Just a warning that this chapter gets into the technicalities of dance, so it will either be a) a learning experience for non-dancers or b) boring for dancers who know the basic information. Regardless, this chapter is necessary in Blaine's development as a dancer, as well as his relationship with Kurt.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kurt or Blaine, or anything else even remotely recognizable.
Blaine pulled up to Kurt's house five minutes early on Saturday, which led to a rather uncomfortable conversation with Mr. Hummel, or Burt as he told Blaine to call him. Burt also told Blaine none of this sir business that he was trained to use. It was like a strange kind of culture shock, especially because Kurt and Burt didn't even seem like they could be related. The awkward conversation ended when the commercials stopped playing.
"Ready?" Kurt asked, bounding back down the stairs dressed in a gray T-shirt over a white thermal with red long shorts and knee high socks.
Blaine took in the fact that this was not the fashion diva that he'd known since the first day, "Uh, yeah, I'm ready."
"Did you stretch?" Kurt asked, as Blaine stood up from the couch where he was perched next to Burt, watching something involving fish on the Discovery Channel.
"Door open," Burt mumbled, which caused Kurt's face to turn a flaming red color.
"Okay," Kurt succumbed to his father's comment, even thought it was just dance. He was going to have to sort through that mess later, but for now there was education Blaine on dance fundamentals, "Come on, I'll show you the basement."
Blaine silently followed Kurt into his basement, which looked like a dance studio and gym all combined into one room. It was clearly divided by the hardwood floor and stark white walls melting into a rubber floor and dark gray walls. The rubber floor half had weights and equipment scattered all about, while the hardwood floor only had one white chest and a few book shelves installed.
"So, clearly this half is mine," Kurt said, spreading his arms to indicate the mirrored wall and smooth hardwood floor, before pointing over to the weight rack and sparse machines, "And, that is Finn's."
"I like it," Blaine smiled, before toeing off his shoes as Kurt pressed play on a small iHome that sent some calming music out into the room.
"Follow me through warm ups," Kurt commanded, beginning by standing with his legs apart and bending down to touch his left foot. Blaine followed in suit, including the sweep of the floor to move the stretch from his left leg to his right.
Kurt took them through multiple stretches that Blaine had been working with for the past few weeks, before diving into deeper stretches that threw Blaine for a loop. Kurt watched with an amused expression, as Blaine brought his one leg up to the bar and tried to grapple for his toes. Meanwhile, Kurt was able to grab his ankle and pull his face towards his knee.
"You're doing well, Blaine," Kurt praised Blaine's effort because he was starting to look more and more frustrated with his lack of natural flexibility. Blaine offered him a smile in return.
After a few more stretches with the bar, Kurt led them through loosening the joints, which he pointed out is just as important as loosening up the muscles. Every joint had its own set of circles and swings to make them easier to move. Kurt's joints offered a few well-deserved pops that gave him relief.
"Now, for your very first lesson before we even get to turns," Kurt said, concluding their warm up and stretches. Blaine was just about done with dance for the day, but Kurt didn't see the same way.
Kurt sat on the floor with his legs stretched out in front of him, as Blaine correctly named it pike, which made Kurt smile. Then, Kurt extended his whole foot upwards and called it flex, as Blaine attempted the movement with his feet. Upon watching Blaine correctly flex his foot, Kurt rolled his feet down leading with the balls of his feet, before curling his toes under. Blaine clumsily did the same technique, even though his point was nothing compared to Kurt's.
They fluidly went through multiple rotations between flexing and pointing their feet, along with clockwise and counterclockwise circles with their ankles. Blaine continued with the motions, as Kurt crawled off to grab a bright green elastic. He threw it at Blaine, who caught it in his gelled curls.
"Point your toes on one foot, and stretch the elastic over them," Kurt gave directions, as Blaine followed them to a tee, "Then, gently pull back on the elastic, so you can get a deeper point."
Blaine slipped his tongue out between his lips, as he pulled at the elastic that was over his toes. He could feel the stretch working with the muscles on the tops of his feet, along with a small muscle twitch in his arch.
"Work with your other foot while I grab us some water," Kurt instructed as he disappeared up the staircase in his own little dance studio.
Blaine released the elastic on his right foot, rolling his ankle, then pointing his foot without the elastic. The simple elastic stretch probably didn't change much in reality, but in his eyes it felt like it was at least a hundred times better than it was before. He quickly worked the elastic around his left foot to perfect his point.
Without notice, there was a clambering down the steps as Finn emerged from the staircase with a mohawk clad friend trailing closely behind. Blaine didn't let their existence disrupt the slow process of stretching out his feet.
"Oh hey Blaine," Finn greeted Blaine like it was nothing new. It was the smallest gesture from the biggest guy that made Blaine feel accepted within the Hudson-Hummel home, which gave him hope for the rest of McKinley.
Kurt came down the steps shortly afterwards armed with two water bottles, "What are you two doing down here?"
"Puck wanted to toss around a football," Finn mumbled, digging through the chest that Finn happened to just randomly toss things in. It made Kurt cringe at his lack of organization.
"We lost the other one in the woods after this one –" Puck hiked a thumb back at Finn "– decided that it would be a good idea to throw it way over my head."
"You said that you had it, dude," Finn whipped around with empty hands, "Whatever, there's no extra footballs down here."
