by Tonya Plank
“Dude, I can totally do it! And I totally want to take her over my head later in the routine. Waist high is nothing. Man, I’m strong.” Kendra clenched her fist.
Over her head? I couldn’t remember ever seeing a woman do an overhead lift with an adult. Josie had to weigh at least 115 or 120 pounds.
I said nothing, but the look on my face must have thoroughly revealed my thoughts.
“Dude, you don’t understand. I bench press at the gym.”
I looked over at Josie. She nodded. She didn’t seem the least bit dubious or scared.
I accidentally looked toward the back room where Arabelle was, thinking maybe she could explain how hard this was and how much work they needed before trying. The coach’s eyes met mine the second I glanced that way. I liked this coach. She saw everything that was going on in the room, not just what was right before her. Yet, she didn’t seem the least bit distracted. Arabelle and Drew were in the middle of a routine. They were concentrating. My idea was a bad one—I wasn’t going to bother Arabelle anymore.
“Yeah, she’s the best showdancer on the planet. Seriously, sir. I wish we could take lessons with both of you,” Kendra said.
I’d had my head turned to Arabelle for all of a split second. When I turned back to Kendra, she had a cock-eyed smile and one raised eyebrow. She seemed to know I had a thing for Arabelle. I guess I was obvious.
I shrugged and chuckled. “Hey, what about me? You doubting I’m enough for you?”
“Of course not, sir. But she helped you with Paolo and Judy.”
Yep, the gossip mill. “Well, unfortunately it looks like she’s busy right now.”
“I know, but in the future, it would be fun to book a lesson with the both of you. Just sayin’.” At that I noticed Arabelle’s gaze in my periphery. Kendra naturally had a loud voice but I think she was making it louder on purpose. Arabelle put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight, giving me a scowl. I shrugged and shook my head, indicating I had nothing to do with the suggestion.
“What would that run us?” Kendra said, all business. “When you guys start teaching together? Is that going to be double the cost, for two teachers? Because I don’t know if we have that kind of money, sir.” I was loving this girl. And her booming voice. Arabelle shook her head, closed her eyes, and turned back to Drew.
“I…I haven’t even thought of that,” I said to Kendra. “That would be a lot to pay for two teachers. We’d have to ask Alessia. But I mean, I don’t know if…” I looked back at Arabelle. Her face was now red, with anger I assumed, not embarrassment.
“Okay, well in the meantime, you’ll have to do,” Kendra said. “Now come on, help us get into this lift.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay, but I don’t want you getting hurt. Take off your shoes first, Josie.” That much I now knew. “You both need strength in your back, so I want you both on the floor—”
“Sir, we’ve been doing that,” Kendra said, and waving me off.
I shook my head. What was she talking about? Did she already know about the exercises before? Or did someone give her very specific details about my private lesson with Judy and Paolo? That was only yesterday. “For how long?” I asked.
“Let’s show him what we’ve got so far, Jose,” she said without answering my question. She swung Josie out fast and pulled her back in. Josie rolled herself into Kendra, then lifted her arms out and raised one leg behind her, while standing on the tip-toe of the other foot. Kendra held one arm under Josie’s stomach, the other under the thigh of the still lifted leg, and, without bending her legs, began to arch her back and raise her arms with Josie underneath. In other words, lifting with her back not her legs, which was a huge no-no.
“Okay, I’m ready, hon,” she said to Josie.
“Here I go.” Josie lifted her standing foot and spread her legs out into a split, one high in back of the other. Kendra was still bent back, her back arching at a bad angle.
“No, no, no!” I said, in a panic. “You’re totally lifting with your back. You’re going to hurt yourself.” My voice was loud, as it often was when I was worried about someone getting hurt.
“No, it’s really not that bad. I can do it, I got it. I got you, babe,” Kendra said, in a huff. But she didn’t have her at all. Josie was falling, Kendra was bending over more. Josie was going to hit the ground and Kendra was going to throw out her back if they didn’t stop.
“Seriously, put her down. You’re both going to get hurt!” I shouted.
