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Post by gopher on Jul 29, 2012 22:43:35 GMT -5
In Milo's life, very few things were truly difficult. The main things that posed as daunting tasks were the mastery of his element and, apparently, the style of modern dance. He had to admit it was relaxing to move about to breathy, lyrical music, but the relaxation ended with warm-ups. Once they started on things like choreography and technique... Milo found his body just didn't move quite like everyone else's. He simply wasn't built like a dancer. The graceful movements and artistic timing seemed to slip between his clumsy fingers as he tried to twist and turn his way into a better understanding of the activity. When he had started, he had been horrendous. The professor had even warned him that if he didn't start taking things seriously, he'd be barred from the course. It wasn't so much that Milo loved dance so much he shaped up and managed to very slowly improve; rather, the fact that the professor had - more or less - threatened him, he felt the need to prove he had the capability to stay in the course. His stubbornness often landed him in situations much like this, but he found that at the end he was stronger for the experience. (If not stronger, he had at least pissed some people in authority off enough that it made the whole thing worth it)
Now, however, things were getting a bit easier. Milo would probably never flow like the majority of the other dancers in the class, but he wasn't really worried about that. He had initially taken the class to obtain a better understanding of the movement of the human body. That decision had proved to be extremely fruitful, plus he was taking the class with TK, a long time model of his. There was definitely something in the way that crazy Asian moved that really helped Milo along with inspiration for a good number of pieces he began working on a few weeks into the class. Milo was never really the type to beg for help from anyone, but he done a little bit of unnecessary groveling at the feet of the dancer to get a little bit of extra help. It had turned out well enough that Milo no longer needed the sessions and could once more steal the other guy to do a few watercolors now and then when they were both available.
As the current piece came to an end, their dance instructor clapped her hands together to signal the class's warm-down. Milo very loudly and heavily plopped himself down next to TK, reaching out in front of him with his legs spread out to stretch out his groin. "Are you excited for the recital tomorrow night?" The question was really more an "Are you running the piece later tonight, and when, so I can join you." But that was the way things tended to go with the two of them. As their professor put on some slow, yoga-like ambiance noise on the stereo, Milo shifted positions, reaching for his right foot in his straddle position. "And how's that solo coming along? Finished yet?" He remembered TK talking about several dances he was working on, but one had been a joint project with their professor as a private piece. Milo wasn't sure when - or if - TK was ever going to perform the piece, but he had to admit he enjoyed getting a front row seat to TK's practices. Often times, Milo would tote along his sketch pad and do some quick movement pieces in charcoal or graphite. It was relaxing and a nice change of pace from the incredibly difficult stamina training that he had been dealing with lately.
Come to think of it, the crazy difficult dance class was probably one of the only peaceful things in his life at the moment. Milo's history professor had some sort of sadistic streak assigning an inordinate amount of reading - which Milo very nonchalantly skipped - and project after project. He wasn't exactly sure how he hadn't failed the course yet, but it was nice to escape all the stress and move to the rhythm of music every once in a while. He was taking a painting class as well, but they were covering some of the more difficult brush control techniques, so that had been more work that he would have liked. These thoughts and more paraded through Milo's mind as he finished his warm down. Once the song ended, the class stood up and started conversing about whatever it was they were doing next. Milo gave TK an impish grin, "Pretty sure you botched those last two eight counts. Might wanna keep your eyes focused inward rather than on her." Milo made an impossibly ambiguous gesture to a group of females. Teasing was something that was a bit of an addiction for him, but he never really said anything to specific. Just in case he was right, his vague comments could be taken to an entirely new level of jocular playfulness. It was very fulfilling.
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Post by TAKERU KENTO MATSUZAKA on Jul 30, 2012 18:14:34 GMT -5
It was already April. Four months into the new school year. It was crazy how time flew by. Sometimes it felt like they would barely be two weeks into the month and suddenly it would be a new month. Before they knew it summer would be right around the corner. Until then though he had enough things to busy himself. Between school and work he normally was good at keep himself occupied with something. At the moment the focus was on his dance class. They were doing one of the easier warm-ups. At least by now it felt like that for Takeru. Since he would practice his routines so much that after he mastered tehm they sometimes were a breeze for the young earth. That didn't mean you couldn't break a sweat from them.
He was thankful when the instructor called for a break. He sighed and walked over to one of the walls where his stuff was. He grabbed his towel and water and sat down. He wiped his brow as he drank from the bottle. He stretched out his legs, not wanting them to grow stiff from the small moment of relaxation. While he was doing this one of his fellow classmates and friend came over to join him. Milo, a freshman water that had joined the class this year. Takeru had known Milo from outside of the class though. Milo was an art student and Takeru had become a sort of model for the water because of his dancing. At first it had been a bit awkward during the initial request since Takeru had never done anything like that before but he wasn't one that normally turned down a request to help someone. In the process they had become friends and Takeru was always ready for when the water would ask for another drawing session. Takeru was happy that Milo joined the class. Takeru knew that it wasn't necessarily because Milo was a dancer but it was more so that he could put it toward his art but none the less he was happy that his friend was around. He gave the water a smile and nod as he drank more from his bottle as the water sat down. When the instructor turned on the yoga music Takeru put down the bottle and stretched out some more to keep himself from going stiff until the next dance.
