They tried to run through the number once but were stopped part of the way through.
"Wait, wait. Hold it!", Mr. Jackson yelled pointing a finger at the choreography instructor/ dance director. "What is going on up there?", he asked him, while gesturing to the stage.
After getting only a shrug in reply, Mr. Jackson directed his questions to the stage.
"For the love of…Listen, Marilyn and Mike are doing well. But what in the name of the moon Goddess are you doing, Todd?"
"Well, I am having a hard time getting the choreography right…"
"Could have fooled me.", muttered Mr. Jackson.
Todd went on to explain that as there were two rows, the girls up front and the male back-up dancers in this dance, and two of the girls were missing, it was throwing him off. He explained that he knew the timing of the moves based off where in the dance they were compared to the girls' dance moves.
I understood his theory. If everyone knew everyone else's dance moves, then they could work as one team and could help cover up if any one of them tripped up. But if you weren't an intermediate or expert dancer, that was hard to do.
After hearing the explanation, Mr. Jackson was quiet for a moment, pondering.
'Poor guy.', I thought. 'I'd better help them out.'
"Mr. Jackson!", I called getting up out of my seat.
"Just a minute, Sinead."
"But Mr. Jackson, I have the solution to the problem!"
He turned suddenly to look at me. "You do?"
"Yes. Isn't this the man who teaches choreography?", I asked
Mr. Jackson nodded in ascent.
"So have him run through the number once with me. Then I'll go up and we can all rehearse it."
"Alright dear.", Mr. Jackson sighed. "You go ahead and try your best."
Mr. Jackson went back to his seat in the front row. "Music!", he said loudly as he sat.
The choreographer showed me the moves, which were easy for me to remember and went to a 4-count beat.
"…one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. And pose. And that's all there is to it."
"Thanks!", I said earnestly.
"Break a leg, love!", he said before he went to sit near Mr. Jackson.
I hurried up onto stage and got into starting position with Marilyn, Todd, and Mike. My place was in front of, but slightly to the right of Todd. I hoped my presence would help him out, at least a little.
I heard Mr. Jackson yell for the music again, and when it started, I was ready. Even though I'd only just learned the dance routine and had only run through it once, I did the entire thing without a mistake.
I was trying to make a point to the choreographer and Mr. Jackson, but once the number finished, I realized my fellow dancers took notice as well.
"That was remarkable!" called the choreographer.
Marilyn rushed over to me and lay a hand on my arm. "Where did you learn to dance like that?", she asked.
I smiled. "I've had dance lessons."
"Geez. You must have had years of lessons!", said Mike.
'You have no idea!', I thought.
"I started dancing as a little girl.", I said instead.
"You did really good!", exclaimed Todd. "And you helped me out a lot. Thank you."
"It was my pleasure, Todd.", I said with a smile.
"All right, all right.", came the voice of Mr. Jackson. He made his way through the small crowd to me. "I am glad we hired you. You are a good investment and a wonderful dancer."
There were cheers from the others.
Mr. Jackson raised a hand to silence them. "I could come up with whole new shows, with Sinead as the star."
Clapping resounded in the space.
"But first, let's get through rehearsal so that I have time enough to do exactly that."
The guys and I went to get a seat, while the set up began for Marilyn's solo dance. Todd was gracious enough to pop into the kitchen and come back with a paper cup filled with water. He offered it to me, and I gladly accepted it.
Then the three of us sat together while the music started.
While everyone had praised me on my dancing, I noticed as I watched Marilyn dance, that she was a very accomplished dancer as well. Maybe she might not pick up choreography as fast as I (I had no way of knowing), but she had grace, a natural litheness and movement to her, that made it hard to take your eyes off her whilst she danced.
When she was done, we clapped. As she left the stage, I got up from my seat to go meet her. I told her how good I thought her dancing was and my positive assessment of it. She good-humouredly waved away my compliments and assured me it was nothing.
We joined the guys, and all began talking together making plans to get something to eat quick after work, when Essence and Angelique made an appearance.
"The divas arrive.", I heard the choreographer mutter.
"Ah! Ladies, so nice of you to join us. You are just in time to rehearse your numbers."
"They each have their own solo dance, a dance with just the two of them and another number where they are the stars and the rest of us ladies are back-up dancers.", whispered Marilyn.
I just nodded silently.
Essence took to the stage, while Angelique, I noticed sat off by herself. She looked bored and impatient.
About two minutes into Essence's dance, I already knew what kind of dancer she was. In my opinion, she wasn't as skilled a dancer as Marilyn. That could be one of the reasons she was jealous of Marilyn.
Essence lacked artistry. She didn't have as much grace or fluid movement. With her the moves were choppier and dance wasn't about elegance but about sex appeal.
It was clear, for her being on stage was all about flaunting her assets. I could tell from the lack of bounce, that her chest had undergone implants. What other surgeries she'd done, I couldn't rightly say.
'But with a chest that size, no wonder she drew in crowds and money, as compared to the little-chested Marilyn and her natural dance talent.', I thought.