"Turn out, Audra, turn out! From the hips, you silly girl!" "Cerise, your tendu is sickled!" A woman's voice rings throughout the ballet studio. The woman looks to be in her 50's, and her long, graying dark hair is swept into a braided bun atop her head. She carries a wooden staff as she walks across the studio, making sure every foot is properly position and every stomach held in. A barre runs across the walls of the studio, and about 15 dancers are spread out at the barre as they warm up. Sunlight streams through the window of a ballet studio in the Paris Opera house as the girls go from position to position, exercise to exercise.
"Alright girls, in the centre please!" with these words, the girls assemble in the centre of the room for more excursuses. Madame Giry's orders of "Pull in your stomach!" and "Eyes, girl, watch your eyes!" ring throughout the studio, and most of the dancers had been used to hearing them since they were little girls training. One black-haired dancer, however, had only been training with the Paris Opera Ballet Chorus for a week, so sometimes when Madame Giry would shout a correction unexpectedly, she found it hard not to jump as she was so startled! Madame Giry noticed this and scolded her "Keep your mind on the dance, Miss Evelia, and maybe you will not be so startled!" The other girls giggled and Evelia's pale white face gained a rose color as she blushed in embarrassment. None of her dance classes in previous places had ever been this challenging, and she was always on her toes (yes, literally, but no pun intended).
"Grand jetes, please"
The girls quickly got into rows of four for grand jetes. Evelia made sure to get in the back row, so she could watch all the other girls and make mental notes so hopefully she wouldn't do so terribly.
"First row, please!"
And the first row of girls grand-jeted across the floor, but they didn't get one inch without Madame Giry's voice calling out "Jessamine, you're a dancer, not a zombie! And you, Audra, concentrate!"
"Second row!"
One by one the rows flew across the floor, and Evelia got more nervous with every passing second.
"I will be awful." She thought "Oh Lord, I really don't need another reason for the others to ridicule me!"
"Last row please!"
In that moment, Evelia panicked and forgot everything, Her mind went blank, so all she could do was do the grand jete and pray for luck...but she had just barely landed when Madame Giry cried out "Evelia Leticia!"
"Oh no, Madame using my middle name?" Thought Evelia "I must have been awful! I will be kicked out of the chorus for sure..."
"Miss Evelia," Madame Giry interrupted her thoughts as Evelia hung her head and got ready to bolt for the door "That was flawless!"
Evelia was instantly jerked out of her lamentation. "Excuse me," she thought "but did she just call my dancing flawless!"
Madame went on "That, young lady, is solo material! And during your first week here!"
Evelia was shocked and elated. She didn't honestly believe this was happening. She hadn't been dancing here for long, but she did know that Madame saved her compliments for only the best performances. Evelia didn't think her dancing was bad before, but when she arrived here, the way the other girls looked at her certainly did NOT make her gain confidence! But she had just done better than all of them! Evelia picked her head up and looked around the room at the other girls. They were not smiling at Evelia, but rather giving her death glares as sour as an unripe lemon. All, that is, except for one other dancer who simply looked away. Evelia recognized that dancer as Meg, Madame Giry's daughter. All but Meg were giving Evelia piercing, cold looks, but Evelia wasn't surprised because that's what they'd been doing ever since she arrived! But Evelia didn't care. She was used to and happy with isolation...sometimes...and now she was too happy to even notice the other girls! She was beaming all through the rest of practice, which seemed to make her dance even better. She was completely focused, and she was completely immersed in the dance for the entire time. Well...almost. Once she swore she heard something in the corner of the room behind the curtain that separated one half of the studio from another (the curtain was pushed aside when there was a large class and more practice space was needed). There was a small noise, and she sensed that somebody was there...but them came her favorite part of the dance and she became lost in her little ballet world once again.