Pre-Ball Dancing Lesson: The Waltz on Cascade Hall

Amelia Pierce & Jacob Carter

February 23, 2010 3:48 PM

Pre-Ball Dancing Lesson: The Waltz by Amelia Pierce & Jacob Carter

Even before the students entered the large classroom set up for the optional dance lessons, they would begin hearing the musical strains of a waltz playing. As they stepped through the door, they'd find Amelia Pierce and Jacob Carter moving in concert around the open space available. No tables or chairs cluttered the room, so anyone not dancing was left with little option but to find a spot of wall to lean again.

The school's Quidditch Coach was barely recognizable. Her dark hair was pinned up in an elegant style that left her neck bare, and her deep purple dress swirled out around her when it wasn't hanging just barely down to her knees. High heeled sandals gave her an extra two inches of height over her normal flats, and she wore make-up. This class was, after all, in preparation for a ball. It was only appropriate that she look the part.

Jacob, also, had prepared for the night just as he would prepare for a ball. His light brown hair was slicked back to keep it in place while he and Amelia danced around the room. He had donned his dark blue dress robes, glad that they didn’t clash with Amelia’s purple dress. His dress shoes had been polished until they shined as his mother had taught him to do.

Keeping an eye on the inflow of students as they waltzed, the pair came to a flourishing stop once it seemed no one else was coming. The end of the song had been well timed, and Amelia flicked her wand to stop the player before the next could begin. They hadn't been entirely sure of the turn-out, it being both an optional class and open to all years, but it seemed they had a reasonably decent sized class to work with. "Hello, everyone," Amelia started by greeting them. "Welcome to Sonora's first dance lesson. I'm Amelia Pierce, the Quidditch Coach and Head of Crotalus, for those that don't know me. Most of you should already know Professor Jacob Carter by now, or you're going to have some pretty terrible Transfiguration scores at the end of the year."

"Now, I know we've probably got a wide range of skill levels here, so if possible, I'd like the more experienced dancers to pair up with the beginners to help them learn what they're doing, but first we're going to show you all how to do a very basic waltz. Next time, we'll show you how to add some flourishes to it, and the more experienced dancers can pair up for some more interesting dances, but for today, we're going to keep things simple. A basic waltz should get you through a ball even if you can't do anything else. Jacob, do you want to start?"

After listening intently to Amelia, he smiled and nodded. “As Amelia said we will start out with the basic waltz. But before we begin you must know the position to hold yourselves. Your bodies should form a “V”, with feet very close together, in between partner's feet. The girl’s left arm should rest on the boy's right shoulder. Boys your hand and wrist should be as flat as possible near upper center of partner's back. Then you clasp hands.” He explained as he took hold of Amelia putting his right hand on her back.

“Now that you know the basic position you must know men begin on left foot women on their right.” He said with a nod. “We are going to work on the basic waltz step so remembering you starting foot; boys will step forward with their left. Girls will step backwards with their right. This is count one.” With that he stepped forward and Amelia stepped backward. “See? It’s simple don’t make it harder, boys forward, girls backward.”

He paused for a moment looking over the students to make sure they were keeping up. “Count two, boys will put their right foot to the side, and move slightly forward, while girls will put their left foot to the side and once again move backward.” And again Amelia and him moved in unison as they preformed like a well oiled machine.

“The third count is just as simple the boys left foot closes to the right foot, and the girls right foot closes to the left foot. A simple 1-2-3 count.” He said and then nodded with a smile. “Alright guys let’s get this started.” He waved his wand and the music began again.

OOC: Standard posting rules apply, as always; long posts, have fun.

Subthreads:

A pureblood boy, please by Amelia Smythe

The waltz is easy! by Theo Manzana with Alessa Hinckley, Theo

1 Amelia Pierce & Jacob Carter Pre-Ball Dancing Lesson: The Waltz 20 Amelia Pierce & Jacob Carter 1 5

Amelia Smythe

March 09, 2010 2:54 PM

A pureblood boy, please by Amelia Smythe

Essentially, Anmelia didn't care about the ball. It was a faux social occasion; a failed attempt at inducing her into excitement about school activities. The dance classes had no enticement for her, as Amelia already knew how to dance, plus she didn't really intend on dancing at the ball, anyway. So why was she there? Because, of course, she wanted to be asked to the ball by a pureblood boy, partly to annoy Cecily, partly to annoy Ian, and partly because it might actually work out in her favor in future. Mostly, though, she was bored.

