#pas de Balanchine

[tfbsafeageappropriatedance]

AN ANIMATED POC SIMS 4 MOD IS DOING THE FAMOUSLY VIRAL MEDIUM ALLEGRO ENCHAINEMENT BY FORMER BERLIN STATE BALLET MASTER TOMAS KARLBORG!?!?!?

Oh, and if you haven’t tried the above combo out, ballet nerds, here’s a tutorial on that:

[tfbbehindthedesigns]

The Story Behind the “Full Contretemps” Zazzle Item Lines

In summer 2023, Tomas Karlborg resigned as ballet master for the Berlin Ballet. One of his parting gifts to the ballet world was a clip from their World Ballet Day 2021 company class on stage, accompanied by Nodira Burchanowa on the piano. It was a medium allegro combination inspired by George Balanchine.

The steps go as follows: temps leve 1st arabesque, 2 full contretemps into a temps leve passe, then a temps leve 1st arabesque into a contretemps to temps leve 3rd arabesque. The dancer then takes two steps arrriere (to the opposite direction) to a temps leve developpe ecarte derrière to a balance arriere. The dancer does a tombe, pas de bourree, glissade, to a grand pas de chat, or the pas de Balanchine as Karlborg calls it.

The clip was posted on TikTok in the middle of May in 2023, but later that next month, ballet dancers current and former started doing the medium allegro combo wherever they could, regardless of whether they were wearing sneakers and street clothes or pointe shoes and tutus. Sophie Silnicki did it down the shore in North Wildwood, NJ, in a bikini on the sand.

“Growing up, being trained constantly, day after day, you know all of those ballet terms. You can hear the terms and immediately know the combo,” she said.

Most organizations, ballet schools, and even ballet competition bodies also got into the act. The Dutch National Ballet had their danseurs in gowns pull it off. YAGP has at least two videos featuring female ballet students execute it in tutus.

Some competition-oriented studios and mom-and-pop ones also dove in. After all, it trended smack-dab in the middle of intensive season.

Even Silnicki’s former dance troupe, The Rockettes, hopped on the bandwagon - LaDuca Annie boots first, LITERALLY.

And later on, Ballet for All posted a living room-friendly version of the medium allegro enchainement. It may omit the temps leve 1st arabesque after the temps leve passe to a contretemps before the temps leve 3rd arabesque, but it’s about feasible.

And yes, I REQUESTED IT, having seen several videos of dancers pulling it off.

Apart from at least two tutorials of the combo on TikTok, Yelena’s on YouTube explicitly mentioned the aforementioned contretemps included in it!

Here’s a personalizable notebook from my Zazzle collection!

Even days before Ballet for All’s tutorial was released, the medium allegro combo that went viral on TikTok sparked a merchandise line on the TFB for Safe and Age-Appropriate Dance Ed. Zazzle store: Full Contretemps. Each item is emblazoned with the script text that answers one of the deepest questions some ballet students ask, “Ummm… can you demonstrate a full contretemps once more?”

“This is an excellent example of important good content is on social media — even if it isn’t new,” Ceci Ddisman wrote on ArtsHacker, “Great content can be evergreen. Crafting captivating content significantly increases the likelihood of engaging a larger audience.”

And evergreen the medium allegro combo had been. And it became the influence behind the Full Contretemps merch line on Zazzle.

[balanchine-ballet-master]

Unity Phelan and Jovani Furlan in Balanchine's Tchaikovsky pas de deux.

Photo: Erin Baiano

[charybdisrevenge]

Misty Copeland - Ballerina

[hogarthlooksatballet]

“First comes the sweat. Then comes the beauty if you’re very lucky and have said your prayers.” George Balanchine (1904-1983)

[tikitania]

Mariinsky Observations...

I was looking over the playbill and noticed that the company is going to present Anyuta in early December. It seems to be the same one that the Bolshoi performs. I've never seen it but will look for clips online. The cast has not been announced, but there is a list of dancers rehearing lead roles. I was happy to see Alexandra Khiteeva's name in there. I also noticed that David Zaleyev is rehearsing…I don't think he's returned to the stage since his horrible accident, so I hope this is a sign that he will soon return to the stage.