“No, no, n—” Now Josie’s head was pointing toward the ground, as were her feet. She looked like an airplane trying to make a dangerous landing. The whole shape looked ludicrous, and would have been funny if it wasn’t so dangerous.
“There’s an easier way,” Arabelle said. I hadn’t even seen her approaching. She gave me the evil eye. Big time. “Seriously, put her down and I’ll show you.”
“Okee-doke,” Kendra said, doing exactly as Arabelle asked. What the hell? She listens to Arabelle, who’s not even her teacher? Josie pulled her feet toward the floor and tried to straighten herself.
“Okay, I’m down,” she said to Kendra.
“Okay, letting go.”
Once Josie had both feet on the ground and was fully upright, and Kendra had taken a few breaths, everyone looked at Arabelle.
“You need some water?” she asked Kendra.
“Nope, totally good, totally good.” She held her arms up and out in front of her, clutching the air with her fists, then lunged to one side, then the next, as if she was working out some kinks in her body. This chick had more bravado than any guy I knew.
“Okay then.” Arabelle brushed her hands together as if ready to get down to business. “You need to plié with your standing leg so you can kind of jump into Kendra’s arms, so that she doesn’t have to bend over and get you,” she said to Josie. Josie nodded. “And then, while you place your arms out, you should put one arm around her back, all the way to the other shoulder.” Arabelle demonstrated. Kendra tried to pick her up but Belle stopped her. “No, not yet. Let me just give the directions first.”
“Sure thing, sweetheart,” Kendra said.
I chuckled but Belle just smiled. She looked more relaxed. Hopefully her anger at me was dissipating. Thank you, Kendra, I thought.
“Okay, so you wrap your arm around her back, and drape it over her far shoulder,” she told Josie. “I like this little trick because it looks pretty, like you’re hugging her, like you’ve got your arm around her, but it’s also functional because it gives Kendra support. So, you press down and pull yourself up from your center. Pressing down on her shoulder will actually help you to hold your own weight in the air, using the muscles of your abdomen as well. Capiche?”
Josie nodded. Both women looked at Belle like she was a goddess. And yeah, she was.
“Okay, so I’ll try it.”
Kendra nodded.
Kendra and Belle started the move the same way Kendra had with Josie, making me realize Arabelle had been watching the whole thing to begin with. Kendra swung Belle out, brought her in, and then wrapped Belle in her arms.
“Now I plié,” Belle said as she bent her standing leg slightly, and gave enough of a jump that Kendra didn’t have to bend down at all. “Now I wrap my arm around Kendra’s shoulder and then I can help hold myself up,” she said, lifting her gorgeous leg up in the back, toe pointed deliciously. She extended her other arm out.
“Whoa! Awesome!” Kendra said turning around several times, Belle fully lifted, fully centered in her arms. It did look really beautiful.
“Okay, okay,” said Arabelle, apparently feeling Kendra start to get dizzy and waffle. “Now we come down, just as gently as we went up. This needs to be as elegant. The dancing is not just the tricks but in the in-between points just as much, if not more so. So, I point my toe toward the floor, feeling for it, and you can just bend a bit, with your knees not your back, Kendra. And, voilá.” Belle put the other foot down, ever so elegantly, then twir
led back out of Kendra’s arms.
We heard clapping and looked up. The coach and Drew were watching and applauding.
“Wow,” Josie said. “That was beautiful.”
“It felt that way!” Kendra said.
“Breathtaking,” I echoed.
Arabelle shot me another scowl, then began to walk away.
“Hey, wait,” Kendra called out. “Now we need to learn the no hands fish dive!”
Arabelle’s mouth opened, and I knew she was going to dash Kendra’s plans on that one.
“Let’s practice this one until you’ve got it totally down,” I said.
“Okay,” Kendra said, but to Arabelle. “Can you demonstrate my part now, with Josie?”
Arabelle looked at me, then Drew and Greta, mouth still open. I didn’t know if she’d ever lifted someone before, even waist high. Likely not, since she’d only danced with a man. And if she got the tremor, it could be bad.
