Summertime - A Becknessa Story

Back to the Intensive

Vanessa POV:

Today's the day after the competition. I still can't believe that we won and saved our school on the same day! Ms. Helsweel told us that a party was going to be held in Beckett and I's honor, and that we would be getting half of the day off to party and the other half would be a choreography workshop. Upon getting out of bed, I showered and got dressed in my dance warmup outfit consisting of leggings and a tank top. I grabbed my Prima bag, filled up my water bottle, ate a granola bar, and left for dance practice. As I was walking down the hall, Beckett joined me and grabbed my hand. I looked down as a blush appeared on my cheeks. Smiling, but otherwise ignoring the blush, Beckett says

B: You ready?
V: Definitely, I'm so excited to dance with the Primas again!
B: I can tell, but do you know what's even more exciting?
V: No, what?
B: I heard Ms. Helsweel has a special announcement.
V: Awesome, well we better get there to hear it

Chuckling, Beckett follows me into the studio. Upon entrance, everyone is staring at us. Then, with almost no delay, they all burst into applause.

Cassandra: Congratulations! And thank you for saving our school.
Zachary (a random Prima): I really wish we could have been there to see the dance! I'm so happy for you
Grace (another random Prima): Congratulations!!!!
The praise and excitement continued for another 5 minutes until Ms. Helsweel came into the classroom

H: Ahem, first I would like to congratulate Vanessa and Beckett again for their magnificent performance yesterday at competition. You made our school proud. But, we have a party after lunch to commemorate your accomplishment so enough about that. For now I would like Mr. Bradstreet to lead warmups while I have a talk with Ms. Morita.

As Beckett took his spot at the front of the bar, my anxiety was building over what Ms. Helsweel wanted to talk to me about. I walked over to her office with a lot of "what if's" running through my mind.

V: Ms: Helsweel, you wanted to talk to me?

H: Yes Vanessa. I've been very impressed with your choreography skills, and I was hoping you would be interested in being a paid choreographer at Keaton in the fall?

V: Oh my golly! That would be amazing. I would love that so much.

H: Great, well I was hoping you could start now with a group number for the primas. And then, when the school year starts, you can choreograph half of the dances for competition routines, school performances, and even the winter and spring showcases.

V: Wow, that would be such an honor

H: Yes, well it would also be a lot of hard work and extra hours. It's more than just your classes, but the other grade levels and dance styles as well. I hope that is okay?

V: Of course it is, thank you so much for this opportunity

H: Of course dear, and if it ever becomes too much for you just tell me and we can lesson your workload

V: Thank you!

H: Well, you better go warm up now before you start teaching a routine. I expect to see a rough outline before lunch.

V: Definitely, will do

Then I walked back into the studio with a smile on my face and started warming up.

After 20 minutes, Beckett finished the warmups and it was time for me to start.

V: Okay Primas, Ms. Helsweel gave me the opportunity to choreograph the group number that you are going to be learning today. Bear with me, because I just found out about this and I don't have any choreography yet. However, I do have a concept.

V: So I know we're all ballerinas here, but I was thinking we should try stepping into the shoes of another style.

I looked at Beckett and winked at him. He smiled back at me knowing what I was thinking.

V: We are going to do a tap routine!

A lot of mixed emotions occurred. Many people, including Beckett, were incredibly excited because they love tap. However, multiple people have never tried tap before, being strictly ballerinas and were unprepared for the new experience.

V: Don't worry, this routine will have sections for all levels and I will teach all the steps as many times as needed. Although we do need to work fast, because Ms. Helsweel wants a rough draft by lunch. And she will for sure be surprised by the style.

After everyone grabbed their tap shoes, I started teaching a group section.

V: ... buffalo, buffalo, quad lindy, step step, pull back, shuffle hop step.

After around an hour I finished teaching all the large group sections.

V: Okay, so now I am going to split you into groups based on skill level. I'm going to let you choose your group, but just remember being placed into the lower level group doesn't mean your any less of a dancer than being in the upper level. It just means you have more room to grow and you haven't been tapping for as long. Don't be ashamed of who you are.

Once everyone was separated into their groups, I went to the lowest level tappers, and started them on choreography. I decided to play to their strengths, and I used a lot of fluid movements and less intricate movements. I used a lot of toe pops because being ballerinas, the dancers were good at dancing on their toes.

Next, I moved onto the medium level group. With this group I used a lot of rhythmically challenging steps.

With the last group, I included a lot of tricks. I had wings, shiggy bops, toe turns, and even a couple of partnering steps.

After teaching all the choreography, we started running the piece with me being in the medium level group to even out the numbers. Upon finishing running the piece for the third time, Ms. Helsweel walked in.

H: Well, let's see what we've got here.

So, we performed the dance one more time. Once the dance was completed, we all looked to Ms. Helsweel for her input

H: Very interesting. I liked the different style used, and I'm impressed that you all could learn an entire dance in a new style in such a short time. Also Vanessa, putting yourself into a lower level group just to even out the numbers was a bold and truly caring move. I'm glad I made the decision to make you my assistant choreographer.

After hearing this, all eyes were on me seeing as only I and Ms. Helsweel knew this information. Beckett looked as if he were about to burst from the proud smile he held on his face.

V: Why thank you Ms. Helsweel, but you know what they say... good choreography is nothing without great dancers. I'm so thankful to get to work with this amazing group of dancers.

And after our speeches, we all made our way to the lunch area. Beckett and I's first time eating with the rest of the Primas since we started preparing for competition. We were very excited to have normal school experiences again and to be a normal couple among our amazing friends at school.