Adelita Garcia
January 21, 2009 10:16 PM
A Lost and Lonely Corridor...it's <i>perfect</i> by Adelita Garcia
Adelita was rather depressed with having to return to school after her amazing midterm at home with her family. First the Nutcracker Ballet that her father took her to every year, the ball that was put on by her Grandparents in celebration of Adelita's uncle (her Dad's brother) having finally found someone to marry him, and then the recital that she was able to participate with her old dance crew. Her part wasn't so big because she had limited time to practice, but she was still on stage and dancing and that's what really counted.More so than that, her dance teacher had told her she was proud of Adelita's improvement. Even being here at Sonora with limited space to dance, Adelita had still improved on her Pointe. That had to be the best compliment her instructor could have ever given to her. Adelita worked very hard to make sure she kept up with her dance, even if it meant doing small exercises in the amount of space provided in her dorm room.
Since her return to Sonora, Adelita wanted to find more time for her dancing. She needed to find an adequate spot where she had her essentials. A mirror and a beam of some sort. She had wanted to follow Charlie’s lead and ask her Head of House if she could offer them a room, but Lita didn’t feel comfortable with the woman, having never had a conversation with her and didn’t want her first to be one where Adelita was asking a favor of her. So, she had to do this on her own.
Adelita had contemplated asking Charlie along, but Charlie seemed to have her own things to do and Lita didn’t want to be a bother to her. So, during her time between lessons or after a meal, Adelita wandered around a bit finding a location that would be suitable for her dancing.
And then she came upon the corridor. The Corridor. It was hardly used as it went to some older classrooms that Adelita didn’t know what existed for and whatever traffic did go through was minimal. The corridor was full of paintings and portraits as well as a statue of a man. Presumably, some old professor or historian that went to Sonora, but Lita didn’t know nor cared because next to the statue was a mirror. The mirror was big enough to fit her and one or two other people without having to squeeze in close. Perhaps the mirror was used to hide a secret passage or maybe the statue just enjoyed looking at himself? No matter, it was useful to Lita. Across from the mirror, the wall had molding halfway up the wall thick enough for Lita to use to prop her foot on for stretching or in case she needed to with her footing.
It had been over a week since Adelita had found the corridor with the perfect mirror and she had been itching to dance. So, the very first Saturday, Adelita had left the common room wearing her comfy pants, dancing shoes that she wore when she was learning contemporary, and her radio to listen to music while she danced. Making it to the corridor, Adelita took the pants off, leaving her in her dance leotard and leggings. She switched her contemporary shoes for her ballet slippers, happily humming while she laced the shoes securely around her legs.
Having danced since the age of four, Adelita was well aware of how important stretching her limbs was to keeping herself healthy and in shape. So, she took a good fifteen to twenty minutes to stretch her legs, her feet, her arms, and her abdomen. Being limber was key. Or so her Instructor always told her. Now fully stretched, Adelita clicked on her radio and found the classical station. She would eventually learn to dance to music more her age, or more popular, but for now, classical was what she was used to.
She wanted to dance until her feet gave in and her knees buckled. She wanted to dance until her chest was heaving and her body screamed to end it. She wanted to dance, period. But she wasn’t going to strain herself doing it. She would take it slow. She would relearn the steps taught to her by her Instructor for the recital at the end of summer. She had months to learn it, but as she couldn’t attend the regular lessons with the rest of the group. She needed all the practice she could get and Saturdays were her only chance for practice.
Her body moved naturally with the music, eyes on her reflection in the mirror as she watched her feet to make sure they were being placed correctly. Her memory of dance routines was impeccable. She could see it done once and remember it for years. It was a real shame that trait didn’t carry over to her schoolwork. If it had, she’d never have to worry about an exam. As it were, her memory was for dance. Her body twisted, lifted, twirled, and moved gracefully around, sometimes with Pointe, sometimes without. The routine was more complicated than what they usually did, but that was because her group had managed to move to the next level of dance and her teacher wanted to push them that much more to show their parents what they were capable of.
It was exciting and it was a bit terrifying. It was challenging and Lita was nervous that she wouldn’t learn it right. Especially when it came to the turn. She had to make three full turns using her leg to kick her momentum and continue it to complete the three full turns. She could get through two, but that last one she just couldn’t seem to pull through. No matter how many times she practiced.
Step. Step. Lift leg. Step. Step. Pointe. Step. Split. Step. Plie. Step. Arabesque. Step. Turn. Turn. And … fall.
“Owwww.” Adelita hissed, rubbing her elbow from the fall. She wasn’t getting her leg to turn properly for the momentum and instead, kept losing her balance. She was frustrated. Some of the portraits and paintings were giving her encouraging remarks, but others seemed to be trying to stifle laughs… unsuccessfully. “Oh, stuff it!” She said angrily to one of the portraits laughing. “I know I’m terrible, you don’t have to laugh about it.”
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Adelita Garcia
A Lost and Lonely Corridor...it's <i>perfect</i>
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Adelita Garcia
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