"Everyone, this is Lucy. She just moved here from Pennsylvania. I know some of you may recognize her as she's a very good dancer, so we're pleased to have her here and I know you'll all be very welcoming." My new dance teacher, Lauren, says. I miss Razz and Anne already! I miss all the familiar faces of my old studio but instead I'm here, standing in front of a small crowd of strange new faces, staring up at me like I'm some kind of alien.
"Everyone will introduce themselves to you once class actually begins, I just wanted to introduce you to everyone first. When we start going through steps, though, I want you to dance with the u10's since they'll be your competition." Lauren says. I just nod, desperately wishing to get away from the staring faces. Where are all my best friends? Where are all the dance rooms, Studio A, B, and C which I became so familiar with? Oh well, I guess I'll have to make this studio and these faces a part of my everyday life. I'm also reminded that I'm now u10. Agh! So old, where'd the time go? How'd I get to be a big old u10?!
"Alright! We're beginning with stamina! Jigs first, full thing 3 times in a row! First 3 step out." Lauren yells. The jig music blares throughout the room and I begin to feel at home again. I stand leaning against the wall next to whom I assume are the other u10 girls, watching the jigs dance. I learned my hornpipe during my private yesterday with Lauren. It was my first time at the studio and she just wanted me to learn my steps before coming to class so I didn't look or feel lost.
"You're Lucy right? Lucy Collins?" A taller brown haired girl turns to me.
"Yeah." I reply.
"Oh cool! I've heard you're a really good dancer! I'm Ciara Mae and I'm in u10 too!" She says excitedly.
"Really?! That's so cool!" Good, there's at least one person who's friend material.
"Yeah! Did you already learn your hornpipe?" Ciara Mae asks curiously.
"Yup, I had a private with Lauren yesterday and I learned all my new steps." I say.
"Woah, that's so impressive!" She exclaims.
"Nuh uh, Ciara Mae. That's so easy to do." Comes a voice from behind me.
"No way! Learning a new hornpipe, reel, and set in a 2 hour private is NOT easy!" Ciara Mae says getting angry.
"Yeah it is, I can easily do that. You're just slow with choreography."
"Be quiet, stop being so rude Eleanor! You're gonna upset Lucy!" Ciara Mae exclaims.
"I don't care. As long as I beat her over and over I don't care about being her friend or being nice to her. She's just another person to crush." Ouch. This Eleanor girl is pretty mean... Thank goodness she just slunk off towards the other wall.
"Hey, don't worry about her. That's Eleanor and she doesn't have very many friends here because she's pretty mean to everyone." Ciara Mae says and I can tell she feels bad about what just went on.
"That's alright, she's just another bully but thanks for sticking up for me!"
"Hey, no problem! I-"
"Hornpipes, same thing: 3 full things!" Lauren says before Ciara Mae can finish, and all the hornpipe a groan.
"Go with me?" Ciara Mae leans over and whispers to me as we all line up, trying to figure out who's going with whom.
"Sure! We just need one more person..." I scan the crowd of about 15 hornpipes ranging in age from 10-16. We need someone else our age to join us.
"Eleanor, why don't you join Lucy and Ciara Mae's rotation?" Lauren suggests before starting up the hornpipe music. How about anyone but her? Whatever, I can just show Eleanor who's boss in U10 here. We walk to the back of the room to start our hornpipes. As the intro continues, I prepare myself for the three fulls that will surely make me feel like I'm dying. I take a deep breath and point my foot and then begin. "And 1,2 step out click down and bang 1,2,3 turn and tip jump out 2,3 shuffle and shuffle bang toe..." I remember Lauren's voice yesterday, talking the steps in time to the music and along with my feet. Eleanor is right next to me so I try to dance even better and I think it's working because I seem to have Lauren's attention now. Just a half step left, come on Lucy. I finish the step with a shuffle hop back tip and toe in the front, then walk back with Eleanor and Ciara Mae to start the second full. I'm a little winded but not dead. Yet. This time I try to be just as strong as the first time, except by the end of the half step I feel more drained. Lauren yells, "Just one more girls! You've got this! Let's see what you've got!" I point my toe for the final hornpipe and begin dancing again. Gotta be even stronger this time, just one last hornpipe. I picture myself onstage at Worlds and that makes me dance even better than before. "Eleanor, you're dying! Keep it up!" Lauren yells and that pushes me to go harder so that Lauren will be even more impressed with me. I finish the hornpipe and feel like my legs are about to collapse on me, but I'm so happy because I'm finally done. But now it's time for the critiques.
"Ciara Mae, the first time it was good but I could tell you were saving your energy a bit for the next two. Just focus more on your turnout, too, because as you get more and more tired your feet start going a little straighter, but other than that it was good!" Lauren says. Then she turns to Eleanor.
"Eleanor, your stamina is definitely slipping, I could see you got tired after the right foot of the second step in the first hornpipe. It was even more noticeable when Lucy was next to you, because she was still going strong while you were getting more and more tired, so I expect more from you next time." Eleanor starts to sulk and looks extremely annoyed, probably because she was told she was worse than me. But I can't help her feeling annoyed, she just needs to work a little harder!
"Lucy, it was excellent! Just watch your front clicks because they're sharp the entire time but as you get tired, they start going a little lower. I wanna see if you can keep going with your clicks above your head and still very sharp instead of to your head and sharp, k?" Lauren asks and I nod. Then we walk to the side of the room and grab some water. I notice an older girl coming over to me, maybe a u12 since she's lined up with the hornpipes and doesn't look super old.
"Hey, you're Lucy right?" She asks as I take another sip of my water. I just nod because I'm still super tired.
"You were amazing out there! I'd heard you were pretty good, but I had no idea just how good you were! As soon as you started, it looked like a future world champ out there! Like I'm not even kidding, you were that good! Everyone around me said so too!" She exclaims. Wow, I didn't know I was that good!
"Thanks so much!" I say.
"I'm Roisin by the way, I'm u12." She introduces herself.
"Your name is so pretty, I love it!" I exclaim.
"Aw thanks! Well I gotta go die, I'll talk to you later!" She says and runs off back to the hornpipe line.
"Wow! You have a fan, and by the sound of it more than one! I wish I could've seen you dance, you must be unreal!" Ciara Mae gushes.
"Nah, they're probably just being nice since I'm the new girl." I shrug, but inside I'm wondering if maybe I could win worlds like Roisin said, or even recall or go to worlds! I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
