Chapter 1 (Tris)
I hold my extension and arch my back, making a great effort to maintain my balance. I fall back onto the ball of my foot gracefully, let go of the bar, turn around, and repeat the move. I extend my leg in front of my and rise on pointe. I hold it for ten seconds before descending back down onto the heel of my foot. I look around the room and everyone else is doing the same.
The instructor is going around critiquing people but he passes over me without saying a word which must mean I'm doing it right since he always corrects anyone who's doing it wrong. We move on to across the floor exercises. We do grand battements which is where you kick your legs up into the air. Basically what I was just doing except faster and you keep your leg straight while you do it.
When we're done with the battements we do chaines and piques, which is basically just turning while travelling across the floor. We move onto leaps, doing multiple grand jetes across the floor, making sure to hit the perfect position in the air.
While I would never to be one to call myself perfect, I have years of technical training in ballet allowing me to execute and complete every move with not much effort. The only thing I really have to worry about is highly advanced pointe work and choreography, although I pick up on choreography fairly quickly too. However it's not necessarily memorization that I worry about, it's just the fluidity of my movement. We finish the class with a slow exercise to lower our heart rates then it's over.
I can't relax though, we all have a modern class in thirty minutes. I stretch with Christina for the thirty minutes between classes so our muscles are able to stay loose. I untie my pointe shoes and head to the bathroom to remove my tights. I change out of them and into a different black leotard and spandex.
We warm up with a Pilates exercise then we do a floor warm up, followed by across the floor. While I still take this class seriously, it's a lot easier to have fun with because ballet is all about lines whereas modern is more about angles. We prance across the floor and walk across it in different styles and at different levels of height, almost to the point where we're crawling across the floor. We learn a combination to music from cirque du soleil.
When class is over it's our lunch break so Christina and I head to Alice's Tea Cup for lunch considering that we have an hour break. We both get salads and a pot of tea to share. "So how's Caleb doing?" Christina asks me and I roll my eyes. "Well since he transferred from Columbia to University of Chicago he's been over-the-moon happy. He says it's because of the academics but I really know it's just because of Susan. He said he's probably going to propose to her soon so it's cute," I say boredly.
I grew up in Chicago but for high-school I moved here to New York so I could go to Fiorello LaGuardia High School. It's the best performing arts high school in the country. I had the opportunity so I took it. My parents were pretty sad to see me go but they were happy to watch me pursue my dreams.
I met Christina at school and somehow we both managed to get into Julliard which practically is a miracle, considering that their dance conservatory program only accepts twelve girls and twelve boys each year. We're in our senior year now and we're both going our separate ways. Christina's moving on to dance for the New York City ballet seeing as they already accepted her as a principal dancer.
I have a private audition for Alvin Ailey's company coming up considering that we're over halfway into the school year and I'm trying to have a plan set up for when I'm out of the program. I'm also considering dancing on Broadway but that doesn't pay nearly as much as a professional dance company. I'm probably going to try to dance for a company then become a choreographer or something.
When we're done with lunch we head back to the school and it's a partnering class. I hate this class so much. I have Peter Dawson as a partner. Sure he's an amazing dancer but he has one of the worst personalities of anyone I've ever met.
He's okay to work with considering we both take dance very seriously so we make sure not to mess anything up but sometimes it's hard to get the right chemistry with someone you resent.
We work on lifts and turns for the majority of class then we learn a piece that was originally done by the Ice Theatre of New York but it's been converted into a ballet piece. A lot of it is done on pointe. Peter supports my leg into an arabesque and I hold my chest up. He lifts me up, as instructed, and I drape my leg over his shoulder. He sets me down and I follow Mr. Litnov's instructions intently. I do a pirouette in passé for six revolutions, landing in fifth position while keeping my chest up. I jump up into a cabriole and Peter catches me in the air and holds me there. I lift my left leg up and he sets me down and I land on pointe in an arabesque.
Mr. Litnov actually commends us on our technique and I actually feel accomplished because earning a compliment from any teacher is rare, especially the Russians.
