"So...waltz," Piper said, trying to ignore the cameras in her periphery.
"Waltz," Jason confirmed, seemingly unfazed.
Piper tried to keep her eyes fixed on her partner. "Is it really that bad?" she asked. "Annabeth seemed pretty exasperated."
"Annabeth never liked the waltz to begin with," Jason explained.
Piper raised her eyebrows. "So what about you?"
"I'm fine with it," Jason said, scratching the back of his head. "I don't do waltz a lot," he admitted.
"It's fine," Piper reassured him. "I've never done a waltz in my life."
Footwork for the waltz was harder than it looked. Jason made it seem easy enough when he demonstrated it on his own. But when they were in hold, Piper just kept tripping over either her own feet, or Jason's. She called out in alarm as she lost her footing for the umpteenth time.
"Try not to roll your ankles in," Jason advised as she stumbled out of hold. "It helps you balance better in heels."
Piper sighed as she tried to walk (keyword: tried) back to Jason. She felt like she was walking on stilts, where she could only balance on the balls of her feet. Her ankles were sore form the unfamiliar positioning of the feet and she didn't know if anyone cared or noticed, but there was a reason why she had worn flats to her premiere and the cast announcement.
She thought about all the tips Jason had given. Don't be afraid to put some weight on your heels. You need to spread your weight across the foot. Feel your toes spreading out, don't flex or curl them. Relax the arch. Don't roll your ankles.
Just under a week to nail all of this down, she thought.
Jason had pro rehearsals in the afternoon, so Piper spent the afternoon hanging out with Rachel Dare. Piper remembered Rachel being a pro herself up to a few seasons back, when she retired to the publicity comm and joined Afterbuzz.
Rachel was cool to hang out with, her cheery personality as bright as her fiery hair. The only problem was that after finding out about Piper's problem with heels, she insisted that Piper wear them out for lunch. As a result, anyone passing by the cafe on Strandler's Street, two blocks down from the studio, would have seen a 17-year-old singer-actress stumbling around. What a beautiful day for paparazzi.
"Don't worry, it's only week 2, you've got plenty of time to get used to it," Rachel ratted away in between mouthfuls of her pie. "It's okay if it doesn't come to you immediately, you'll slowly build up from the basics..."
"Sorry what?" Piper said suddenly, pulled from her drifting train of thought.
Rachel smiled. "I was saying, walking in heels, let alone dancing, can be tricky, I get that - the reason I wear boots, see. But yeah, it's kind of like dancing you know, you can't just jump right in - you'll drown. You need to learn how to swim, get your foundations right first."
You can't just jump right in, you'll drown.
"Actually, it's quite analogous to you guys right now," Rachel said, getting sidetracked (again). "The show's becoming more competitive every season, all the pros pulling out the fancy footwork on the first get-go. I've been there. It's hard on you..."
Pulling out the fancy footwork on the first get-go.
"...Jason..."
Piper was once again rudely jarred from her own thoughts. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that again?" she asked, feeling slightly inconsiderate.
But Rachel just went on as if nothing happened. "It's very much Jason's style to aim high hit low. Or pretty much aim high and try to hit high. From what I've noticed, he usually sets a really high standard in his choreography and only simplifies it if he needs to." She gave Piper a look - was that sympathy? "I don't think he'll be lowering the choreography level for you anytime soon though. If anything, he'll be pushing it up, seeing as you had a good start," she explained.
"You've just got to try, Piper," Jason insisted as they headed for costume consultation. His logic was that this week's dance was on the same difficulty level as the previous week's, so heels were the next step. And that guy was really committed to keeping the standard up.
Piper rebutted that the waltz was a whole new technique altogether. "You said so yourself, latin and ballroom require different styles, technique, posture, hold - those technical jargon things," she half-yelled, exasperated. "Even if you don't want to change the dance, you could wait until I'm actually familiar with the movement before breaking in the heels."
Jason sighed and pushed his hair back. "I don't know, Pipes," he replied. "I'm not sure how long we can pull off this not-wearing-proper-shoes thing. People have tried and it's gone really badly before."
The judges haven't pointed it out yet, Piper wanted to say. But the blond pro beat her to it. "They don't always point these kind of things out when they mark you down for it. Especially Lupa."
Piper stopped as they approached the door marked "C Store" (costume storage for short). She put on her best begging face. "It's only week 2."
She watched her partner's eyebrows knit together as he weighed the pros and cons. It can't hurt that much, can it? Piper thought.
"Alright, I'll see if they can find you any good alternatives."
Piper's resisted the urge to do a fist pump as Jason backed into the costume room.