So it was that Amelia showed up to the dance lesson, wearing some well-made but casual robes which accentuated her curves, in a mauve color that made the best of her coloring. She wasn't dressing to impress, per se... more to entice. She didn't want to look desperate, but if dressing nicely gave some well-brought-up boy a push in the right direction, then no harm done.

Barely paying attention to the professors as they made unmitigated fools of themselves, Amelia scoped out the potential others in the room. A student in her year or above, pureblood definitely, of good social standing preferably. It narrowed her options quite considerably, but there were nevertheless some potentails, especially if Amelia considered she just wanted to appear at one occasion with them rather than spend their life together forever and all eternity.

So when they needed to pair up to start the dance, Amelia approached the nearest of her possible options with no hint of shyness. "Hello," she greeted with a smile that spoke volumes about her own upbringing. "Promise not to step on my feet, okay?" Small talk wasn't really one of her strengths, but needs must.

0 Amelia Smythe A pureblood boy, please 121 Amelia Smythe 0 5

Theo Manzana

March 10, 2010 5:44 PM

The waltz is easy! by Theo Manzana

Theo had not wanted to go the dance classes but Mama had insisted he go. He was after all the heir to the Manzana family and though they were not arrogant purebloods, they did expect their heir to hold a high stander. He had been raised as a gentlemen and he would continue that. When he entered the Cascade Hall, he was surprised to see the Quidditch Coach and the Transfiguration Professor waltzing. He hadn’t expected them to be teaching the dance but then again who was he to judge? He knew the Pierce name was a pureblood one but he had never heard of Carter before.

He sighed and shifted a bit as they began the easy waltz. Mama had taught him this before ever coming to Sonora. It was the one thing his Grandmother Manzana had approved of. She didn’t approve of him playing Quidditch but it was okay for him to dance. Sometimes the ways of purebloods confused him. He sighed when they were told to pair up. Looking around for someone, he knew or was in his year or the second year. He felt someone tap him on his shoulder he turned around. “Would you like to be my partner?” He asked before he noticed who had tapped him.

0 Theo Manzana The waltz is easy! 0 Theo Manzana 0 5

Alessa Hinckley

March 17, 2010 3:17 PM

That's debatable by Alessa Hinckley

Alessa was really on the fence about the upcoming ball. On the one hand, there was a historical theme and she loved history. She would really enjoy dressing up in a historical costume even if such garments weren't as comfortable as Alessa would like. She could probably even get authentic clothing.

On the other hand, she didn't especially like to dance. Alessa had been trained in it, of course, but she hated to do it, mostly because she wasn't that good at it. Alessa felt awkward and silly when she tried and she didn't like feeling that way. She liked doing things right.

Her parents wanted her to go. They viewed it as training, practice for when Alessa got older and would attend many fancy balls. She was slightly irked by this. The Aladren girl had got good grades and didn't play Quidditch. Wasn't that enough for them?

Of course it wasn't. Alessa had to be perfect pureblood lady, worthy of her family name and pedigree. They didn't want her to be a disgrace like her uncle who had married and had children with a muggle. They wanted her to have perfect manners at all times and make good pureblood friends and when she got older,marry a respectable pureblood man.

Most of the time, Alessa's manners were impeccable, if a bit stiff. She had long ago committed every single goofy rule to memory. Dancing, however, was still a challenge to her. She tried to remember the steps to all the dances but she still felt she looked ridiculous doing them.

To make matters worse, her parents were super picky about who they wanted her to go to the ball with. They wanted her to go with a pureblood boy from a good family. Honestly, if it was just for practice, what did it matter who she went with? It wasn't as if Alessa had to marry her date.

Not that anyone had asked her and she wasn't sure anyone would. There were more girls than boys at Sonora and Alessa didn't think most boys close to her age were interested in girls yet. That's what her cousin Cherry said. Cherry knew a lot about boys. She should, she'd spent time with a lot of different ones.

Alessa sighed. Her parents were also insistent that she take the stupid dance lessons the school was offering. She spotted Theo Manzana, one of the boys her parents approved of.

She sighed again. Alessa had never spoken to him before and felt silly doing this but her parents wanted her to meet them so she walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. Before Alessa could properly introduce herself he asked her to be his partner.

"All right," she responded. If he'd formally asked her to dance with him, Alessa would have had to give the proper response but he'd only asked her to partner up.

