Page 146 of Facing Off
“I’ll custom-order you some.”
“I’m so down!”
My mouth twitches.
Of course, he is.
“The top of the shoes are called the platform,” I continue. “And they’re shaped and flattened to be stiff so you can balance on that hardened part. That being said, without the shoes, you can still do heel raises.” With my feet apart, parallel to my hips, I rise up. “Press into your feet and squeeze your bum.”
Adrian tries copying me.
I smother a surprise laugh.
“What about me? What moves should I do?” asks Sid, jumping up and down.
“You can do hops,” I tell them. “Jump upwards in a vertical line, and make your landing as quiet as possible.”
They hop.
“Yes, but bend your knees and keep them soft.”
They try to follow my instructions, but it’s not exactly right.
“Even softer knees. Keep going. Do a set of ten. I’ll do them with you.”
I sound exactly like a dance mistress.
My thoughts drift to instructions drilled into me over the last two decades.Straighter back.Lift your head.Stop slouching.Faster.Go low.Go high.Straighten those toes.Arch your toes.The leg you stand on has to be the strongest one.Curve your neck.
There were never-ending fixes.
Sid listens to my corrections, but on the eighth hop, stops. “Are you sure we have to do it like this?”
I freeze. “Oh. Right. I might not be the best ballerina to copy. I’m having some problems myself, and I’m sure if you take lessons from a proper dance mistress?—”
“No, let’s be silly.”
“Silly?”
“Like this.” Sid shakes their foot around as if they’re trying to take a sock off with no hands. “Okay, your turn. What’s your fun move?”
I’ve got a lifetime of criticism, meant to pull me up the steep mountain of perfection that I’d based my whole identity around. I’m not sure I have afunmove.
They cover their mouth and whisper to me, “It’s okay if you want to copy mine.”
This stiff perfectionist knot in my spine attempts to ease.
Okay. Yeah. I’ll do that.
I do.
“That’s so fun,” squeals Sid.
Their joy is contagious. Going with it and getting swept along, I make up a random move, shaking my whole leg from top to bottom as if it’s a wiggling worm.
Sid does the same.
The music shifts. Adrian’s changing it to something more upbeat, then mimicking our wiggles.
