Pas de Deux
by
Owlcroft
A/N: (If you're curious about the music that Lydia and Beetlejuice dance to, it's easily found on YouTube.)
"Dancing is an excellent fitness régime," proclaimed Jacques. "Moi, myself," he patted his chest with a bony hand, "dance many times in ze week to help with my aerobic conditioning and general 'ealth."
Ginger scoffed at him, waving one of her front hands. " You, dance? Is that what you call it? I thought you were trying to get a bug off your leg."
Beetlejuice snickered at that, but stayed out of the argument.
Jacques was outraged. "My dancing is parfait, élégant. It is graceful unlike some people who are, 'ow you say, frénétique in zair mouvements!"
A haughty sniff was Ginger's only response to that, but Beetlejuice finally looked up from the account book on Scarabée's front counter to ask, "Why are you two yapping at each other about dancing? And what are you even doing here, Jacques? Aren't you just picking Ginger up after she sells all her stuff?"
"I am 'ere to ask Lydia to create a special ensemble for moi to wear in ze dance compétition next week." The skeleton waved a hand up and down to indicate his 'physique'. "Somezing flowing and graceful. Like moi."
"Oh, puh-leaze," groaned Ginger. "As if you have any chance at all against me. Or," she hastened to add, "anybody else who enters. There'll be so many contestants that you won't even be noticed."
Beetlejuice lowered his eyelids and pursed his lips slightly. "So there's a contest, huh? A dance contest – what does the winner get?"
Jacques preened himself as well as a skeleton can. "My prize for first place will be a week at the Spits-Coughton 'otel and Resort."
Ginger waved a derogatory hand at him as Lydia appeared from her office in the back. Beetlejuice immediately took his wife in his arms and waltzed her around the end of the counter and onto the showroom floor. "Babes! Put on your dancing shoes and make room for a trophy, 'cause we're going to win a dance contest!"
ooooo
Lydia and Beetlejuice pondered for a considerable time about which dance they should work on. Lydia thought their tango would win, but Beetlejuice considered that too conventional.
"There may be other people doing the tango. We need something really different, babes. Something that nobody else will be doing. Something that stands out, gets the judges' attention right away and keeps it."
After a lengthy discussion, they thought they had settled on the Canarios by Sanz. Beetlejuice had surprised Lydia with Renaissance and Baroque dance lessons for her last birthday and it was one of their favorites, but not exactly flashy or exciting. It was, however, close to what Beetlejuice had in mind, as a concept at least. Different. Something that no other entrant would even be thinking of.
Finally, looking through their CD collection for an inspiration, he found exactly what he'd had in mind. Lydia had doubts since they'd have to make up their own dance for most of it, but she agreed that it would be memorable and that no one else would dance to music even similar.
So, for the rest of the week, they created on their own dance to Raymond Scott's "The Penguin". It involved an unusual movement for most of the piece, a waddle-and-a-hop, arms at their sides, weaving around the stage, meeting up every other measure to inspect each other curiously, then waddling away again.
Next, they worked on a jazzy jitterbug for the insets, quick-paced and full of kicks and twirls and fancy footwork. ("A jitterbug," said Lydia. "I know you love it.") For the conclusion of the dance, they waddled toward each other, paused, inspected, and quickly gave each other a peck on the lips.
When they were happy with their dance, Lydia set to designing costumes. Black and white, naturally, to mimic penguins, but she made svelte black jackets and wide-legged pants, pegged at the ankle, worn with white shirts. Beetlejuice pleaded hard for stripes, but Lydia said, "Nope. I decide what we wear. You picked the music so I'm doing the costume design." She did however suggest that he could wear striped boxer shorts, which placated him a bit.
ooooo
There were several contestants that impressed not just the crowd but the judges. Ginger did a stunning tap routine, but was marked down for her habit of humming along with the music. Jacques performed his 'Ballet du Bone' which went well. The stylish draperies Lydia had made for him, which he insisted on calling a three-three, gave his dance movements a real elegance.
The final competitors, placed there because they were the last to enter, were Beetlejuice and Lydia. They took the stage in their penguin outfits, at opposite sides of the stage, and assumed staring, vacant expressions.
The music began and they started their waddle-and-hop dance; the audience was intrigued at once. When the first jitterbug was completed, there was spontaneous applause, and the second and third brought even louder acclaim. The final waddle-and-hop brought them to the front of the stage facing each other. They stared wide-eyed for an instant, then pecked, and the dance was over.
The applause was tumultuous and the judges wasted no time in declaring them the winning dancers. The trophy was presented but the audience insisted on an encore, so Lydia got her wish to do their tango after all.
Beetlejuice changed their costumes for a sleek, form-fitting scarlet gown for Lydia, with a slit up to the thigh and an artificial red rose (for her allergy's sake); he now wore a black outfit with a scarlet sash around his middle. At the end of the tango, Beetlejuice lowered Lydia over his arm so her hair brushed the floor, and kissed her to take the rose from her teeth. The audience went wild yet again.
"Babes," he whispered to her around the stem of the rose, "how are we ever going to top this next year?"
Lydia took the rose from his mouth and tapped his nose with it. "Well, Scott did write a square dance for Egyptian mummies," she whispered back. "And we'll encore it with a bolero." She tapped his nose again with a provocative grin. "We'll start rehearsing that one tonight."
This is my 50th Beetlejuice fic. Hope you've all had as much fun reading as I have writing – and there's more to come!