Chance

The ballerina

2011, the 4th semester of my college life. As as student in the business management major, managing time between classes and club activity can be very difficult but if the club is fun, then what's the problem?

The name is Ryan, and back then, I was considered as the not-so-bad student academically (or at least I think I was) and I was also the member of the dance club in my campus. Dancing has always been my passion ever since I watched numerous movies related to dancing world such as "Step Up" and "Street Dance". I love the thrill of performing on the stage together with my friends.

"Man, nothing's better than a Sunday practice. Don't you think so, Dre?" I asked my best friend, Andre as we were stretching before rehearsing the choreography that we had prepared last night. Andre was the one who joined the dance club together with me and Anton who was not around yet.

"Damn right. Better than spending time in the class, listening to the old guy mumbling about lesson of who-knows-what. Can we just spend the entire semester performing rather than entering classes?" he replied me as he grabbed my shoulder as support to stretch his leg.

"You know, if you didn't cut class so often you would have passed that old man's class last semester. His subject is easy peasy, man." I bragged to him as I was almost done with my stretching.

"EASY?! If only I can just eat your brain right now..."

Suddenly, the door of the dance room opened and we could see some of the members had arrived as well as our leader, Anton. He came together with Sharon and someone that was unfamiliar to us.

"Hey boys. Come here and meet with Sharon's sister. She's going to join us for the show next week." said Anton.

Andre quickly approached her and it seemed as if they've known each other.

"Hey, nice seeing you here, Viona. Your sis sure knows how to make you busy." 

"Cut the crap, Dre. You know how hard it is for me to ask her to join us. Viona, come here. I'll teach you the choreo." said Sharon as she dragged her skinny little sister to the corner of the room to practice the movement.

"Wow, she's so... thin? Is she a ballerina?" I asked Andre.

"Yep, same ballet school as her big sis. She's also a high school student and there's a chance she'll join us once she studies her. Pretty sweet, right?" Andre replied with a smile. I could see that he was very excited meeting this new girl. 

"Owh, okay. We need more ballerinas anyway. Come on boys and girls, let's start our practice from the top" as I cued all the members to stand on their position and we began rehearsing.

Our choreography were mostly modern dance with some hip hop influence. We'd never really tried any other styles before and having a ballerina to join in with our routine was quite difficult at first but ever since Sharon joined us a few months ago, we were quickly getting used to it. And now, we have her sister joining us as well, temporarily at least.

"One, two, three and four... One and two and three" shouted Sharon as she taught Viona the dance routine that she'd prepared several days ago.

Viona's movement was very graceful. As expected from a ballerina. With her skinny built, every movement that she did, looked very easy for her. Before we knew it, she had memorized every part of the choreography and she was ready to join with us to mix the formation all together.

After practicing for a few hours, finally we got a hang of the movements and formations so we decided to take a break. We sat down on the floor and had a chat with one another while some of us went to the restroom.

"Wow, you're really good in dancing, Viona. Even better than your sister." said Andre and suddenly he felt a quick kick from Sharon directly to his thigh.

"... Thank you..." Viona replied shyly. She was really quiet compared to her sister. As I tried to approach her, someone pat me from the back. It was Darwin.

"Hey Ryan, come here and teach me the tempo of that new choreo you've been working on." Darwin said to me as he went straight to the DVD player to turn on the music again even though we were taking a break. He didn't seem to be tired after the practice earlier.

"Oh, okay then. Let's do it" I got up from the floor and continued practicing with him.

The day went on and without us realizing, we have spent almost 7 hours in the dance room on Sunday. It may seem like we had nothing else better to do but the room was like a second house for us. I think I had spent more hours in the room than in my grandmother's house. Yes, it was that bad. Technically the campus was not open but we got to use the dance room if there's going to be any performance coming soon.

After the practice session, some members directly went home while Anton, Sharon, Viona, Darwin and Andre decided to go to have dinner together. They invited me but I couldn't make it because I needed to go home earlier to study again. Final exam period was going to come soon and it seemed like I was the only one who cared about it.