Takeru smiled at Milo's question. "You know me. I'm always excited about a performance." he said with enthusiasm knowing that Milo was hoping for a little more info. "I think I have the solo down. I'm going to be practicing after class along with one of my partner routines later on. Already got permission to use the room once everyone's gone. Your welcome to stay if you want." he said with a bright grin. He knew Milo liked the chance to draw when the opportunity presented itself. Eventually the music came to a close. Takeru started to pick himself off the floor and stretched a bit more. Takeru had given Milo a questioning look then looked to where he was directing at, to one of the females of the group on the opposite side of the room who was actually looking at him but quickly turned away when she realized that she had been caught. Takeru did the same thing and turned to face the wall during his stretching. "You know that's not true." in was only half true. He hadn't messed up the steps, it was only a warm-up but a few times he had taken a glance at the girl. Takeru had taken a bit of a liking to one of his fellow classmates but Takeru wasn't one who knew how to talk to a girl in that sense.
As if on cue the instructor called for the dancers of one of the routines for the recital tomorrow. It was a routine that Takeru was in and he walked into position at the front of the group. He took in a breath as the music started. He counted the beat and then started moving to the music, leading the group.
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Post by gopher on Jul 30, 2012 19:52:34 GMT -5
Milo let out a little chuckle at TK's quick shut-down of the subject. He hadn't been entirely sure about it, but from the looks on both the girl's and TK's faces, there was something going on. Well, maybe not going on quite yet, but there was something there, an interest. For now, it wouldn't do to poke too much fun. It was always more exciting when someone was actually doing something with another someone than just the thought of it. Milo decided to just file away the information into the back of his mind and keep and eye on the two potential love birds. Of course, that was easier said than done. As he was - and would never be - a dancer, it took an enormous amount of concentration for the young man to move in a way that was close enough to the proper moves that he wouldn't step on or run into anyone else.
Probably the most annoying thing about the class was the "participation" rule. Regardless of whether or not you were in the piece, until the final rehearsals - which would be held a few hours before the recital - everyone was expected to practice the group numbers. Solos, thankfully, were exempt from this rule as they tended to be more tailored towards the single performer. The particular piece their instructor had chosen wasn't one of Milo's favorites - in all honesty, he didn't have a favorite -, but he and TK had worked on it enough that Milo could do the majority of it without expending a super-human amount of effort and concentration. The song was some obscure contemporary piece. It had a nice flow to it, which was weird considering that a large portion of the choreography was leaps and unusually sharp moments. Milo supposed it was some sort of artistic statement, but he was still pretty confused about what was art and what was crap in the world of dance.
TK had taken the lead of the actual group, so he was a little bit obscured from Milo's line of sight. Instead, he focused on the petite frame of another earth who stood slightly to his left in front of him. She wasn't the most beautiful artist of movement, but she always knew all the proper steps. Milo couldn't really judge her though, out of all the students in the class, he was by far the worst. Fortunately, his professor had not assigned him a solo, and Milo had not asked to have one. That would have been a whole lot of disaster he just didn't want to deal with. He wasn't sure if the girl in front of him had a solo or not, though he doubted it. She was so quiet and introverted he was amazed she had decided to take the class.
As the piece continued, Milo's thoughts were interrupted with the mental concentration needed to move his body in the correct way. For the next three and a half minutes, there was just the music, the sound of their bodies moving in unison, and the occasional count from their instructor if anyone ever got slightly off. It was amazing how quickly Milo had managed to get to a point where he could do a dance without ruining everything. He would have been proud of it if it hadn't required so much help from his dancer friend. Milo was still impressed by his growth, but he had to owe the majority of it to TK. It was a little depressing he couldn't have done it on his own, but on the other hand it was nice to have someone to help him through it.
They had maybe a minute before they would probably run that same dance again, so Milo just made a face at TK in mirror. Sure enough the music started up again, but this time Milo was a bit more free to pay attention to other things. Thank goodness for muscle memory. He loved to watch the movement of the bodies as they progressed through the dance. The lines and tension of the dancers's bodies were extremely inspiring, and he often found himself watching TK and a few of the other older dancers in the class. It was a lot like jogging through an art gallery: certain poses were so beautiful, but they were only held for a minute before they passed.
The second time the music ended, the professor pulled two of the students in the group over to the side to discuss something with them. She looked a little pissed, but then again... She always looked like that. Milo made his way over to TK, giving the boy a questioning look. "Did they really do that poorly? I wasn't really watching them." This late in the rehearsals, the kind of talk those two were getting was more than a slap on the hand. There hadn't really been anything major Milo had noticed, but the two dancers had been pretty far to Milo's right when his focus had been to the left on TK and the short earth girl. Worst case scenario would be the two dancers would get cut, and their lovely professor would randomly choose people to fill the positions until she found the ones she liked. They'd done that before, and Milo had loathed every moment of it. Perhaps it was the woman's way of getting back at Milo for improving when she had wanted him to drop, but she almost always had him go more than anyone else. It was torture. "I really... I don't think I can do random picks today." Milo rolled his eyes as their professor announced that the two dancers were indeed being cut and they would be deciding who would fill their places by random selection. He gave TK a tired looking "Kill me." glare before his name was called as one of the first two to do the piece. Excellent.
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