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Synergy Dance Studio was abuzz with activity. They were having a bit of a kickoff party. A long table held a variety of festive snacks and a giant punch bowl. A television in the corner played a highlight reel of dance competitions gone by. Interspersed among clips of what Sandra thought to be professional-level dance moves were snippets of Synergy dancers accepting trophies. “I’d like to thank Miss Joyelle,” a girl of about twelve said. “She’s the best dance teacher in the world!” Some more flips and leaps and spins went by, and then a beautiful adult dancer with jewels stuck to her face held up a giant trophy for the camera. “I’d like to dedicate this to my mother. I miss you, Mom!”
Joanna tugged on Sandra’s sleeve. “Can I have a brownie?”
“Sure.”
Not wanting to travel across the room alone, her daughter pulled her over to the snack table. Now Sandra could smell the brownies. This was not a good thing. She tried not to look at them and scanned the room instead.
There were so many dancers. And they seemed so excited to see each other after their summer off. Parents looked stressed out, but also seemed to know one another, making Sandra feel a little left out. Joyelle appeared in the lobby.
“Miss Joyelle! Miss Joyelle!” the girls called out, chasing her around the room. Some of them had questions, and some wanted to tell her about their summer adventures, but most simply wanted her attention. Most simply wanted a hug from their dance teacher.
Sandra was confident they’d made the right decision. This was going to be good for Joanna. She smiled at her daughter, who looked nervous. “This is going to be so much fun!”
Joanna gave her a small smile and nodded. Then she shoved the rest of the brownie into her mouth. That hadn’t lasted long.
Joyelle clapped her hands together. “Let’s go into the studio, girls!” Despite Nate’s protests, Sandra didn’t see a single male student. All the girls followed Joyelle into the larger adjacent room.
Sandra tried to let go of Joanna’s hand, but she tightened her grip. “It’s okay, honey. I’ll be right out here, and you’re going to do great. Don’t be nervous.”
Joanna let go and scowled up at her mother. “I’m not nervous.” Then slowly, she followed the rest of the class into the studio.
Parents were already clustered around the large viewing window, so Sandra found a seat and used her phone to check her reffing schedule. She would need to block all Tuesdays for the rest of the season because she would be spending those afternoons at Synergy, not on the soccer field.
A while later, Sandra looked at the clock, expecting that a good chunk of the class time had passed. It had not. She realized then that two hours a week in this room was going to be a bit of a sacrifice—especially when she’d have to bring Sammy along. Nate wouldn’t always be available, or willing, to watch his son. She couldn’t imagine how she was going to keep Sammy quiet in this room for two hours.
Her eyes scanned the room. The walls were lined with shelves, which were loaded with trophies. Synergy had been to a lot of competitions, and they had won a lot of trophies. Her eyes landed on a bulletin board where a poster announced the tryout dates for the various dance teams.
A flyer beside the poster caught her eye. A mother-daughter special. She squinted, trying to read the small print. A mother could take the adult class for free if her daughter was enrolled. She snickered. She couldn’t imagine dancing. She’d made fun of her husband when he’d tried, but she didn’t think she could do much better. But the next line tempted her. If both mother and daughter were students, they would get a special duet in the recital.
Sandra didn’t want to be in the recital, but what a memory that would make! Talk about mother-daughter bonding. Joanna would remember that for the rest of her life. And they could have video and pictures ... the thought of having to watch herself attempt to dance erased the temptation. It was a good deal and a lovely idea, but Sandra wasn’t a dancer. She put the thought out of her mind and opened the Minecraft app on her phone. Then she joined a game of Egg Wars. She normally only played this with Peter and Joanna, but she could use the practice. She was fairly terrible at the game and usually relied on Peter to rescue her from precarious predicaments she found herself in. And now, playing without him, she had no one to rescue her, and she kept dying. At one point, when an opponent shot her off a bridge, she physically jumped in her chair, causing a few parents to eye her suspiciously. She gave them a peaceful smile that she hoped indicated she wasn’t a lunatic and then went back to her game.
Of course, before long her phone chirped a low battery warning. She dug through her purse to find her charger and then located an outlet and borrowed some of Joyelle’s electricity. A spot had opened up at the viewing window, and Sandra squeezed in. There was her little Joanna, right up front, pointing her toe out in front of her and tapping her foot on the floor. The move was as simple as simple could be and yet the beauty of it made her breath catch. Joanna’s eyes studied Joyelle, who stood in front of her facing the mirror. Sandra couldn’t remember ever seeing Joanna concentrate like that. Her little girl was growing up, was turning into a young woman right before her teary eyes.
