To the Pointe (Cara and Kate)

[Prudence Warner]

It was Saturday morning and Prudence walked into the dance studio with the bag that contained her pointe shoes over her shoulder. She was dressed as she would be for the dance classes that her girl's attended three days a week. However, today she knew that she would only have two students. It wasn't hard to notice that her two advanced students would rather be dancing in their pointe shoes than ballet slippers, but the elective she taught was dance, not ballet, and she needed to teach it for the majority of the students - and they would only be doing ballet for a short time before moving onto another form of dance.

Walking over to the bench that ran along the length of the wall with the door, stopping to leave a gap of the door and continuing. She sat down and pulled her faux fur winter boots off and slipped her pointe shoes on. After tying up the ribbons, she pulled her black leg warmers over the shoes so they gave the impression of her wearing thick sock over the top of her pointes.

She then rose to her feet and walked over to the barre where she rose up onto full pointe. She knew that she had a few moments before she had asked the girls to turn up - she'd asked Coach Hoefflin to allow Cara to attend the class, not giving him the option to decline for the girl - so she spent the time she had warming herself up so that she was ready to start the girls in their warm-up when they arrived.

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Tagging:
Cara-Jean Kitchi
@kate

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara had been elated when she read the note she had been handed by Ms Warner at the end of dance class the day before. The woman was going to work with herself and Kate en-pointe. She didn't mind dancing in her flats during the class, not really anyway, and she knew that it was easier just to have the whole class doing the same thing. After all, she'd draw attention to herself if she was one of two people dancing en-pinte in a class where everyone else was on flats, and she was too used to remaining in the shadows to intentionally attract attention.

After gymnastics she change out of her team uniform, showered and changed into her pink tights and black leotard that she had brought to the studio with her that morning. Even though her hair had already been in a bun, she had brushed it out when she washed it so she quickly twisted her hair back into a ballet bun and covered it with a black hairnet - she had forgotten to pick up her ballet bun cover, so she was wearing a gymnastic hairnet which was black with sparkly diamanté scattered over it - a little more than she would like, but she would not go to dance class without a net over her bun.

Sitting on one of the benches that lined the area between the lockers, she slipped her feet into her pointe shoes and tied up the ribbons - as she would just be walking down the hall, she didn't see the point in putting her street shoes on when she wouldn't be going outside. With the ribbons tied and the ends tucked away neatly, she pulled her leg warmers on, put her dirty team uniform back into her locker, collected her dance bag and closed the locker before she left the changing rooms, glided through the gymnastics studio - ducking her head as she felt the eyes of the coach on her, even though the other gymnasts had already left - and floated down the hall toward the dance studio.

Walking into the dance studio, it felt a little strange to be here in the weekend for a lesson. She often came here in the weekend, or other times after hours, but that had always been to work by herself. It was nice to be here to have instruction. She bowed her head and gave Ms Warner révérence before she left her dance bag on one of the benches, taking out her water bottle and the microfibre towel; the first she placed on the bench beside the bag and the second was laid neatly over the top of the bag. She then floated over to the barre, ready to get started.

[Deleted]

Kate had practically chasséd through the rest of her day the day before after Ms. Warner had handed her and Cara each a note at the end of class. She'd woken early that morning, ready to get dancing. It was a wonderful way to begin her weekend. She planned on going to the barn later to do some dressage with Poet, since she had been a rusty and didn't want to have to drop the class all together, though she was considering it. She'd see how it went later, but now she just had to focus on her dance lesson with Cara and Ms. Warner.

She was pretty excited to be instructed en pointe again, since she hadn't since she'd come to the academy. She got dressed, enjoying how the early spring morning sun shone through her window. She wore her normal pink tights and black leotard, and twisted her hair up into its tight bun with her hair net over it. It was still a bit chilly since it was morning, so she pulled on a big sweater and leggings over her tights and leotard for her walk over. She arranged her dance bag to make sure that everything she needed was in it, complete with her water bottle and a little towel.

Her walk over to the studio was pleasant, since the campus was looking hopeful with the plants just beginning to peek out of the ground. When she arrived, she smiled at both Ms. Warner and Cara, and moved to the bench to get ready. She first pulled off her shoes, leggings, and sweater and set them neatly together before getting her pointe shoes out of her bag. She put them on and tied up the ribbons, slipping leg warmer on over her calves for their warm-up.

Ready to begin, she met the other two dancers at the barre, eager to begin.

[Prudence Warner]

Prue smiled when Cara entered, completely dressed and ready to dance - which didn't come as much of a surprise since she knew the girl would be coming straight from the studio down the hall. It wasn't long before the door opened again to admit the other student.

When both of the girls were at the barre she smiled again. "I know this is a pointe class, but why don't we do some simple novice exercises to warm up." She then led the girls through some very beginner exercises; hello shoulders, good bye shoulders, some kitty stretches and her favourite, hello and good bye toes, and pretty much the same warm-up they had used in the last dance class (which will be explained in full in dance class). Once she was pleased that the girls would have warmed their muscles enough, she knew it was time to really get started.

"Ok, ladies, if I can get you back to the barre again, we'll get started." She gave them a warm smile. "As I haven't seen either of you dance properly on pointe, we're going to take things slow, just so I can see where you are at." She walked over to push play on the stereo so the studio was filled with music that had a 4/4 beat and then placed her hand on the barre they were on - so she was facing them. "I want you to relevé in first, second and fifth positions." She knew that they were both advanced to know how to execute what she had asked with the music that was playing.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited for things to get started, which stopped the instant the door opened and Kate walked in - as she didn't want the other girl to think that she was bored and had been waiting for more than the thirty seconds that she had been there.

