CHAPTER 7
Mandy was already at the studio when Sarah arrived.
“Hi,” Sarah said, a little hesitantly, as she put down her bag. She still wasn’t at all sure how Mandy felt about her.
But to her relief, Mandy turned toward her with a smile. “Hi,” she said.
“It’s really nice of you to meet me —” Sarah started to say, but Mandy waved away her words.
“Seriously, it’s no big deal, okay?” she replied. Mandy paused, then grinned. “Do you always worry this much?”
Sarah laughed, a little surprised, and nodded. “Yeah, I do. I guess it must be sort of obvious,” she said.
Mandy smiled. “Sort of,” she agreed. “Anyway, should we get started?” She moved to the center of the room.
Sarah followed. It felt a little weird to have Mandy teaching her. But Sarah didn’t care anymore. Mandy seemed pretty nice, and it wasn’t exactly like Sarah was doing so great on her own.
Sarah did a few warm-up moves, then turned to Mandy. “So, it’s the pirouettes that are just killing me,” she said. “You probably already know that.”
Mandy nodded. “Yeah, I noticed that the other day. Your jetés are fantastic, by the way,” she told Sarah.
Sarah smiled. “Thanks,” she said. “But I’m not going to be the Spring Fairy just by doing jetés. Not if I can’t do the pirouette too.”
“True,” Mandy agreed. “Do you want to try to do one? Maybe I’ll be able to spot the problem.”
“Sure,” Sarah agreed with a nod. She did a few waltz steps to get herself into the rhythm, then tried to draw herself into the pirouette. As usual, she managed to get her leg off the ground, but as soon as she started to turn, she lost her balance.
She turned to face Mandy, a little embarrassed.
But Mandy wasn’t laughing. Instead, she nodded seriously. “It’s basically what I thought the other day,” she said. “You’re not tracking with your eyes.”
“Tracking?” Sarah repeated, looking confused.
“Yeah,” Mandy replied. “It’s when you fix your eyes on one spot while twirling. Every time you come around, look back at that same spot. Here, I’ll show you.”
Mandy did a few waltz steps, then lightly stepped into a pirouette. As she began to spin, she whipped her head around so that her eyes kept facing forward throughout the pirouette.
Sarah watched her closely as she twirled. Mandy’s form wasn’t perfect, but her standing leg was completely solid.
“There,” Mandy said. She stopped, a little out of breath. “I always turn my head and keep my eyes on the exit sign. You have to pick a specific place before you start spinning. Then don’t take your eyes off it.”
“You make it seem so simple,” Sarah said. “I’ve been torturing myself over this.”
Mandy shrugged. “You just needed some help. You’re a great dancer,” she said. “But you can’t do the turn without balance.”
“That’s for sure,” Sarah said, nodding. “Okay, let me try.”
Sarah stood with one leg extended behind her, the toe delicately touching the floor. She held her arms out in a circle in front of her and glanced around the room, looking for something to focus on. She picked the clock and fixed her eyes on it.
Ignoring the nervous flutter in her stomach, Sarah drew her back leg up and kept her eyes on the clock. Then she used the force of her arms to whirl in a circle.
One turn, there was the clock, then two, she saw the clock again. As Sarah came around the second time, she put her foot down and grinned at Mandy.
“That was awesome!” Mandy cheered.
Sarah had a huge grin on her face. “That’s two more turns than I’ve ever done on my own,” she said. “I owe you big time!”
“It looked really good,” Mandy said. “You didn’t wobble at all. Try it again!”
Sarah got back into position and focused on the clock again. Then she lifted herself onto one toe and began to spin. This time she made it through three turns.
Sarah practiced again and again. Finally, she collapsed on the floor, exhausted. Mandy flopped down beside her.
“I think I’ve got it. It’s not great, but at least I can complete three turns and not fall,” Sarah said. “It might not be good enough to get me the Spring Fairy, but at least I can get through the audition without embarrassing myself.”
“You’re being too hard on yourself,” Mandy said. “It looks good.”
Sarah turned to look at the other girl. “Thank you,” she said, clearing her throat. “Seriously. You didn’t have to help me, but you did it anyway.” Sarah paused, then went on. “This has been fun.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mandy told her. “It’s been fun for me too.”
As they gathered up their things and turned out the lights, Sarah smiled. She’d done more than learn how to do a pirouette today. She’d made a new friend too.