Levi Dodds and Jamei Santiago are acrobats from England and America. Following a job offer from the famous SIA to perform for one of her music videos, they travel to Australia to perform on Bondi beach.
Hot sun, hot boys in blue and even hotter sta...
The obnoxious sound of my phone alarm was what ripped me out of my slumber. Groggily opening my eyes, the jet lag is starting to catch up on me now. God only knows how Jamei is feeling. He flew from the USA to England to meet with me, he was only JUST getting used to the UK timezone when we flew off to Australia. Sitting up i look at my phone, squinting slightly at the brightness. 5am. Why is this legal to be up at this time. Throwing the covers back from my body, i slid my legs out of the bed. No sooner had they hit the floor when i heard a bang on my door. Followed by a click and it opening, in came Jamei, bouncing happily and fresh as a daisy.
"Good morning sunshine!" He bounded over to my curtains and flung them open. I shut my eyes, bracing myself for the incoming bright light. That didn't come. More a soft sunrise, it was actually quite pleasant.
"You're chipper for it being 5am." I remark as i begin to place my hair into double boxing plaits on my head, still not moving from the bed. He spun back around and grinned.
"Yep! No time to waste. We need to go for a jog. Up, up, up!" He rifled through my duffel bag on the small seat near the window and threw a pair of running shorts and a sports bra at me. I groaned.
"Do we have to?" Don't get me wrong, i LOVE what i do. I love dancing, and performing and i'm completely honoured that we've been asked to do this for SIA. But this early? After over 24 hours of travel? Jamei simply muttered something about being ready in ten minutes and he'll be back. And with that he waltzed out the room and the door slammed shut behind him.
I changed my underwear and put on the new set of workout gear.
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Two suitcases full of clothes and he chooses the most revealing set i own. What a pain in the arse he is. I grab a loose top form the bag as well and throw it over the top. I look at my phone again and the time says 5:16am. Sighing and grabbing a bottle of water out of the hotel fridge, i slide my hotel key-card into the small pocket on my shorts along with my phone and some cash.
As if on que the banging on my door starts again, and i immedietly throw the door open to see a smiling Jamei, ready for a jog. He linked my arm and we walked down to the front of the hotel.
"Where to? Beach run or Prom Run?" I asked, looking both ways. I was leaning more towards the Prom, i was so tired i dont think i can handle sand runs this early. And as if reading my mind, Jamei says he wants to run the sand. There's no point in arguing with him, he's just going to make me do the sun anyway.
We made our way down to the beach, a few straggling surfers litter along the beach, the surf hut closed, but there was a flicker of life from the lifeguard tower. The stutters were up and there was a light on. Two or three bodies bustling around inside. There was a fourth body under the hut, driving out the buggies one by one. We made out way down to the harder sand near the water and began doing our warm-ups.
I felt eyes on us the entire time we were doing our warm-ups. Sure enough Jamei pipes up from behind me as we start jogging along.
"There's been eyes on you since the second we got here." He giggled slightly, and rolled my eyes and sped up, leaving him behind me. He quickly caught up to me calling me a bitch and all of a sudden it turned into a competition.
We did laps of the bay a few times and stopped when they started taking down the railings near the craned at the south end. A group of people and a few buggies of equipment were drove through and that was out que to head over.
...................
1 Hour and 30 Minutes. That's how long it took to get into these stupid leotards. The whole consensus of the video is to have to 'naked' dancers. Dancing with a gigantic red ribbon, hung in mid air. So the leotards we have on are perfectly matched to our skin colour with glittery parts where out underwear would be, and honestly, we look butt naked. It's slightly uncomfortable to be honest. We weren't shooting anything today, just rehearsing, and getting used to the set up with these costumes on.
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"OKAY!" Corrin, the director, shouted over his megaphone. This clearly caught the attention of a few beach goers as well as the lifeguards as there was a lot of attention on him, and us. "We're going to do warm ups, we've got the Aerial Hoop, as well as the red silk and the ropes. Today is all about practising and getting comfortable." He nods to me and Jamei, who was picking out a wedgie and complaining about sand in his balls. I just nod back and grab the Hoop.
"Jamei, can you pop my warm up song on please?" He nods and makes his way to the small booth in which the music was controlled from.
The hoop was cold to the touch. It's been so long since i did Aerial on a Hoop. The feeling of twisting it in my hand is almost nostalgic. It was the first thing i mastered, it's my 'base' profession. Suddenly, Michael Buble, Cry me a River started and i began stretching my limbs.
I landed back on the floor, my muscles burning slightly, my lungs panting for air. I got a round of applause from not only the crew, but people on the beach who had accumulated at the barrier to watch. I smiled and waved at the people clapping in a show of thanks. I heard a chorus of 'WHOOPS' over a megaphone and it sounded vaguely familiar. The lifeguards.
It was Jameis turn to warm up now. He was more partial to the straps. Luckily it didn't take them too long to change the hoop over, and Jamei was chalking up his hands. His music started and his body just flowed with the music.
I was sat on a small square of carpet that was placed on the sand and i was stretching when i heard a shout from the left of me. I covered my eyes with my hand to block out the sun and i saw Harrison and Jesse stood at the barrier. I waved them over and gave the security guard a thumbs up.
They padded over to me, they must be on a break since they don't have their blue rash guards on. I smiled and stood up.
"That was amazing!" Jesse exclaimed. Harrison nodded excitedly. His eyes flew over to Jamei on the straps and he just stared. I laughed.
"I can take you guys up on the hoop if you want? Give you a taste for the acrobatic life?" Jesse shook his head sharply, going a pale shade. Or as pale as you can possibly go when you're that tan. Harrison however,was up for the challenge. I gave him a spare pair of Jameis wrist straps so he didn't injure his hands. Jamei finished his warm up routine and came sprinting over, a huge grin on his face.
"You guys want a go?!" He panted, and i laughed.
"Already beat you to it, J. Harrison's coming up on the hoop with me." I patted him on the back.