“It’s okay. I can demo with Josie,” I said. “I’ve got that from here.”
Arabelle nodded at me. “Call me if you need help, but, yeah, you can trust him,” she said to Kendra flatly, without looking at me this time.
Okay, if that was my vote of approval from her, I guess I’d have to take it.
I supervised Kendra as she lifted Josie. It wasn’t as graceful and carefree as it was with Belle, but Kendra didn’t look like she was about to drop over in pain. Practice made it better and better.
“Seriously, though, I really want to work on the no hands,” Kendra said as she was packing up. “And maybe we can work something out so we can have Arabelle for maybe half the session or something. To make it semi-affordable?” I saw Arabelle glance our way in my periphery. I didn’t look at her full on this time; I didn’t need to know how she felt about that.
* * *
“I thought we’d put together a little routine made up of tricks and dips and very easy lifts that we can set to music. That okay with you all?” I asked at my next group class.
“Yeah, as long as they include the no hands fish dive!” Kendra yelled out.
I rolled my eyes. “Now, now, we’re not doing those in group class. I don’t want anyone throwing out their back or crashing to the ground. This parquet floor is not that forgiving.”
“Oh come on Mr. R, we can do it. There are no wusses in here.” Kendra threw up her arms and looked around the room.
Now I was Mr. R? This chick cracked me up. “At the end of the course we may—emphasis on may—throw in a regular fish, with hands,” I said. “But that’s it. Nothing hands-free.”
Now she rolled her eyes.
“And that’s just for people who want to do them.”
“All right, Mr. R. And maybe for people who want to do more, they can do the no hands version,” she said more than asked, as if she were running the class. She was too sweet to get angry at though. Not to mention, too enthusiastic. I was beginning to realize there’s nothing a teacher appreciates more than a student who wants so badly to learn.
“What’s a hands-free fish dive?” asked Eduardo, this fifty-something social dancer by night, engineer by day, whose favorite dance was the Hustle and who’d introduced himself on the first day as wanting to do “really cool disco moves.”
“They’re awesomely hot,” Paolo piped up.
I sighed and threw my hands up. “Okay, for people who really want to take that risk.”
“Woo hoo!” Kendra hooted.
“And I may make you sign waivers because, seriously, they are hard—as you know,” I said, partially as a joke.
“Whatevs, R. Maybe Rory can make up the forms.”
“Rory, Sasha’s partner?” I asked, a bit confused.
“Yep. She’s an attorney by day, Blackpool champion by night!”
Every single person in class either clapped or giggled at this.
“She just started here last year and easily became Sasha’s fave, after, you know, he dumped Arabelle,” Kendra said.
Dumped? Arabelle danced with Sasha and was dumped? This was news to me.
“Kendra! Dumped is about five thousand times too harsh!” Josie said, play-smacking her girlfriend.
“Yes, it is,” a very good Russian student named Svetlana, agreed. “They broke up because Sasha only had eyes for Rory. They were…how do you say? Destined.”
“Argh, Josie and Sveta are total Sasha and Rory groupies!” Kendra rolled her eyes. “But yeah, I sometimes get carried away. Dumped is too harsh. They just didn’t work out. Anyway, my point is just that she can write up these legal docs you want.”
I heard some heavy harrumphing in the corner. I looked over to see Luna, the one who’d kicked me out of the practice room, tapping her perfectly pedicured foot on the floor. I hadn’t noticed her in the room before. I guess she was one of the watcher students. Her gestures made it clear she wanted me to get on with class.
“I was kidding about that. I’ll have to ask Alessia. Anyway, let’s get going. Let’s start with the rag doll. It’s not a fish dive, but it’s still fun, and cool.”
I explained the move to them, that the guy dips the woman and then kind of rolls her around and pulls her up quickly. I knew Judy’s body weight because I’d worked with her and knew she had some dance skills already, so I called on her to demonstrate. I pulled her into me, then held her close by the waist and told her to bend backward, doing the deepest arch she could. As she did so, I told her to be as loose as possible. At this everyone laughed.