"Let's go ask Sam if he has one," Puck decided, as Finn began clobbering back up the steps, "Bye Hummel, Anderson."
Kurt pinched the bridge of his nose as the basement door slammed closed along with a few deep breaths, "I suppose that I should probably teach you the positions, right?"
Blaine nodded because the only positions he was familiar with were in accordance with soccer, which would be futile in a dance studio. Kurt moved a few feet from Blaine, glancing at his reflection in the mirror as he took first position.
"First position, place your heels together with your feet turned outward and attempt to make them into a straight line without bending your knees," Kurt instructed, as Blaine clumsily followed Kurt's cues, "Then, extend your arms outward from your belly button as if you're holding a beach ball."
Kurt slid his foot outward and extended his arms wide, as Blaine quickly followed into second position. Kurt worked his body into third position, "Place your right foot in front with your heel touching the arch of your left foot. Then, curve your right arm over your head."
Blaine was standing in a slightly less graceful third position than Kurt, but it was a third position nonetheless. It made Blaine realize just how much work he had ahead of him, if he was going to become a semblance of a dancer.
"For fourth position, slide your back foot out a bit, and curve your left arm in front of your body," Kurt said as the two of them took fourth position, then Kurt easily slid into fifth, "Fifth is the trickiest position because the toes of your one foot should touch the heel of your other with your arms curved high over your head."
The two of them went through the positions a few more times, as Kurt reprimanded Blaine for not having his arms where they should or when his body looked too stiff. But, otherwise it was a generally successful lesson of Kurt's.
"Now, for turns," Kurt said with a bright smile, before demonstrating a basic turn preparation. He finished, then prepped for pirouettes that made Blaine stare in awe.
"How are you not dizzy?" Blaine asked once Kurt stepped out of his turn. Kurt let out a short snort of laughter.
"You led right into the first lesson, spotting," Kurt chuckled, before moving on with his lesson, "When you turn, you mark a point to watch for as long as you can, then whip your head around back to the spot."
Kurt had Blaine practice spotting by just shuffling his feet in a circle, so he could get the feeling for how to ward off the dizziness. Kurt made a mental note that Blaine is a remarkably fast learner for dance, which he couldn't help but wonder if it was fueled by a need to ace this audition. It probably was.
"The next thing for a turn is having a good sense of center in relevé, which is a fancy word for tippy toes," Kurt said, rising into a high relevé on both feet, before bringing one foot to his knee in passé to balance on his standing leg, "It's important to pull your body up by your ribs, while keeping your shoulders down. Imagine there's a string attached to the top of your head holding you up. Go ahead, try it."
Blaine gently rested his hands on the barre, before rising up into relevé on both feet. He shifted his weight to his left leg and began gradually lifting his right leg to make a P shape for the proper passé position. He imagined the invisible string holding him up as he brought his arms up into fifth position. He held it for one Mississippi, two Missi– before losing his balance and coming down.
"You now have your first homework assignment, which is to work on strengthening your relevé on both legs," Kurt said because he still needed to teach Blaine how to put together a single turn segment, "Take fifth position with your arms at rest."
It took Blaine a moment for him to place his feet in a very pathetic fifth position, before fumbling his arms through the various positions he learned. Kurt reminded him that arms at rest were rounded downwards.
"Step into second with your feet and arms," Kurt prompted, demonstrating the motion from fifth to second, "Demi-plié as a prep, then rise into relevé on your leading foot, which in this case is your left."
Kurt watched in the mirror as Blaine followed his motions to the best of his ability, "Okay, now spot something on the wall that you're turning to."
Blaine whipped his head to stare at the far wall, where a bookshelf was placed at a modest level. He tried to memorize everything about the bookshelf, so he could properly spot it.
"Now, take your right leg and swing it around forward to a relevé first position, while your right arm comes around to meet your left in first position," Kurt prattled off the words to a very simple step that Blaine was easy to pick up on, "It's the basic first step to a Chaîné turn. So, let me show you what the final product will look like."
Blaine dropped from relevé and turned to get a better angle at Kurt. Kurt took the preparation position in fifth, then swung his leg out to second as he caught a spot on the wall to watch. Then, he took off like a windup toy across the floor with multiple Chaîné turns.
"It takes a lot of practice to get to this level, which is why I'm just going to focus on getting you through the proper motions. So, prep for Chaîné turn," Kurt commanded standing with his back against the mirrors, as Blaine positioned his body, "Spot, step your left foot into second, relevé, move your right leg and turn into first."
"Now, open into second with your left, keeping your arms in first. Continue with closed feet into first, then open feet into second," Kurt instructed, as Blaine continued doing Chaîné turns across the floor. Kurt called out corrections, "Spot the wall. Pull up tall in your relevé. Round your arms more. Finish in fifth with your arms at rest."
"How did I do?" Blaine asked, upon finishing his Chaîné turns with absolutely no dizziness, despite the amount of turns he had just performed. The spotting actually works, he happily thought.
"For being your first time at Chaînés, you did well," Kurt honestly said, "But, real Chaînés are faster and cleaner, which comes from practice. So, back to the beginning."
As you know, I am always open to constructive criticism, as well as any questions pertaining the dance terminology. Until next time, my fairy princesses... or prince, if we have any male readers.