11 Alessa Hinckley That's debatable 150 Alessa Hinckley 0 5

Theo

March 17, 2010 4:43 PM

I guess it can be... by Theo

Theo smiled at Alessa Hinckley he knew who she was just from class but had never spoken to before. “I’m Theodore Manzana.” He said with a smile. “You can call me Theo.” He said with a nod. He did not mean to be rude by just asking before introducing himself but he did not want to be the only one without a partner, or a date. Maybe if Alessa and he got along at the end of the lesson he would ask her to the ball. Mama and Papa would like it if he asked a pureblood to the Ball. Though the history theme was a bit lame.

He smiled at her and said. “Do you know the waltz?” He asked nodding to the Professors. “My Mama taught me when I was just a wee babe.” He said with a smile. He bit his lip as he ran a hand through his dark brown hair, glad that he had dressed a bit nicer for the ball lessons then he would usually for lessons. Then again this wasn’t a normal lesson. He smiled once again at Alessa glad that it had been a girl his age and not someone older that would’ve been awkward.

0 Theo I guess it can be... 0 Theo 0 5

Alessa

March 20, 2010 2:24 PM

Re: I guess it can be... by Alessa

Alessa returned Theo's smile. He had always seemed unobjectionable to her personally as well as being the pureblood that her parents would want. He played Quidditch but that actually did not bother Alessa. She may not have been crazy about talking about it personally (in fact, Alessa knew very little about it and she didn't like to talk about subjects she didn't know about, as it would make her sound stupid) and certainly didn't care to play it herself but she didn't really mind if others did. To each their own.

She did, however, like that Theo wasn't loud . Alessa didn't think loud people were necessarily bad people, it was just hard for her to deal with them, especially a lot of them at once.

"I'm Alessa Hinckley. You can call me Alessa." There hadn't been much point in making the introduction as she knew he was. Sonora wasn't that big and she knew the names of all her classmates. Furthermore, there wasn't much more he could have called Alessa besides her name. She didn't have a nickname though occasionallly her older cousins on her mom's side would call her Lessie. She was okay with that from them,as it seemed like a term of endearment, a childhood nickname, but generally, she preferred to be called Alessa.

Theo could have called her Miss Hinckley, she supposed, but Alessa liked being called that even less than she would have if Theo called her by a nickname. It was so formal. Even with the few other kids she knew at home they called each other by first names. (In part, because it would have been confusing to call her and Oralie both Miss Hinckley and likewise for others that were siblings or cousins.)

"I know it." Alessa replied. "I've had dance lessons for years, but I'm not especially good at it. I need the practice, so I'm here." She gave him a smile. "I'm good enough that I won't step on your feet though."

11 Alessa Re: I guess it can be... 150 Alessa 0 5

Theo

March 20, 2010 2:50 PM

Full body bind by Theo

Theo like Alessa’s smile it seemed a bit more genuine then some of the pureblood girl’s in this school. Plus she didn’t seem too stuck up either, at least from what he saw during class and meals who knew how she acted in the Aladren commons. Plus she wasn’t making him call her Miss. Hinckley like most pureblood girls did and that made things a lot less formal in his mind.

When Alessa said she would not step on his feet he chuckled. “Well that’s good news!” He said and then gently placed his hand on Alessa like Professor Carter had shown them. “I promise if I step on your feet which I shouldn’t you may place me in a full body bind.” He said with a nod. He hoped she had a since of humor he could not stand people who couldn’t laugh. It seemed like many of the pureblood girls did not have a humor.

He smiled once again he was nervous about speaking to girls, especially when he was this close to one. Working on a potion or a spell together was one thing, but dancing with one was another. So he say the first thing that popped into his mind. “So where are you from?” He asked with another warm smile.

0 Theo Full body bind 0 Theo 0 5

Alessa

March 23, 2010 6:49 PM

Knockback jinx by Alessa

Theo didn't seem as overly formal and proper as many pureblood boys and that was good. If he wasn't going to be, it meant Alessa didn't have to be. She could relax more and that might make her feel less anxious about actually dancing. Like it wouldn't reflect quite so poorly on her if she wasn't perfect.

Alessa chuckled a little at Theo's comment that she could place him in the full body bind if he stepped on her feet. She didn't always get jokes but she was almost one hundred percent he was kidding as most people would not be agreeable to being placed in a full body bind no matter what the circumstances.

"And if I step on yours, you may use the knockback jinx on me." She replied. Having said that, Alessa was honestly hoping he was joking, as she most certainly was.

She allowed herself to be led by Theo. This was what made the waltz slightly easier for her. "New Jersey." Alessa replied to his question. "And you?"

11 Alessa Knockback jinx 150 Alessa 0 5