Off Pointe

To Dance Would Be an Awfully Big Adventure

On Point

Rehearsals Begin!

By Rena Rouge

It's the first of December which can only mean one thing... rehearsals have started and we're not 22 days away from the incredible spectacular Agreste Dance Company will be putting on to lead us all into the final run up to Christmas Day.

So far we have confirmations from New York, China, San Francisco and London based studios that they will be sending scouts to the gala, each with a possible position for those that have wowed the crowd.

We're quite sure Gabriel will keep hold of Luka Couffaine (21), but everyone else is up for grabs.

However, the dancer we are most interested in is none other than Adrien Agreste's partner, Marinette Dupain-Cheng (19). What has this younger dancer got that won over ballet royalty and what kind of future will she have in store for her after such an interesting selection?

*****

Marinette was eternally grateful for Plagg directing her in the way of Tikki's studio. She needed the freedom to burn off her anxiety more than she'd ever known. Adrien had had a stick up his ass all day, every thing she did was wrong: she turned her head to the left — it should have been the right, she did a grande jeté — it should have been a saut de chat. But the most embarrassing part was almost taking his eye out. As she lifted an arm and jabbed him in the right eye, he'd called it a day. Sending her home and tending to his red rimmed eye. If it wasn't for the sake of her future career she would have walked there and then.

She was meant to be helping him, yet all he was doing was pissing her off!

When she'd tried to call Luka at the end of rehearsals, it seemed his rehearsal was going just about as well as hers. He'd been asked to stay longer to work with Zoé, though he never actually said what the issue was. Marinette's stomach felt the unease of him having to stay to practise.

With The Nutcracker rehearsals suddenly becoming all consuming, she took the opportunity to burn off energy at the Miraculous Studios. She'd been there almost nightly for the past three weeks and she was unsure whether it was to dance or to spend time with Chat Noir. He was just what she needed after such a hectic day.

When she arrived Chat Noir's team were having their usual squad rehearsal, but compared to last time she saw them, it was a mess. She watched Chat Noir turn the music off and march to the girls, his arms extremely animated as they swung around all over the place. He stormed back to the stereo and started the music again. What was going on?

"Tikki?" Marinette questioned, the owner walking over to stand beside her, hand caressing over her swollen stomach. "Is he okay?"

Tikki stood beside Marinette, both studying the dance before Chat Noir turned the music off again and came back to the girls. He waved his hand around a little bit and then sent them off to get a drink or something.

As the dance floor was evacuated, Marinette watched Chat Noir take to the floor, head and eyes down, as he danced the steps alone. He stopped scratching the back of his neck before trying something else, stopping straight away and throwing his head back with a groan. His head twisted side to side before he lowered down to look in the mirror, his eyes meeting hers.

"As you can probably tell, he's a little stressed. He puts too much pressure on himself."

"He just wants it perfect for the girls," Marinette replied as Chat Noir attempted another variation of the routine. "He said last night it was perfect and ready to go."