A Beginning to a Wonderful Friendship (Callie)

[Danielle Cooper]

Set me free, leave me be. I don’t want to fall another moment into your gravity. Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I’m supposed to be. But you’re on to me and all over me.

Dani jumped, twisting her body in the air before landing on one foot. The theatre was completely empty except for Dani, who danced along with Sara Barielles’s Gravity, which played on her own portable iPod player. She had been working on the choreography for the song for a couple weeks now, dancing to it in a contemporary style. It was a long process, considering she only used the theatre when it was completely empty, but it was the price she paid for deciding not to share her secret with the rest of Hammel.

I live here on my knees, as I try to make you see, that you’re everything I think I need here on the ground.

Her dancing reflected the many years of various dance classes she had taken: tap, jazz, ballroom, hip-hop, and even a bit of ballet. Within recent years, she preferred mixing genres, and especially doing certain styles of dance to non-traditional music, such as doing a ballroom style dance to techno music. Although, the song that she was dancing to was the perfect contemporary dance song, or at least she thought so.

But you’re neither friend nor foe. Though I can’t seem to let you go.

Dani continued to dance, completely oblivious to the world around her. When she danced, she could focused on nothing but putting her heart and soul into her body movements. Her hair, left down, whipped around as she spun and jumped, before falling over her face as she landed once again.

The one thing I still know, is that you’re keeping me down…

The song faded out as Dani sunk to the floor, doing a split and putting her head to the floor for her final pose.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie spent a lot of her time in the Auditorium. It was the perfect space to practice dancing; what with the size of the stage, the general quietness and the sound system (if you were able to plug into it, that was). She pushed through the doors and wandered in, stopping as soon as she heard music. Oh, someone else must have been there...

It was always intriguing to watch another person dance. Even more so when they were this good. She leaned against the nearby chair in the very back row of the aisle, trying to keep out of sight while this girl was practically performing for her. When she finally finished, Callie couldn't help but applaud her.

"Wow! I'm sorry, I was just-" She stopped herself, unsure of her own excuse. "Amazing! Can you show me some of those moves again?"

[Danielle Cooper]

As soon as Dani heard clapping her head shot up, searching for the source. Her face turned about as red as a cherry once she spotted Callie. “Oh!” Dani scrambled to her feet, seeming to lose all the grace she had just moments before, “Um, I… uh… didn’t see you there.” The teen gave an awkward grin, not exactly sure how to react. In all her years at Hammel, she had never been caught dancing, so now that she had, she was something like a deer stuck in headlights.

When asked to show Callie her moves again, Dani scratched the back of her head. “I, um...uh…” she stammered, brushing off her sweatpants and tank top. She didn’t know Callie too well. They didn’t really speak too much while at work – at least, no more than the average co-worker. “Only… if you promise not to tell anyone about this.” Dani said after a moment thought, figuring it was her best shot to keep her secret. She waved for Callie to come up on stage with her, “Um… what did you want to see?”

[Calliope Gallo]

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you..." Callie offered. It was a strange reaction, like she'd been caught out or something. Calliope was tentative to start walking forward from where she was standing. She had worked with her for a little while now, but she'd never thought she was a dancer.

"How did you- Wait. Why don't you want people to know? You're amazing." Callie had never thought she would meet someone who didn't embrace their dancing abilities if they had them. The whole concept was a little puzzling to her.

[Danielle Cooper]

“It’s okay, I was just thrown off guard.” Dani said as she tried to compose herself. She gave a shy smile to Callie and tried to think of the best answer to give the other girl. "Oh, thank you." It was really a mix of reasons, between having a small case of stage fright, and feeling that if she let others know about her dancing abilities, then they would expect her to follow in her mother’s footsteps in musical theatre. Performing wasn’t something Dani was interested in as a career.

“I guess I just have stage fright.” Dani concluded, figuring that she would save the mother spiel for another day, if ever. “I know it seems kind of weird, but I really would appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to anyone…” Dani couldn't help but to wonder what Callie was doing in there in the first place. "Do you dance?"

