Erik was having a day you would describe as completely...blah. He wanted to go work on a piece he was composing, but the great flow of inspiration he had a few days ago when he started composing had tapered off to a tiny drizzle. He decided he would wait until a day he had more inspiration. But until then, there was only one thing to do.
Erik would go watch the ballet practices only when he had absolutely nothing better to do, and had no inspiration for composing, drawing, or writing anything. truly, the practices were rather depressing! he thought that Madame Giry was a wonderful teacher, but some of the ballet girls were so thick with self-love that they'd never realize exactly how much they needed to improve!
When he watched some of the girls, he pitied poor Madame more than anyone in the world. Still, he had nothing better to do whatsoever, so he went down to the dark and empty half of the ballet studio. Making sure to be silent (a skill he'd long since gotten down to a science), he looked through the curtain to the other side where practice was being held. He scanned the room with his eyes, looking for something interesting. He made mental notes as he did this, which was just a habit of his.
"Jessamine's having turnout problems, as always" He thought as he studied the dancers "If she would just get over herself and realize that she really DOES need much improvement, maybe she wouldn't be so awful!"
Erik had seen so many rehearsals that, though he never actually took a class in his life, he could probably perform a pas de deux as well as one of the male dancers who'd been dancing since they could walk!
"Lets see about Miss Adeline..." He continued his habitual mental note-taking. "My GOD, can that girl concentrate at all! She's off beat completely! Well, at least Piera isn't having the same problem today. Roslin, on the other hand-" Just then something caught his attention. One dancer was actually doing exceptionally well! He looked to see who the dancer was, but could not recognize her. Surely she hadn't been dancing at the Opera House for more than a week or so!
"That's odd," Erik thought "A new dancer? Madame Giry doesn't usually take dancers into the chorus that haven't been studying with her for years!" He continued to watch this black-haired dancer. "Well, I suppose I can see why she made an exception for her." He watched her, thinking it was too good to be true. She had to have some flaws, he was sure of it. Well, as he watched, he could find only one main flaw. "She's very graceful, and clearly she dances with her soul, but it doesn't seem like she dances with ALL of her soul. She needs more soul, more emotion to achieve perfection." He noted this against her, but he could see that at least she was clearly the best dancer of the chorus (though Madame Giry's daughter Meg wasn't bad either). Then he had a thought. Erik could help that dancer put more soul into her dancing, which would make her stand out even more. He could take her in, help her improve, make her a star in the Opera House!
..No. He would not start on that trail again, that trail that lead him to only suffering. He took one last look at the dancer and reasoned with himself "She's just a chorus girl, and probably just having a good day. She is nobody." Then as he took one last glance at her, he could not help noticing that she was rather pretty...but he quickly pushed that thought from his head. He decided to work on composing his piece even though he was rather uninspired.