A MEETING AT THE BARRE

CHAPTER 1.

"Listen up class," Instructor Le'Fue exclaimed with his thick French accent. "We have a new face joining us for our Winter Revue."

Like a ripple, the faces of piqued interest grew on each of the student's faces as they peered left and right at each other.

"This is Rodney. He comes from the new conservatory class and has Dean Prescott's seal of approval."

Rodney enters the room and it feels as if he's walked into a wall of honey. The tension is thick and viscous with all eyes on him. His face was met with the brazen glare of ballet students that had been fighting and clawing their way to the top. After all, it was understandable since it takes years to even join the elite troupe from the conservatory. He had only been here for 2 months.

The room erupts in an abysmal applause. Not because they wanted to, but because they wanted to keep the act up.

The William's Contemporary Arts is a boarding school for only the country's most elite dancers and dance enthusiasts. Internationally ranked, the school itself is composed of a subset of elites. This particular troupe, The White Tigers, is considered the most elite and unique. The White Tigers are an all male dance troupe that compete globally. Very few men get selected for this ensemble, and this was Rodney's big break.

"Be sure to show him how we do things in The Den, okay? This is a team, and what do I always say?"

The class responds in unison "There's no "I" in team," they sputter out lazily because it is the most cliche statement ever and they hear it everyday there. The phrase was met with hostile eye rolls and sighs. After all, everybody was vying for a spot on the competition team, and a new face would just mean one more person to go up against.

Class is actually over when Rodney is introduced, so he's witnessing the end of the day huddle. There he learns there is a competition coming up that the boys have been preparing for. There are several over the course of the year and this particular troupe is known for being undefeated. This is why the current members are so adamant about keeping the same team yearly with very few to no changes. There are limited spots on the competition team, so Rodney knew he had to make a strong impression not only to gain the respect of his instructor for the part, but of his new team as well.

The guys finish their huddle and pack their bags to leave for the day. Rodney is scoping around the room at all the amazing dancers when one of them catches his eye. Standing at a towering six-feet tall with a physique that rivals that of greek gods, he stayed behind reading a small book he had pulled from his bag.

Rodney planned to stick around and stretch but the thought of this extremely attractive veteran dancer watching his every move was both alluring yet daunting. However, Rodney knew that if he wanted to prove himself to the team, he had to make sure that he was in top physical condition, and he had not yet stretched today. He took in a deep breath to calm himself and then walked over to the barre. The man takes a quick look up from his book and examines the new troupe trainee for a second before becoming disinterested and focused back to his book.

The new dancer found himself feeling nervous with this particular man in the room, something he had never felt before. In every audition Rodney went to, he knew he was the best, and everyone else did as well. Once he began dancing, he let the product of his talents speak for him. Rodney is quiet and tends to keep to himself, however, when he is on stage basking in the spotlight he commands the room in a way that not even speakers such as Martin Luther King Jr. could not do.

Rodney takes one more indulgent look at the man to paint a more vivid picture of him in his mind. The mysterious dancer's beautiful dark skin was being kissed by the evening sun with soft hues of orange gliding over his enormous biceps and trailing across his thick, broad chest, which had a soft brush over hair spanning its width. In complement to his caesar cut with waves, full lips and beard, the man was truly a work of art.