| My Turning Pointe By Luna Lovegood Chapter 1 I was always a dancer. For me, it was that simple. Big, empty spaces wanted to be filled with movement, with life, with dance, and I wanted to fill them. �Oh, crap!� I ran through the crowds of Paris, my bare, brown feet scraping against the hard, unforgiving cobblestone. People were shoved out of the way by my long dancer arms and hit in the face by the pair of silk dance shoes I grasped. �Hey! Gypsy!� �Sorry!� I called out behind me. No time to turn around. I tossed my black hair behind my shoulders. Or tried to. It was too thick and wild and curly to stay in one place. Now dressed in my shift, with my hair pulled back into a bun with the green scarf still wrapped in my hair, and my little silk shoes on my feet, I skidded into the Court of Miracles. Twelve others girls ages fifteen to seventeen and one very tall, very thin, very striking older woman stood staring at me. �La Esmeralda! Do you care to explain why you were late to class?� I bowed my head. �No, Madame.� I turned and began n to make my way towards my empty place at the barre, but Madame�s cold voice stopped me again. �No, Esmeralda. Come up here. I know exactly why you were late. You are a talented and foolish girl. You are seventeen years old, so you say to yourself, �I am almost in the troupe. Why should I care about class? I already know that I am one of the best there, and that there have already been arrangements made for my future by Madame and Clopin.� Those arrangements may have been made, but I can take them away. You are talented, you have potential, but you lack any proper focus at all. You expect all of the rewards without doing any of the actual work, I think.� Although I hated to admit it, in more ways than one, she was right. �I�m sorry, Madame.� �Don�t say that, La Esmeralda. I don�t want to hear it. Now, are you a dancer?� I nodded. �Oui, Madame.� �Then go.� Madame jerked her head towards the back of the barre. Positions were assigned by height order, and as one of the oldest and one of the tallest, I made my way to my position, just behind Fluer-de-Lys. �Ezzie! So glad you could make it!� �Lysiepoo! So disappointed in myself that I actually believed you when you told me auditions had been rescheduled.� �Quiet in the back! Girls, we�ll begin with our usual plies. In first, second, third, fourth, and fifth. Pos du bras after the two demis and one grand. Releve and balance in fifth instead of the por du bras. Oui? And�maestro.� The music began. As soon as I fist bent my knees ever so slightly, I felt that familiar tingle run up and down my spine. I loved this. My body was mine, and even though every single motion was tightly controlled, there was still so much room for expression. We moved on to tendus, then degages, ronb de jambes, fondus, developes, battemants, and finally, a barre stretch. �Alright, take a break and then let�s move away from the barre.� We all celebrated our brief five minute break by plopping down, taking off our shoes, bandaging and massaging our feet, and stretching even more. I glanced down and cursed The area where my pinky toe was had a hole in it, and my feet were bleeding. Carefully, I wrapped lambs� wool around my toes, then strips of linen around that. I put on my shoes, and then I was done. Time to ignore the pain and dance. Back to Fanfic Back to Index |