Coming up…the Mariinsky's last performance of Jewels in the foreseeable future. I've read that their license expires soon, so the 11/28 performance is their last. Tereshkina & Shklyarov will lead in Diamonds. The are the dream couple here, but I would have loved to see more performances just to see how other dancers handle the choreography. My pairings would be: Skorik & Capitaine, Iliushkina & Korneyev, Batoeva & Stepin. Khiteeva in Emeralds. Alas… I hope that there are lots of recordings of this last performance. Maria Bulanova seems to be underutilized these days. I haven't read anything about an injury, so I hope she's rehearsing and preparing new roles. Anyone have news about what she's working on?

[misseyres]

introduced my bf to my other beloved: balanchine's nutcracker

[papaija]

occupational hazard

[gothicsynthetic]

Sylvie Guillem in a studio shot of her developpé écarté from George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de deux.

Photo credit to Gilles Tapie.

[burntheedges]

Pas de Deux Chapter 2

Din Djarin x f!reader | 2.5k | fic masterlist | main masterlist | ao3

fic summary: When Din Djarin – principal dancer at Concordia Ballet Company and generational talent in the classical style – suddenly left CBC and joined the Nevarro Ballet Theater mid-season, it shocked the ballet world. You never would have guessed that he would change your life, too.

a/n: it's time to figure out what Karga's plan is. 👀 See my notes at the end and on the masterlist about reader in this fic and ballet in general. Thank you @katareyoudrilling for being the best beta, as always!!

chapter tags/warnings: gen, ballet terms (see end notes and the masterlist for definitions and videos), a bit of angst, a bit of fluff

Chapter 2

You were one of the last people to enter the studio for rehearsal and realized the entire company had been gathered together. You hurried over to sit by Adrian and Owen before looking around and noticing Djarin was in the corner, deep in conversation with Kuiil. Maybe they had met before, after all.

Karga walked in just as you sat down and clapped his hands. “Well! Hello, everyone. First, let us welcome our newest company member, Din Djarin.” He paused and gestured towards the corner where Djarin was standing, smiling as you all clapped and stamped the floor. You glanced over to him and saw that he was leaning against the wall with his shoulders loose and arms crossed, expressionless mask back in place. “We are very happy to have him join us. Please introduce yourselves and welcome him when you see him.” Djarin didn’t react and you wondered how those introductions would go. “Now, we have a few announcements about changes to the spring programs.”

You felt Adrian elbow you and you elbowed him back without looking. 

“As I mentioned earlier this week, we won’t be making any changes to Midsummer, Swan Lake, or Cinderella.” You heard Adrian breathe a sigh of relief beside you and you nudged him again. “But we will be making some changes to the other shows. As you know, we have three mixed programs planned for spring, as well as the 5th anniversary gala.” 

Karga waved one hand and started to tick off his fingers as he continued. “For the first program, we’ll be adding a solo performance for Din. Given that one is so soon, in January, we don’t want to disrupt things too much.”

You heard some murmurs and saw some of your fellow dancers nodding. That made sense, and it sounded like they were going to spread out the changes. It also added a draw for the audience, to get to see Din Djarin alone on stage. A real showcase for his skill and artistry.

“For February’s program,” Karga turned to Talia, who was mostly in charge of that one, and nodded. “Din will be joining the Balanchine ballet. You’ll discuss that in your next rehearsal.” Talia nodded back at him, and then glanced over the dancers. You tried to not to wince – someone would be losing a role, then. Probably more than one person. But it didn’t make sense to not play to Djarin’s strengths, and something as technical as Symphony in C was perfect for him. And it was possible that he’d performed it before at CBC, anyway — they didn’t do a lot of Balanchine, but if they did, they’d pick Symphony in C.

“For April, we’ll be adding something new.” Karga looked over to one of the choreographers, Vince, who nodded at the room. “More to come on that, but it will be a small group.” You wondered if they would give the dancers who would be demoted in Symphony a chance in this new number – Karga was usually good about things like that. You glanced at Adrian and knew he was thinking the same thing as he glanced around at some of the others. 

“And finally, the gala!” Karga grinned hugely. You all knew he’d been looking forward to this for months, if not years – May would mark the 5th anniversary since he’d taken over and then renamed and reinvigorated NBT. The gala was his baby. You could feel a sudden tension move through the room – many of the dancers were slated to do something new or interesting during the gala and you knew no one would want to give up their roles, which were meant to be a true showcase of the company’s talent. You briefly wondered if they’d be adding Djarin to the longer ballet again, and if so, how much strife that might cause with the principals who were supposed to be in it.