“Come on, you guys. I mean with your muscles.” I laughed. “Tensed muscles are easier to tear for everyone. And the looser the ladies are, the easier it is for the man to lead.” More laughter. I rolled my eyes. Judy did as I instructed and I circled her body around. She could arch pretty well.
“Excellent,” I said. Everyone clapped. “Okay, let’s try it. Everyone take a partner.”
Of course the first time we went to do it, many of them nearly fell, the guy headfirst, the woman back first. I hadn’t told the men to lean back. I guess it looked like they were supposed to lean into the woman.
A chorus of exclamations rang around the room. Amazingly, no one actually fell but several guys rocked back on their heels so quickly they ended up taking several steps back and the girls ended up lunging toward them.
“Okay, sorry. I should have made clear to the men that you all have to lean back to stabilize the couple’s center of gravity. If you lean toward her, the laws of physics—”
“Um.” Kendra cleared her throat loudly, commanding my attention. Wow, Josie was in a deep rag doll, her long arms nearly grazing the floor, and Kendra was weighted back, holding her up perfectly.
I nodded. “Very impressive. But just bend your knees a slight bit so that you’re lifting from your leg muscles, and not your lower back.”
“Oh yeah, that makes sense,” Kendra said, obeying me. “Yep, that’s a lot better on the old lower back, Mr. R.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” I said.
We practiced it several more times, with everyone doing as I instructed. And miraculously, it worked much better. Everyone looked pretty good. I realized though that my teaching skills were lacking, which wasn’t surprising given this was my first time actually teaching. I had to remember to tell the students exactly how to do things. Simply having them watch me wasn’t enough. These weren’t professional dancers, and they were used to learning through words, not visuals.
“You guys are quick learners,” I said, truly impressed. This was going to be a fun class and a fun routine, so long as I learned how to teach.
“Hey, if we get this routine done by the end of the month, maybe we can perform it at the next student teacher showcase,” Kendra said.
A chorus of cheers filled the room. I was growing to love this girl. She was performance oriented, like me. But we only had one class per week. We’d have to get Alessia to turn it into a longer class, or add more nights.
“If you guys are willing to work hard, I think that’s
an awesome idea,” I said. “I just think it’s going to take more than four classes. If you guys are willing to double- or triple-up on classes, I’ll check with Alessia.”
“Of course we are, R!” Kendra shouted. Now I had become simply “R.” I looked around. Not a single person in the class was shaking his or her head, or doing anything but nodding and smiling.
“I mean, we could even create a team, like the mambo team?” Paolo suggested.
“The mambo team rocks. I’d be totally into that!” This was a guy of Indian origin named Rajiv. “My girlfriend would totally go for that too. She’s good friends with Rory, and she always wanted to be on the mambo team when Rory was. But now that Rory’s no longer on it, I think she’d like this just as well.”
“Um, okay…” I had no idea what this mambo team was. But a performance team was totally up my alley.
“Of course things would go more quickly if another showdance pro could join and co-teach?” Kendra said, raising her eyebrows seductively.
“Yes! You guys could lead the team. You’d make everyone else want to watch us!” Judy echoed.
I put my hands on my hips and squinted at both of them. I knew from the private lessons that they both adored Arabelle.
“It would be nice to have Arabelle back teaching showdance,” Svetlana added.
Everyone nodded. Arabelle was definitely a star here.
“I don’t know if she’s going to go for that…” I began.
“Oh boo, hiss. You have to make her!” Kendra shouted.
“We’ll petition her,” Josie said.
I chuckled. It’s going to take quite a petition to get her to dance with me, I thought. “Let me run it by Alessia. And Arabelle.” But I knew this was going to be near impossible.
Chapter 12
Arabelle
When I arrived at the studio, I had a message in my box that Alessia wanted to talk to me. At first, I panicked, wondering what I’d done. I’d been a bit out of it lately, thinking about Willem and being annoyed with Jett, but I didn’t think I had forgotten about any private lessons or anything.
