black ribbons (jensoo)

chapter one

Jisoo would never have dreamed of missing company class. Company class had been the one constant, every morning like clockwork, since her first day as an apprentice dancer. Company class was monotonous. Company class was undemanding. Company class was familiar, and it was so unlike the rest of Jisoo's day that she treasured it; ninety minutes for her body to wake up, for her exhausted muscles to uncurl and lengthen after being crammed into awkward spaces on the subway, for her concentration to click gradually into place with every flex of her foot or sweep of her arm.

All this meant that she was mildly annoyed to be called out, but when Dara summoned, you went, especially since the ballet-master was an even greater company class enthusiast than Jisoo. In Jisoo's first ever warm-up with Dara, aged twelve, one girl had refused to do barre exercises in case it inhibited her creative vision, and Dara had physically removed her from the room. She had been Jisoo's favourite ballet-master ever since, and Jisoo knew, because Dara showed her even less affection than the rest of the dancers, that the fondness was reciprocated.

The shorter woman looked her up and down as soon as she entered the studio. 'How is your ankle today?'

'Fine.'

'Jisoo.'

'It's fine. Really. I saw the physio before class, and she's happy. Nothing to worry about.' Jisoo looked Dara directly in the eye as she dumped her shoe-bag, daring her to object, but she knew that she would be out of the fall season in a heartbeat if Dara saw so much as a flicker of pain. 'You wanted to see me?'

Dara nodded across the studio, where a dark-haired dancer in a black leotard was fiddling with the ribbons on her pointe shoes. 'Yes. Her name is Chaeyoung. Kwon saw her, somewhere, and wants me to look at her for an apprenticeship. Chaeyoung!' The girl jogged over obediently. 'This is Jisoo, one of our principals.'

'I know who you are.'

Dara was only willing to accept attitude in certain forms, but evidently this one didn't bother her. 'Good. I need to step out for a moment, so Jisoo, I thought you might do some final warm ups with Chaeyoung. Tell her about the company, answer her questions. Be nice.'

'I'm always nice.'

'Often, yes. In the morning, no.'

The door closed behind her, leaving the two dancers stranded in the middle of the studio. Jisoo, suddenly finding herself to be the responsible adult and taken aback as always by Dara's whirlwind tactics, shook herself mentally and gestured towards the barre. 'Is there anything particular you'd like to do? What's your routine like?'

'Not really. I'll follow you.'

Helpful . Jisoo hated early mornings themselves only slightly less than she hated early-morning chattiness, optimism or sympathy, but Chaeyoung's abruptness still took her off-balance. She felt at home in the studio, even more so than she did on stage or in her own tiny apartment, but there was something very alien about warming up with a complete stranger. It reminded her of being at the school, of being a lower-ranked dancer, when she had treated every exercise as a performance because she had so much to prove.

But she was now twenty-two, and she had been a principal since she was nineteen, and she was really fucking good at exercises. So that was all right.

'You're not from the school?' she tried eventually, because it seemed like the friendly thing to do.

'No.' Chaeyoung's reply was curt, as Jisoo had expected, but she met the ballerina's eyes in the mirror and went on unwillingly. 'I study performing arts, at the moment. Started ballet when I was twelve but never fully specialised. Then Marcus Kwon saw me in our summer show and set this up.'