But it seemed Karga had a different idea. “We will keep what is already planned just as it is, with one exception. We’ll be adding a three-part pas de deux to the program for Din and a partner. it will be spread over the course of the night, woven between the other numbers.” You blinked, surprised – it was definitely a novel idea, and you could see others trying to hide their surprise as well. “We will announce Din’s partner, and any resulting changes, soon. Kuiil will choreograph this new pas de deux.”

The room couldn’t hide its reaction this time. There were murmurs and glances that betrayed everyone’s shock – Kuiil was a very contemporary choreographer, with an only somewhat neo-classical repertoire.

And everyone knew Din Djarin was a master of the classical style. You’d never seen or heard anything that would suggest he had any familiarity with, or even interest in, more contemporary or expressive styles.

You wondered if this had been the subject of their argument in Karga’s office.

“And so that is our plan! Thank you, everyone, for your attention. I leave you to your rehearsals.” Karga nodded and swept from the room. The door closed behind him and the noise level rose sharply as everyone began to discuss his announcements. You heard Adrian and Owen start guessing at the changes in the February Balanchine number and your eyes strayed across the room to find Djarin.

But he was already gone. You caught only a glimpse of his shoulder as he slipped out the door.

…

The next few days were unremarkable, despite all of the recent changes. Djarin attended morning class but always slipped out the door as soon as it was over. As far as you knew, none of the other dancers had even had a conversation with him yet. He seemed to always be slipping out the door of every room as soon as he could. 

With opening night only two weeks away, your rehearsal hours were filled with the Nutcracker and little else. As Djarin wasn’t going to be in it, you never saw him in the afternoons. You heard updates from the others – Clara told you about some of the changes to the February Balanchine ballet, and Yuri had seen Djarin working on his solo for January with Talia. They had apparently chosen a medley of moments and scenes from La Bayadère, which seemed perfect for someone with Djarin’s level of skill. Talia had to be beside herself – technically challenging ballets were her favorite.

Adrian had the full rundown on who had been shifted around and who had been given new roles in the April show, and it sounded like everyone was at least mollified if not happy about the changes.

You didn’t see Djarin again outside of the morning company class for almost two weeks. It was late in the evening on a Wednesday – you’d had some physical therapy exercises for your ankles to complete after your last rehearsal, and you were finally headed home to have dinner and rest before a couple of easier days of show prep. The two-week run of Nutcracker performances would start on Friday and you needed the rest before the chaos began. 

You turned the corner into the building’s large lobby and found him kneeling on the ground in front of a small child. Maybe 4 or 5 years old, if you had to guess. He was adjusting the kid’s jacket and talking to him softly.

You retreated around the corner and tried not to draw attention to yourself, but you couldn’t help but stare as you came to a stop. 

“Hey,” Djarin’s deep voice sent a shiver down your spine. It was soft and warm as he spoke to the (his?) kid. “You ready to go home?”

The kid nodded, and his little green hat flopped around on his head as he did so. You glanced between them and for the first time, you saw Din Djarin smile. It spread across his face and you watched, mesmerized, as a dimple appeared in his cheek and his eyes crinkled. 

It was beautiful. He was beautiful. Shit. 

“Alright, kid. Let’s go.” Still smiling, he stood and held out his hand. The kid grabbed two of his fingers and they headed for the door. You were pretty sure they hadn’t even noticed you were there.

You blinked, a bit dazed. As you slowly moved towards the door yourself, you decided it had to be his kid – he’d mentioned going home, after all. And it put all of his quick exits in a new light, if he had childcare to worry about. 

You resolved not to mention this new possibility to the rumor mill.

…

By the end of the two week run of Nutcracker, you were exhausted. Long days of class, sometimes a short rehearsal, and early call times for shows left you worn out and ready for a break. On the Monday after a final show you always felt like you’d been hit by a truck, and this Monday was no different. You slept in for once, looking forward to a few days off for the holidays and a slow return to steady rehearsals after the new year.

In those few weeks you hadn’t seen any sign of the kid again. You’d barely seen Djarin at all, once again only catching sight of the back of his head as he slipped out of the door after morning class. (Whether you’d been watching him even more during class wasn’t something you wanted to own up to, even to yourself.) Given the hectic Nutcracker schedule and the fact that he wasn’t in the show, you weren’t really surprised that you hadn’t run into him.

