of Derek Shepherd. She grew shy but managed a smile as he held out a hand. What was with everyone and shaking hands? "Hi, I'm Derek, but you probably already knew that. Just like I know you're Meredith." She blushed a bit but took his hand. "Hi Derek…yes…I'm Meredith," she said stupidly, cringing slightly. She was barely 18 years old, navigating a new ballet company, and one of it's prized stars had been eyeing her all day and was now introducing himself to her. Was this how he treated everyone? She'd have to ask Izzie or Cristina. "It's nice to meet you, we've all heard a lot about you and your accomplishments at such young ages," he said, his arms crossed across his chest. She could only blush deeper. "Yeah, well. I've been training for this my entire life, I decided I wanted to do this professionally when my mother signed me up for classes with the Royal Ballet Academy," she said with a shrug, trying to brush it off. Really, when you thought about it, every dancer in the room was accomplished just by making it into the company and passing the grueling audition process. He continued to smile at her, his blue eyes piercing. "Well if you ever need anything, a tour around Seattle or a tour around the building, I'm always available," he smiled, charming her once again. He turned and left the studio, probably back to the men's changing area, leaving Meredith shaking slightly. After a few moments she returned to her senses and grabbed her things, dashing to the women's changing area. She needed a shower and out of her soaking wet leotard, and to jet glue her pointe shoes.
First though, she was accosted by Cristina. "Oh my god, what the hell did he want with you!?" she asked her, and Meredith shook her head. "I honestly have no idea. He offered me a tour of the building and of Seattle," she confessed, biting her lip. "I thought he was with Addison…" she trailed off, as the two girls entered the changing room, only to find that they were the only people there. Meredith grabbed her bag of street clothes, pealing her leotard off and fastening her bra as Cristina dragged her things over so they could talk more. "Well, between you and me, I've heard rumors that she's sleeping with Sloan, and what's more is that Shepherd knows and doesn't care enough about her anymore to confront her about it. I mean sure, they have chemistry on stage, and that's why he won't confront her, because everyone adores them and Webber basically shits rainbows when it comes to them and claims they bring in all the money," she said with an eye roll. "I've been here since the spring season, same as Izzie, April, George, and Alex. You're the only new one for Fall," she said with a shrug. "Stick with me though and you'll get all the dirt," she promised. At this point both girls were dressed in their street clothes, and Meredith was fixing her attention on a bleeding toe. She sighed and pulled out a bandaid, taping it around the toe and slipping her feet into her shoes. "Webber was my teacher for years," she admitted, shrugging her shoulders. That was all she would say on the matter though. Cristina could sense there was more to the story but could tell Meredith was closed on the subject. "Come on, I'll show you the stage, and our dressing rooms for when we have shows, and everything," she said, Meredith gathering both of her bags and following behind. She may have grown up at the Royal Ballet, but Pacific Northwest already had her twirling around, second guessing everything.
Ahhh this was so much fun writing! It feels so natural to write about ballet and dance, being a ballerina. I was in a company for six years and may be auditioning for one again in June, so this is just so much fun! If you have any questions about terminology don't hesitate to ask and please review! I promise to add in more characters, I just didn't want to throw in everyone (also I LOVED the idea of George being Meredith's first partner and being really stupid and clumsy about it! Haha). Give me feedback as to whether I should continue this story or not! I feel like it's a silly idea but it makes me happy haha.
I chose the Royal Ballet School/Company because it's one of the most prestigious companies in the world and it gives Meredith more of an air of mystery :P
I know this story is a completely different AU than most people are used to so feedback is appreciated! If you aren't sure of a ballet term or anything, feel free to ask in a private message or review and i'll explain in the next authors note.
EDIT: My first review asked me to do a glossary with every chapter so here you go!
corps de ballet: the men and women who make up most of a ballet company; they usually dance the generic parts.
soloists: sometimes dances corps parts, but more often are the more technical and harder parts.
principals: head of the ballet company food chain, get the featured roles and are the stars
adagio: slow movement performed with grace and fluidity
petit allegro: brisk steps or movement, along the lines of jumps
grande jete: big leap landing on one leg
bourre: a quick movement of the feet, keeping the thighs together (most often done en pointe)
pirouette: a turn done with one leg brought up to the knee
fouette: a turn done with one leg used in a whipping motion, then brought to the knee as if in a pirouette, repeating as many times as possible.
penche: leaning into an arabesque, usually over 90 degrees
pas de deux: literally 'dance of two', a dance between a man and a woman featured in a ballet, but also a portion of class
barre: warm up and the first part of every ballet class