[Calliope Gallo]

"Well, you have no reason to have stage fright. Not from what I saw anyway." Callie said with a smile, crossing those final few steps to reach the stage. She chose to lean against it rather than jump up right away. Still, everyone had their reasons and she wasn't going to judge it. "Hey, don't worry about it. I promise not to tell a soul." She pressed her index finger and thumb to her lips, turning them slightly as if locking her mouth away.

And off went the key, sailing over her shoulder. "I love to dance! I've had lessons since I was a kid." Callie had to wonder if she really wanted to talk about it, or share some of her skills with another person. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, y'know? I can do if you want to be alone." Better safe than sorry.

[Danielle Cooper]

Dani’s smile grew warmer as Callie locked her lips and away threw the key. “Thank you,” she said again. Dani raised her eyebrows when the other explained that she had lessons since she was a kid. She didn’t know many people who had proper lessons, except her dance buddies back in Oregon. She wondered what types of classes Callie had taken.

“Me too.” Dani couldn’t help but to be curious about the other’s dancing ability, “You really don’t have to go. I don’t mind. I just haven’t told anybody about this in a long time.” It was too late anyway; she had already been caught, and Callie seemed nice enough. Dani wasn’t sure why, but she honestly believed that Callie wouldn’t tell others. Maybe it was because Callie also danced. “What type of dance do you do?” She had to ask, hoping that the other would show rather than tell.

[Calliope Gallo]

When given the indication that she shouldn't leave, Callie smiled in her direction. It was like a cue that she was allowed to move again. She pressed her hands to the edge of the stage and jumped up.

"I went through stages. I guess most people do." Callie explained. She lengthened her form, perching herself up on her toes; at least, as far as she could in sneakers. Her arms came together above her head, in a fluid and parallel motion. "I was a baby ballerina for a while." She offered, the constant movement of her feet stopping long enough for her to leap outwards before breaking the sequence all together.

Resting her extended hands against her hip, Callie pushed her leg out behind her in full extension. Kicking off her back leg and lifting it behind her, she raised her hands above her head to spin in a full three-sixty motion. She fell back onto her extended leg again, stopping herself from dropping into some kind of splits. With a power like hers, it was just too easy. "Jazz too, though that was before I really found what I liked. That flowed straight into contemporary." Rather then showing that, she threw her hand out to indicate to Dani.

"You seem to know a lot about that. I think I have the most fun with hip hop stuff." Which was always a little difficult to express to someone without music. "What about you?"

[Danielle Cooper]

Dani watched Callie with great interest. Although the other only showed off a few moves, it was obvious she was skilled. Once Callie finished, Dani’s grin was huge. It had been a while since she had even talked about dance with another. It was refreshing. “That’s awesome!” Dani announced, starting to come out of her shell. She was more excited about being able to talk to another dancer than she imagined she would be.

“I’ve just recently gotten into contemporary over the past year or so.” Dani explained, “I started with jazz and ballet when I was a kid.” She matched Callie by standing on her toes the best she could in her Adidas for only a couple of seconds before dropping down. “I liked jazz, but I wasn’t mean to be a bun head. I didn’t last very long in ballet, maybe a month or so.” Dani laughed, and then started tapping the floor with her heels and toes. “Since I liked jazz, I naturally moved towards tap, which probably is my strongest point.” Suddenly, she stopped tapping and lifted her arms as they were around an invisible partner, and took a few graceful steps. “And somewhere along the way I got really into ballroom. I don’t even know why, but I enjoy it.” She added before dropping her hands and coming to a halt.

Dani turned to Callie, “I said I’d show you some stuff again, but could you also show me more, too? If you don’t mind, that is.”