You spent a comfortable few days relaxing, cleaning, and visiting friends before starting to prepare for the busy return to rehearsals in January.

During your first few days back in the studio in the new year, you focused on getting through class and warming yourself up. A few days off wasn’t enough to get truly rusty, but it felt nice to stretch and focus on moving your body.

After class on Thursday you found yourself alone as you walked down the hallway towards rehearsal for the January mixed program. You’d stopped to chat with Alexa for a few minutes about a tricky section of your choreography as Hermia in Midsummer, which was coming up at the end of February. It seemed everyone else was gone by the time you were done – you said goodbye to her and stepped out into an empty hall. As you walked you went over the choreography again in your mind, remembering Alexa’s advice about staying connected through the movements and briefly closing your eyes to focus.

Eyes still closed, you turned the corner to walk past the administrative offices and collided face-first with something tall and warm. And muscular. Your hands came up belatedly to catch you.

“Oh!” You startled and opened your eyes to find both of your hands resting on a broad chest in a tight black shirt. You blinked and lifted your gaze, pretty certain you knew who you would find. 

Din Djarin looked down at you with an unreadable expression. You blinked and realized his big hands were cupping your elbows, holding you upright.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking—“ you cleared your throat and tried to step back from him, but for a moment he held you in place. You met his eyes again and couldn’t read anything in them. 

Then he released you suddenly and you both took a step back. “Sorry. I was thinking about some choreography and not where I was walking.”

Djarin nodded and spoke the first words he’d ever said to you directly, face still expressionless. “It’s fine.” His voice was deep and somehow warm, despite how closed off he seemed.

You hesitated, remembering how Karga had encouraged all of you to be welcoming, weeks ago. “I don’t think I’ve introduced myself.” You did so then and bit your lip. 

He nodded and did the same, even though you obviously knew his name. “Din. Nice to meet you.”

You nodded, too. “Are you heading to rehearsal?” You motioned behind him in that sort of let’s-walk-together way that people tended to do. He nodded and turned and you found yourself walking casually next to Din Djarin. You wracked your brain for a topic of conversation. 

“Um,” you started without looking at him. “What are you working on this afternoon?”

You felt him look at you but didn’t look back. “My solo for later this month, with Talia, and then joining the Balanchine rehearsal for February.” You felt a shiver travel down your spine. His voice – you weren’t sure you were going to get used to it any time soon. It was so deep.

You nodded, glancing at him. He was still looking at you. “How’s it going?”

His expression didn’t change at all. “It's fine. Most of them were in Nutcracker so it’s picking up more now.” You nodded again. You weren’t sure what to say next, but to your surprise, he asked you a question.

“Have you danced the lead in marzipan before this year?”

You were surprised, but answered easily. “Once. I was in it but not the lead last year, and Yuna was sick for one of the shows. She was sugarplum this time. I, um, just made first soloist this year.” You could hear your self-deprecating tone and hoped he wasn’t thinking you weren’t up to it. You didn’t think he’d really noticed you – or anyone, for that matter – in class. 

But he surprised you again. “I saw one of the shows. You danced it well. Like you know it perfectly, but you made it your own. It felt light and airy. Like it should. I liked what you did with the pirouettes in the middle. And the rond de jambes at the end.”

With each compliment in his steady, matter-of-fact tone you felt the heat rise more in your cheeks. Your mouth fell open in surprise. You’d never heard him say so much all at once. “Oh! Um, thank you. I– well. Thank you.” He’d noticed you? And not just you, but the small ways you had tried to make the choreography your own? He’d seen that? You were stunned.

You looked at him again but found nothing in his expression. It was impossible to tell what he might be thinking. You wondered if you should say something else, or compliment him in return, but you’d reached the rehearsal studios and he turned to enter the smaller one. 

“See you in class.” He slipped through the door and was gone. 

You blinked and turned slowly to continue down the hall. You found Karga walking slowly towards you from the opposite direction.

“Hello, my dear,” he smiled warmly. “I see you’ve met Din.”

You nodded. “Yes, well. We’ve been in class together, of course. But yes, we just met. Officially, I guess.”

He patted your shoulder as he passed you. “Good, good. Have a good rehearsal.”

