𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈 𝐃𝐎 ─── 𝘩. 𝘥. 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴

O8. advanced one

act one chapter eight
﹝ADVANCED ONE﹞
season one episode two
❝ i'm not as organised as you, madame president. ❞

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as the dancers start wrapping up their warm-ups, the door opens once again and in walks an older woman with her ash blonde hair tied up in a tight bun. "good afternoon, class," she drawls in her french accent as she gracefully glides over to the barre.

her students make their way to the centre of the room in their regular spots and greet the woman with equal enthusiasm. the instructor smiles at her students and smoothes out the fabric of her long black lyrical skirt before motioning to them with her hands.

"we will run through the positions ten times with changements after your fifth positions." she misses the confused look on william's face and snaps her fingers once.

her students immediately get into first position and start going through the routine in sync, not needing any counts to perform at the same speed as everyone else. the thirty-two year old starts to slowly walk around the dance room, her hands clasped behind her as she keeps her eyes on her dancers.

"as you all know, the annual winter recital is coming up in a few weeks," madame sylvie starts. "we have been preparing since january. we are, once again, doing swan lake. you will reuse your costumes from last summer and we will start auditions on saturday."

the girls smile at each other in the large mirror behind the barre as they continue their seventh round of the routine. "this year, however, only one dancer will play the part of both odette and odile."

this was new. madame sylvie glances over at marie and sends her a discreet smile before looking away and continuing. "you will audition for the role you know you can land. otherwise, you will be understudies. the dancers who don't audition or don't get a main role will be cast as background dancers. the male leads will be played by the males from the other advanced one class. their girls will also be auditioning."

the class finishes going through the positions and rests at first position, awaiting for miss sylvie's next instructions.

"may the best dancer win." the woman flashes them all an encouraging smile as she stops at the front of the class again. "monsieur walter, would you like to join us?" she asks, glancing over at the young boy who was throwing grapes in the air and catching them in his mouth.

william loses focus for a second. "huh?" the grape that was in the air bounces off his head and lands on top of the history workbook in his lap. marie and her friends giggle at the blush on her brother's face. "oh, i'm good, miss sylvie."

"maybe one day you will want to," the lady suggests, winking at the boy before turning her attention back to her class. "now, who is feeling brave enough to demonstrate the en pointe pirouettes we learnt on tuesday?"

━━━

when the dance lesson ends, marie changes into her school shoes and walks out of the room before heading down to paige's dance room. she could see her brother helping the blonde pack up through the open door.

leaning against the doorframe, she greets the dancers who pass by while waiting for paige. most of the dancers in paige's class were younger or around clara's age, so greeting them didn't compare to greeting the older high schoolers and young adults in advanced two.

"hey!" paige exclaims as she meets her friend at the door. "he came here halfway through my class." she motions behind her shoulder before crouching down to change her shoes. marie looks across the room to see william desperately trying to escape paige's instructor's cheek pinching.

"i told you he had a massive crush on you."

paige simply giggles in response as she stuffs her flats in her dance bag before standing up. marie glances down at her friend's converse and clicks her tongue.

"forget your runners at home again, m?"

"i'm not as organised as you, madame president."

paige grins and steps out of the room with her. william appears next to paige, looking out of breath. "i'll stay with you next time, m," he mutters under his breath. laughing, the trio walks down the spiral staircase and down the hall before exiting the dance studio.

"i'll see you at school tomorrow, marie," paige says with a smile as they pause on the sidewalk.

"see you tomorrow." marie and william wave at the girl who starts walking back the way she came to cross the pedestrian crossing.

once she's across the street, marie turns around and starts walking down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. "i believe you promised me some oreos."

"i made no such promise."