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie loved to watch other people dance. Especially when they obviously loved to do it. The similarities in their stories was a fun thing to think about, and the differences were even better. They could really learn from each other! "Tap? I wish I had looked more into that. It's great for footwork." She said, knowing that much from watching Eric dance.

"Sure thing! It sounds like we can learn a lot from each other, if you're into the idea." Callie explained, shrugging lightly. "And like I said, I promise I won't say anything." She seemed really willing to trust Callie.

Not that she really had a choice in the matter. Callie pulled the bag that was slung onto her shoulder and set it on the ground. "Did you choreograph that routine on your own? It honestly looks professional."

[Danielle Cooper]

It was true, Dani didn’t have much of a choice, and so she decided to go with the flow. What else was she to do anyway? Might as well take advantage of the situation. “I think that’s a good idea, it will be fun!” Dani nodded, “Thank you… it really means a lot.” Dani had a thing about saying “thank you” and “sorry” more than necessary at times. Her grandfather always taught her to be grateful for what she had and at the time, Dani had Callie, who agreed to keep quite. She was certainly grateful for that.

“I did,” Dani’s shy smile returned, and she scratched the back of her head again, “Thanks, I’ve been working on it for a while. You caught me at the best moment, I suppose, and it’s not really too hard. I bet you could do it without breaking a sweat. You definitely have the skills for it. Here.” Dani took a few steps back and gave a small jump, landing on her the ball of her foot before spinning a 360 degree turn before making another leap and landing on her other foot. “I put in a decent amount of jumps and spins to try to visualize gravity working, and from there, it’s just trying to figure out how to piece the story together.”

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie watched as she performed the small jump; with precision she landed on one foot again. "See, I think the strength you have in your framework is something to be jealous of. You land really cleanly." She offered. No shakes, no wobbles. It was definitely something that showed how much skill she had in her dancing.

"What would you say the story is?" Callie asked, curiously. When it came to this kind of thing, that was a really important question to answer. And from what she'd seen she was sure Dani could answer it perfectly.

[Danielle Cooper]

“Ah, thank you. I used to be really bad at it, so I worked very hard to try and improve it.” Dani felt her cheeks turn slightly pink, she wasn’t used to being complimented much on her dance work. It gave her warm fuzzies.

Dani bit her lip in thought, trying to figure out just how to word her thoughts. Through body movement, it was easy to tell a story, but through words? That was much harder. “Well, I’ve mostly seen this song choreographed with a partner,” Dani started, “Which is really powerful, but I also was thinking, ‘The singer must also feel like this when her partner isn’t around.’” She wasn’t sure if she was making sense, but she continued nonetheless. “So I guess the story is about a person who did leave, but she can’t help to still feel her partner’s presence, and it keeps her from being able to fly away.”

[Calliope Gallo]

"It shows. The hard work, I mean." Callie replied. She was aware that there was a slight colour forming on the other girl's cheeks, but she always felt that compliments should be given where they're deserved.

She always thought it was important to be able to explain the story behind choices in dance. "From what I saw, I totally get what you mean. It's cool that you decided to change it up from what you've already seen." She couldn't help but be impressed by the way she'd choreographed that routine; that much was evident in her voice when she talked about it.

And then she had a kind of light bulb moment. "We should do something together!"

[Danielle Cooper]

It was nice to have someone understand what she meant, especially understanding from watching. The few friends (who didn’t dance) that knew Dani could dance back at home in Oregon didn’t quite comprehend how much effort she put into making a routine express what she felt it should. Hearing that Callie understood was quite refreshing.

At the suggestion of doing a routine together, Dani’s eyes lit up. She hadn’t had a dance partner in years, and she couldn’t deny that she missed it. Callie seemed like a fun partner, and they could learn a lot from one another. She still felt a bit shy in front of the other, but what use would that do? Dani gave a nod, “That sounds really fun! Between the two of us, we cover a lot of styles. We could mix and match or stick to one. Is there anything you had in mind?” She was getting a bit ahead of herself, but she couldn’t help it; she was excited.