You thanked him and continued towards the studio in a daze, with Djarin’s – no, Din’s – voice running through your head. You danced it well. 

You couldn’t wait to tell Adrian. He was never going to believe it.

...

prev | next

a/n: we've met Din! 👀 some ballet notes ~

Classical vs. contemporary ballet - this is a pretty good (short) overview. Din's old company (CBC) was basically classical-only, which is how some are. Here's a short clip of a classical performance vs. a very contemporary one.

"Mixed programs" vs. story ballets - most companies will have some number of story ballets on the schedule every season (think Swan Lake, Cinderella, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, etc.) which draw a bigger audience, and then various "mixed programs" that fill in gaps between them. Mixed programs are a chance for in-house choreographers to share their new creations, or for the company to showcase their skills with other known works, ex. Balanchine's shorter ballets (~20-30 minutes). Many companies have certain numbers in their repertoire that they can pull out for this reason.

Nutcracker - many companies have some number of Nutcracker performances on their schedule during or just before the holidays, and sometimes they cast (local) kids in various roles, too. Reader is dancing the role of Marzipan, and she also mentions the Sugar Plum Fairy. These roles have semi-set choreography, usually, depending on which version a company is doing (there are many famous versions). This short video is great and gives some insight into the ways a dancer might try to make very prescribed choreography her own (with voiceover from Emma Von Enck that inspired Din's compliments about pirouettes and rond de jambes). Many dancers have been in the Nutcracker because a lot of local companies and schools do performances of it every year (think school-aged kids doing it for the community).

Pirouette - a turn on one leg (in a variety of positions)

Rond de jambe - a half circle made with the leg. It's kind of like drawing the letter D on the floor or in the air.

Din's solo - they decide that Din is doing a sort of medley of variations (solos) from La Bayadère, a classical ballet, in the January program. Here's one of his variations and here is another from later in the ballet. (Here's a few dancers doing that first one, and Isaac Hernandez, also featured in the fic header!)

Symphony in C (the Balanchine ballet Din is joining) - a 32 minute ballet with over 50 dancers. There are some videos at the link. It has 4 movements and each one features a principal couple and a few other dancers.

tag list coming in a reblog!

[tfbsafeageappropriatedance]

Just when you think the TikTok trend of ballet dancers pulling off the VIRAL-POPO medium allegro enchainement by ex-Berlin State Ballet master Tomas Karlborg has died down considerably:

I don’t speak Korean (though you can feel free to like and reblog if you do), BUT while on the subject of FULL CONTRETEMPS, I have JUST THE THING FOR ALL YOU BALLET NERDS for the so-called “sweater weathers:”

[balanchine-ballet-master]

Tiler Peck with Roman Mejia in Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante.

Photo: Erin Baiano

[deklo]

beautiful. everything.

GOING TO THE BALLET TONIGHT. GOING TO WEAR A DRESS!!!!!

[tikitania]

what do you think about this performance from vietnam dance academy? https://youtu.be/W6osFUHkaoc

Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky PDD is very hard and they did an admirable job. I particularly liked the female dancer who really had moments of brio. Bravo to these students!

[demigodsanswer]

TUAP// it’s not you, it’s me

[set during the same rehearsal period as this fic] a little over a year after they started dating

Annabeth was rehearsing Theme and Variation with Beckendorf in the morning. It was a Balanchine piece that started with a simple point of the foot.

And that where where the day started to go wrong for her.

When she pointed her left foot, it looked sickled, turning in instead of out.

On the break, she tried to readjust her shoe, taking it off, squishing the box more, and putting it back on. It hardly helped. Her left foot was a problem child, but this was a new low.

After lunch, she rehearsed Kitri's act one variation. It was fast, exhausting, and one of Annabeth's favorites. And her right pointe shoe broke in the middle of her turn sequence. The shank snapped, and she was forced off pointe. She called for the pianist to stop as she looked at her shoe. It had gone from new to completely dead in a second.

Annabeth looked at the ballet master, confused about her own circumstances. "My shoe broke," she said dumbly.

"Alright then," Ariadne said, "Drew you take over."

While Drew ran her variation. She was a tiny spitfire who's Kitri was always a fan favorite. Between her, Piper, Helen, and Annabeth this run was sure to bring in great reviews. If Annabeth could get her act together, that was.

