Dancing with Danger

Chp. 17 The First Day of Dance Camp

I bit my lip nervously at the large array of children crowding my studio's lobby. They were all dressed in dancing attire and chatting excitedly. They weren't very old, they ranged from eight to fourteen. They separated into cliques. The older boys stood off to the side trying to act casual about being at a dance class, the older girls stood across the room giggling and watching the guys. The younger girls were fixing each other's tutus and the little guys looked miserable. I stood up on a chair since I was so short.

"Hey everyone!" I shouted waving a hand. Everyone turned to me, Clapton looked up from the shoe of a little girl he which he was tying for her. "So, we're gonna get going in a few minutes. There isn't many of you, so were just gonna split up into two groups, boys and girls. Then we'll combine at the end, got it?" No one spoke. "When Mr. Clapton or me say 'got it' I want you to respond with 'got it!'. Got it?"

"GOT IT!" Everyone shouted.

"Awesome," I said smiling. I looked down at my clipboard. "Ok, girls, follow me, boys you're with Clapton." I jumped down from the chair and showed the girls the back studio.

We went over names of the girls and some of the rules. We'd gone over camp rules already but these were my personal studio rules.

"Mind your space," I said. I demonstrated by holding out my arms. "Your neighbor should be an arm's distance away." All the girls tried and adjusted. That was when Mr. Frail came in. I jogged over to him and greeted him. I explained to him our system and told him Clapton was in the other room. He simply nodded and left.

"Miss Hillary, who is that?" A girl named Suzy asked.

"Uh, he came to watch me teach you guys to dance," I said. "Now, I've found an amazing band you guys are gonna love. They're called The Fine Frenzy, and we are going to dance our feet off!" The girls cheered as I prepared the song. The song was called Almost Lover. "Ok, here are the first moves, ready?"

The moves were simple, it started with a plié and then a hop to the left and a grand gesture with the right arm then a short turn and a double prance to the right landing on the left knee. After that they got up and spun once. First verse of the song and they got it faster than I would've imagined. I clapped my hands smiling at them. "Great job! Next set!"

The little kids get tired faster, they're younger and can't handle the stress and intense body strain it is to be a dancer so we had scheduled that they left slightly earlier than the older kids. That's how we managed to get the boys and girls to do partner dances. Woo! There's a first for everything right? I'm right, aren't I? Jesus, I hope so.

"Alright, we've already assigned your partners, so McKenzie please step away from Georgia," I said to the two girls holding hands. They frowned and stepped apart.

"Ok, stand next to your partner when I read off your names, got it?" Clapton shouted.

"Got it!" everyone agreed. The two supervisors who were seated in the corner on the couch scribbled away and I felt my palms grow sweaty. Clapton began to read off names boys and girls paired together. In all there was about seven couples, and it was ironic how we had one girl leftover who Clapton promised he would dance with. The girl, who was maybe nine or ten went red and nodded. He assured her it was going to be fine and that he didn't bite.

The partners, being in the age group where they still thought cooties existed stood two feet apart from one another. I grabbed a spray bottle filled with water.

"Ok, guys, do you know what this is?" I asked holding up the water. Clapton cocked an eyebrow at me. Don't doubt my methods.

"No, Miss Hillary," the kids said in unison.