She listened to Ms Warner and followed the woman through the warm-up. If she closed her eyes, she would be able to see a reflection of herself as a four year old doing the same warm-up exercises. It was funny how something stayed around for the ages where other things moved on or were evolved.

She then stood at the barre, her feet in first and the fingers of her right hand resting lightly on the surface as she listened to the music and the woman's instructions. She silently counted the music as she turned to face the barre, placing the fingers of her left hand on the barre, her hands shoulder-width apart. One, two, three, four. Then, with her tummy held nice and tight, on one she moved smoothly into a demi-pilé keeping her heels firmly on the floor. Holding her turnout, she pushed strongly up onto pointe on the second beat, rolled her feet carefully back into a demi-pilé on the third beat, and stretched her knees of the fourth. She repeated the exercise in each position eight times, just because that was what she was used to doing in a lesson situation.

As she rose onto pointe each time, she made sure that her feet were aligned, with ankles directly over the toes, and heels are right in line with the ball of the foot. She also knew that it was important to make sure she didn't sickle her feet, but she'd been dancing long enough - with really strict instructors - to know that this wouldn't happen.

[Deleted]

Kate nodded when Ms. Warner explained that they would be going through a series of novice exercises. It was fine by her, and when they began she was glad to find that it was what she was used to from doing them a thousand times. Sure, she loved to try new things, but it was nice to be able to settle into something comfortable that one knows like the back of their hand. She'd been just as glad when they had gone through a similar warm-up the day before, varying from the previous pattern of, well, more interesting warm-ups.

She then moved back to the barre and listened carefully to Ms. Warner's instructions, eager to begin. She straightened out her shoulders even more than they'd been before, knowing that she had to be putting her best into what she was doing now, even if the movements were rather simple. She'd try her best to impress Ms. Warner, knowing that first impressions were important, even if Ms. Warner had seen her dance before.

When the music turned on, she listened, falling into the beat in her mind and beginning after a few moments. She kept her turnout nice, and didn't get too stiff as she moved down into demi-pilé, her hand light on the barre. She rose into pointe on the second beat, reveling in that strong, in control feeling she got for a moment before moving down again on the third. She repeated her relevé 7 more times, before repeating in second and fifth position.

Kate kept her gaze ahead of her and posture perfect while managing to keep from getting stiff, which was often an issue for her, but she was getting better. Her other main issue was rushing ahead of the music, so she kept it strong in her mind, counting the beats out in her head, but being sure that she didn't mouth the words. She'd been snapped at too many times by Madame for mouthing the numbers.

[Prudence Warner]

"Remember ladies." Prue said as she walked down the length of the room and back again as the girls went through the exercises. "Long neck, tall back, shoulders back and relaxed, chest open and stomach pulled in." She said. It was the normal rattle that she would have said to her students when she taught at a ballet school.

As her two students finished the last set of their first exercise, she smiled. "Next, once you've got your breath back, I would like you to do pas echappe in second. Again, I would like you to repeat the exercise eight times." She gave them both a warm smile. "If you need a drink, feel free to go and get your drink bottles. I don't have a problem if you want to bring them over and leave them under the barre against the mirror." She liked the fact that they were both seasoned ballerinas and she didn't have to explain the ins and outs of every single move... well at least she wouldn't have to until she encountered something that they didn know - although she had a feeling that would never be the case for Cara, Kate she wasn't too sure how far the girl had gone through her training before she stopped to join the Academy.

The music playing on the stereo changed to a new song (tune), but it was still in the same 4/4 beat.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara allowed the woman's instructions to wash over her as she worked through the exercise, knowing that her position was already as close to perfection as she could get it.

As she finished the last relevé in fifth, she rolled her feet gently back into a demi-plié and stood there with her fingers resting lightly on the barre, as she listened to the next instructions. She closed her eyes for a moment as the room in the reflection of the mirror seemed to swim before her eyes. Giving her head a small shake though, everything settled down again and she drew in a deep breath.

As Ms Warner mentioned a drink, Cara nodded her head and pushing away from the barre did a half pirouette and walked over to bench and picked up her drink bottle and took a drink of the water before heading back to her space at the barre and putting the drink bottle down under the barre. Straightening up, she listened to the music to get the beat in her head, since it had changed the tempo was the same but the music had it's own feel. With her fingers on the barre and feet in fifth position; on the first beat she went into a demi-plié; sprang lightly onto pointe in second position, skimming her toes along the floor to 'escape' from the demi-plié on the second beat. Keeping lifted and light she closed her legs and simultaneously back to demi-plié in fifth on the third beat and stretched her legs on the fourth beat, her front foot now different from when she had started.

[Deleted]

Kate finished up her relevés, calling each of Ms. Warner's reminders into her head and making sure that she didn't grow stiff because of them. She had a habit of getting stiff and robotic when her instructors gave her feedback, or even reminders like these. It became more of her trying to please them by doing everything right than just moving naturally. This wasn't just for ballet, but for music, riding, and everything else as well.

Pushing this out of her mind, she managed to keep her movements flowing but precise, returning to stand her in her natural first position as she listened to the next instructions. Her muscles were now loose and pulse elevated. This was the sort of dancing she was used to, and loved. She got ready to begin, but went back to the bench to get her water after Ms. Warner spoke again. "Thank you." She smiled, having returned and placed the bottle where indicated.

When both she and Cara were back at the barre, the music started again, and Kate got into the feel of it before beginning her pas echappes in second. She tried to keep her movements identical, each the same as the last to keep herself from looking sloppy.