This new pair of shoes had felt fine after breaking them in last night, but now they felt warped and strange. That happened sometimes; their shoes were made by hand, small differences always persisted. But she usually knew if a pair was awkward or warped before she even sewed them. Maybe she'd just woken up with different feet this morning.

But they'd have to do. Her only other pair probably didn't have enough life to get through this and her last rehearsal of the day, and she'd rather save that last pair for rehearsal with Percy. At least, at the end of this crap day, she'd get to see him.

~

Percy tried not to get frustrated or angry in rehearsal, but with the way he was dancing today, it was hard not to.

He was debuting as the principal in Allegro Brilliante with Piper tomorrow, and he felt like his legs and his torso were simply no longer connected. Allegro was everything Balanchine knew about classical ballet in fourteen minutes. And today, it felt like Percy didn't know a damn thing about classical ballet.

Piper looked great at least. It was her debut too. But that only added to the pressure. Whenever she debuted one of Maria Tallchief's roles, it got some press attention. ("Doesn't matter that I'm three inches shorter and from a different nation," Piper complained, always with a telling smile that revealed she did like both the comparison and the attention.)

At least he and Annabeth had Don Q rehearsals that afternoon.

~

Somehow Don Q was worse. Having a bad dance day was one thing. Having a bad dance day even with Percy was another.

They had a few minutes before Cassandra, the ballet master looking over their act two pas de deux, arrived, and they were using the time to work on the act one finale lift. Percy had to pick her up and hold her on one hand, with Annabeth up in the air, the side of her torso parallel to the floor, legs split, and top arm up shaking a tambourine.

And every time they tried it, something looked or felt wrong. They weren't able to hold the lift for the pause in the music where Annabeth was supposed to give the tambourine a little shake. She always went up, wobbled, then came right back down.

On their last attempt, Percy hadn't even locked his arm before she slipped backwards out of his hand. He managed to catch her bridal style, his quick reflexes kicking in to keep her from crashing to the floor.

Percy's eyes were wide with shock, looking at her in his arms. "Are you okay?" He asked quickly.

Annabeth stood on shaky legs. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she rested her hands on his face and pressed their foreheads together as she took a deep breath. "I'm okay, you caught me," she promised. He'd never dropped her -- not in rehearsal, and certainly not on stage.

Percy kissed her gently. "I'm sorry," he promised.

"It's a two person job, okay, it's not all your fault," she promised.

Percy pulled away, visibly angry at himself. "I just wish I could stop dancing like a six year old!" He yelled to the vast, empty studio, before flopping down onto his back in the middle of the room.

Annabeth laid down next to him. "It's not you, it's me." She lifted her left leg in the air. "I haven't been able to do even a simple tendu all day, because my left foot refuses to not be fucking sickled for three fucking seconds!" She let her voice climb to a yell, and it did help a little. She put her leg back down.

"Long day?" Percy asked.

Annabeth rubbed her eyes, hoping she avoided her mascara, but over it at this point. "Yeah. You?"

"Fucking awful," he said. "Nervous as hell for Allegro tomorrow."

Annabeth wasn't on tomorrow, so she'd get to watch from the audience with Percy's family.

"You're going to be amazing," Annabeth assured him.

"I remember watching you do it as a the principle with Lee for his final performance. I was in the corps," Percy said.

"I remember," Annabeth said back. She did. The principle female actually engaged with male corps quite a bit in that ballet. "I cried like a baby when it was over."

The moment the dance was over, before the bows had even started, she'd started weeping. By the time Lee took his final bow, she was full-blown sobbing. She was twenty-four then, and she hadn't danced the role since. It was if she'd retired the ballet with Lee. She was pretty sure she'd do it again in due time.

"It was sweet. You're so good in that role. It's why I can't believe you never did Tchai Pas before last summer," Percy said. They were very similar ballets. Almost the same costume too.

"Who are we to try and figure out the whims of Chiron Bruner?" She asked. "I mean, he's the man who hired a six year old and a girl with pigeon toes." Annabeth put both legs in the air and sickled both for dramatic effect.

It got a laugh from Percy at least.

"I did Bassilo's act three variation for YAGP my second year in that competition," Percy started. That was Annabeth favorite part to see him dance. It was right before her thirty-two fouette's though, so she knew she wouldn't be able to watch during the actual performance, or she'd get so flustered and out of breath just from the thrill of watching him that she'd never get through the turns.

