leave.”
This information left him in a bit of a quandary, so two days prior to Old Year’s Eve, Philippe crept quietly into Matron’s empty office. He quickly searched through the drawers of her desk until he’d found the address book he’d been looking for. Then feeling terribly pleased that he’d found it, he immediately executed a couple of tight little pirouettes, before carefully writing down a cell phone number on a piece of scrap paper.
Moments later, he walked down the passage to the staff quarters and when he reached his own apartment, he called the number from his cell phone. Claire picked up right away and he said, “Hello Nina? Or is it Claire? Anyhow, whatever name you choose to go by now, -it’s me Philippe, -and we really need to talk.”
There was complete silence on the other end of the line for a few moments. Then eventually Claire pleaded, “Please Philippe, let’s not discuss this matter now. We can talk about it later, once the show is over. Please, I beg of you not to reveal my identity. The old folk here would be terribly disappointed if they discovered that their ballerina, -was just little old me.”
“You’ve got it all wrong Claire as this was not my intention at all. Instead I have a proposal for you,” he said.
“A proposal, you say? Hold that thought for a moment please Philippe, because now that my secrets out, do you mind if I first ask you something? It’s actually terribly important,” she said.
When Philippe nodded and then waited for her to continue, she said, “Look, I’ll be honest with you and admit that I’m extremely nervous about dancing tomorrow night again. This is why I was wondering if you would consider dancing a duet with me. I also happen to think that a duet would be a fitting finale to both of our dancing careers. Another thing Philippe, I have to admit that I’ve been terribly lonely without you, since we quarreled all that time ago.”
“I’ve been lonely too, Claire. So a duet it shall be, as this is what I intended to ask you, anyway. In the meanwhile since I last saw you, I’ve travelled around a bit and tried to settle down into several different jobs, but when I arrived to work in the offices here, I was delighted to see you again and thought that I’d finally found the right job. I suspected though that you weren’t too pleased to see me and your reaction made me feel terribly afraid of rejection if I should ever try to approach you. This is why up until Christmas when I saw you dancing, I didn’t even feel that I could speak to you. But then all that changed in a heartbeat, -after I saw you dance. I longed to be up there on stage with you, for we were partners for many years before you took off that night and disappeared from my life completely.”
“Yes Philippe, I know all this and I’m sorry. But then I was very upset with you for seeing someone else. Then when you arrived here out of the blue, of course, I realized you recognized me almost immediately. But at the same time, I also knew that you’d discovered that none of the old folk here knew that I was their ballerina. So I guess I naturally hoped that for old time’s sake, you wouldn’t reveal my secret.”
“I must admit it was a close call on one occasion, Claire. But then yesterday after I realized that you wanted to keep your previous dancing life and your present Physio business here in separate compartments, I changed my mind. Mainly because I realized that I felt the same way about my career change and I also didn’t want to upset you again.”
After these confessions, they talked for a while about how their lives had moved on in different directions. They also discovered that although they both had new jobs now, the theatre was still very much in their blood. This is why they agreed to visit the theatre together regularly and Claire immediately said that she’d like to see the new Russian ballet company, which would soon be performing locally.
While they talked, Claire admitted to sometimes having problems with stiffness and Philippe said that he was not as strong as he used to be. So after discussing how they both intended to move on in their new careers now, they decided that one more ballet performance together, would be a fitting finale to their previous partnership in the ballet world.
With this in mind, the next day they quietly slipped off to a private dancing studio where they could practice the lifts for their final pas de deux. It was tiring work for both of them, but fortunately, they’d kept up with their barre work and exercises, so they were both still fit and supple.
Even so, on Old Year’s Eve as the time approached for them to get ready to appear on stage, they both admitted to feeling a little apprehensive. But once they were dressed in their costumes and had applied their makeup, they felt more in control and ready to go out on stage to face the audience.
While they were waiting in the wings together, a buzzer suddenly sounded and all the lights in the hall went out. Turning to Claire, Philippe said, “Well my dear, it’s now or never, I guess.”
“You’re right Philippe, our moment in time has finally arrived, but now that it’s here I look forward to giving our final performance. It’s strange though, because it feels almost as if we’re about to receive a special gift.”
“Yes Clair, this is our special gift to each other and who knows what else this performance could lead to for us in the future, my love.”
“Yes, I know and that’s what’s making me feel excited.” Then clutching at his hand, she whispered, “Only a few more moments to go, Philippe.”
“Yes, just a few short moments before we hopefully give a performance of a lifetime,” he said as he leant over and kissed her lightly on the lips.
When the curtains parted and revealed them standing together and moving across to center stage, there was an audible gasp from the audience. For there before them were two dancers and not the single dancer they’d anticipated seeing.
The pair up on stage paused for a single moment before taking up their opening pose. Then while they waited for the music from Swan Lake’s love duet begin, they stood together in a fond embrace. And as the rhythm of the music reached them, they fell immediately under the spell of the spirit of the dance. Under whose spell they moved together as seamlessly as they’d always done in the past, never once hesitating or faltering or missing a single cue.
At the same time, the audience too fell spellbound under the same magic that was unfolding up on stage. While the thrill of seeing the two dancers blending together as one, sent them enraptured into a type of a time warp, where they travelled back in time briefly, to a time when they too had once been young and supple and beautiful.
While swaying together in time to the music, they watched entranced as the dancers executed the complicated lifts and faultlessly danced the intricate steps with grace and ease, almost floating across the stage.
Of course, the audience would have liked to remain within the dynamics of this fairy tale existence for much longer, but, unfortunately, the moment the dancers took their final bow, the time warp ended abruptly and the audience returned to reality with a sigh.
As previously agreed with Matron, the moment they took their final bow on stage, the lights on the stage were switched off for around ten minutes and as the hall was already in darkness, this caused a tremendous amount of confusion. But it did give Claire and Philippe sufficient time to change into their dressing gowns, hide their costumes in the air-vent and quickly slap on some grease paint to remove their makeup.
Then exiting through a hidden stage door that they didn’t think anyone else knew about, they moved quickly and then slid into two vacant seats at the back of the hall, where they sat together and held hands.
A few minutes later, but even before the lights were switched back on, Lillian wheeled herself backstage through the same hidden door. She rummaged around a bit aided by the light from her cell phone. Then when the lights came back on again, she quickly pushed her chair out onto center stage and triumphantly held up two pairs of ballet shoes for everyone to see.
Then with a confused look on her face, she shouted out, “I don’t understand, the doors to the hall are all still locked, but the dancers ha
ve disappeared into thin air. All that they’ve left behind are these two pairs of ballet shoes. But I can’t imagine where they’ve got to, or how they escaped my scrutiny, -as I had my eyes on them for the whole time. Then again, I guess they might have made their escape when I tipped my wheelchair over in the darkness and was still struggling to get it upright again.”
“Well, I think that tipping your chair over serves you jolly well right for not respecting Nina’s wishes, Lillian. You should be ashamed of yourself! I can hardly believe that you’d try a stunt like this for a second time,” Philippe shouted out loudly in mock anger from the back of the hall.
“Claire squeezed his hand and whispered, “Well, we did it Philippe. In spite of Lillian’s efforts to unmask us, we actually beat her at her own game. Now we’re free to move on with our lives, with some beautiful memories of the ballet world to fall back on.”
The End
Final Pas De Deux Page 2