When class is over I let out a sigh of relief because I've had enough of pointe. My feel are bruised and battered despite all of the gauze I've wrapped them in. I remove my pointe shoes and head down the hallway to a separate wing of the building to where the elective courses are. I'm done with all of my core dance classes so now the only ones I have left are Jazz, Tap, and Senior Production Choreography.
Jazz class is a breeze, since it's just an elective we only warm up and learn combinations. It's really fun and we don't have a piece for the end of year performance so we don't have to worry about the stressors of that. We learn a combo to Body Ache by Britney Spears and it's really sassy and fun. I have this class with Christina and some of the boys from my year but it's an all year class so kids from the three years below us take it too. There's about twenty kids in the class so we go in groups of five while running through the combo.
When class is over I head over to the tap room and some of the theatre kids take this class as an elective so it's around fifteen or so people. We warm up by going through time steps and then learn some choreography to A Little Party Never Killed Nobody by Fergie. I have a blast then when class is over I head to the last class of the day which is senior production choreography. There's only me and three boys in this class. We work on choreography for the end of year showcase.
I create a lyrical piece to The Face by RyanDan. I make sure to use fluidity and grace in the dance but not too much where it's sloppy but just enough. I video tape each part individually because not everyone is doing the same thing at the same time. I try to incorporate similar movement though so it's kind of cohesive. Christina's boyfriend Will, who is also a dancer here, helps me with the partnering sequence in my dance.
When the period is over everyone clears out except me. I stay behind and do a little improvisation. I execute different extensions, kicks, and leaps. After landing a switch-russian leap. I do an axel jump into the middle splits. I pull through and stand up. I turn around and face the mirror again, beginning to turn.
I do four turns a la seconde, two in attitude position, followed by two fouettes. I return to the a la seconde position then rise higher up on my releve and hold the position while turning, maintaining the a la seconde position. I grab my foot and pull it up into a leg hold, I turn for three more revolutions before coming out of it and finishing with an aerial. The song ends and I'm panting so I decide to leave. I head to the locker rooms, put all of my dance shoes away, and then change into my normal clothes. I wear a plain grey t-shirt with black leggings, combat boots, and a dark wash denim jacket.
Christina, Will, and I head to the apartment we share. It's on west 67th street and Its only half a mile away from the school. Technically it was just my apartment but I allowed them to move in with me since I had an extra room. We all lived together in student housing the first year since it's required but my second year my parents signed a three year lease for an apartment so I invited them to live with me. I told my parents about the whole thing and they won't even allow Christina or Will to contribute to the rent because of their charitable nature.
Once we get there we watch American Horror Story on my Netflix account. We all end up passing out after an exhausting day of school. When we all wake up Will insists on ordering Chinese food so he calls there while Christina and I call Insomnia Cookies.
We order two dozen cookies. The first dozen being white chocolate chip macadamia and the second dozen being triple chocolate chunk. When everything gets here we all pig out and by pig out I mean Will eats all of the orange chicken and half of the cookies while I have two cookies and an egg roll.
I head back to my room and take a shower before falling asleep.
-The next day-
I wake Christina and Will up and we all head to the school. When we get there we head our separate ways. I go to the girls locker room and change into my black leotard with white tights. I go through all of my ballet class, my modern class, and partnering, despite being extremely tired. I go to Jazz and half-ass it today but I still end up enjoying the combination. In tap I make a little bit more of an effort because it's very meticulous and it's very evident when you're half assing it. In choreography I just run through what I did yesterday and make some slight adjustments as needed.
When the day's over I go home and take a nap. Will and Christina are out somewhere and I'm home alone in my bed snoozing. After about four hours I get up and head down Broadway Dance Center. I'm feeling rejuvenated and energized so I take a hip-hop class considering it isn't offered at Juilliard. Despite being an awkward small girl I manage to execute the moves with sharp precision while still maintaining the artistry every dancer strives to have.
I leave the class and head back home. I go upstairs to my apartment and head back to my room. I fall asleep slowly and wait for sleep to take me away.