Percy continued. "My teacher gave me a tape of the ballet, I think Mariinsky? Maybe the Bolshoi. But I watched it over and over. I loved the music."

"Where is this going?" She asked.

"So, I'm at finals, I place tenth in the country --"

"Fuck, you're so talented," Annabeth said.

"Thank you," Percy said back with a smile. "Well, I was looking through the program that night in the hotel ..." he covered his face with his hands. "I thought the ballet was called donkey hotay. I was always confused, because there wasn't a donkey. But I don't know, ballet is weird. I didn't learn the real name until after YAGP."

Annabeth laughed. "You thought -- wait, you thought it was first word: donkey, second word: hotay?"

"Yes!"

Annabeth somehow laughed harder, until her breath was almost completely gone.

"That's actually really cute, Percy," she said, finally catching her breath and rolling onto her side to face him. "Why haven't you told me that story before?"

Percy brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I knew it'd make you laugh, and I knew eventually there'd be a day I just really, really needed to hear you laugh."

Annabeth leaned forward and kissed him -- gentle, innocent, passably work appropriate.

"Alright lovebirds!" Cassandra said as she opened the door. "Time to get working."

Percy and Annabeth popped up off the floor, but Cassandra didn't seem put off by their position when she walked in. Plenty of dancers needed floor time during long rehearsal days.

"Oh, we don't have a pianist yet," Cassandra observed.

"Actually, could we show you the act one lift?" Annabeth asked. "We're having trouble with it." Cassandra was the best ballet master at diagnosing and issue and finding the solution.

"Go for it," Cassandra said.

They ran it again. Like before, it felt unstable, and Annabeth wasn't able to hold for the length of time she was supposed to.

"Hmm," Cassie hummed. "Percy, you're hesitating with the supporting arm, so you aren't getting her up fast enough, but the back arm is coming down too quickly. You're letting go before she's in a stable position. Keep that hand on her back as long as you need. If it never comes down, that's fine." Percy nodded.

"Annabeth, you're leaning back. Your legs are really pulling you back, but even the shoulders. It makes sense, there's a lot of," Casandra struck a Kitri-like Spanish pose, her back arched, one leg forward, arm over her head, wrist flicked, and her head looking over her shoulder. Annabeth smiled. "But here, make sure your torso isn't pulling you back, and your legs could even be more forward. And lift to torso more. That might help. Right now, you're really parallel. See if you can get some bend in the waist." Annabeth was short-waisted with long legs, but she'd try.

"Okay, try," Cassandra said, giving them some space.

They both took her notes, and it went better. They held that time, but it didn't feel perfect.

"You're both tired," Cassandra said at the end of the lift. "Breath, get some water."

They did.

The pianist joined them a few minutes later, and they started.

Act two's pas de deux was flirty, a little sexy, and it was usually so good for them. But whatever bad vibes they'd started the day with hadn't gone anywhere. They were both starting to get frustrated, Annabeth could feel it, and not just with themselves, but with each other. Their usual natural chemistry wasn't there, even. And the absence of that made everything that much more frustrating.

If they had to run it one more time, Annabeth might just have a big fucking donkey hotay break down.

"Are either of you on tonight?" Cassie asked.

"No," Percy said.

"He debuts Allegro tomorrow," Annabeth said.

Cassandra smiled. "Brilliant! Pun intended. Is this your last rehearsal for the day?"

They nodded.

"Alright, then let's just call it a day." They still had fifteen minutes scheduled for rehearsal. Never in her life had Annabeth had a rehearsal end early. "You two aren't feeling it, you're tired, and you're just getting more and more frustrated. Go home, enjoy each other's company," she winked at them, "the ballet will be here tomorrow." She shoo'd them towards their bags, before dismissing the pianist, and wishing Percy merde on his debut.

"Did we just get sent home early?" Percy asked.

"Yep. And I think she implied we should ... "

"Have sex about it?" Percy finished.

"Okay, so you also got that vibe?" Annabeth asked.

Percy nodded. "That was either the vibe she was giving off, or just constantly what I'm thinking about. Could go either way."

Annabeth grabbed her bag. "Come on, donkey boy, let's go enjoy our night off."

[dance-world]

Ariana Dickerson, Sanford Placide, Kamala Saara, and Kouadio Davis in George Balanchine’s Pas de Dix - photo by Rachel Papo for The New York Times