The Nutcracker, Part 2 ~ A DNA ORIGINAL EXCLUSIVE ~

COPYRIGHT 2017 BY DOLLS N' ALL

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN AND OWNED BY DOLLS N' ALL UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. STORYLINE IS ORIGINALLY EXCLUSIVE TO DNA.

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I followed the others whose names had been called and stepped into the wings, listening to the music. I heard the orchestral strains sound for Esther’s piece.

I peeked out at the stage and watched as she began.

At the beginning, she was indeed stiff with nervousness, but once she hit her sweet spot – her favorite part – she danced like the Esther I know.

Before I knew it, my name was called, and I walked gracefully to center stage. I smiled, for almost no reason at all, except that this was my dream come true – at least, auditioning for my dream.

I nodded and my music began. I had chosen the first part of the Firebird score for a reason – it was the first part of the first professional ballet I had ever seen. I leaped and twirled higher and faster and better than ever before, filled with excitement.



The nervousness was replaced with the urge to perfect every move, and when the last bars of the second-to-last measure sounded, I struck my final pose and counted the beats before the ending flourish. When the music ended, I looked up and saw the director leaning over to one of the assistant directors and whisper something with a smile. I hoped it was something good, and I hurried on my way as they called Emma on. Backstage, Esther grabbed me in a tight hug.

“I’m so relieved,” she sighed. “I think I did pretty well, but I know I was tense in the beginning. I messed up one step sequence, but…”  I nodded agreement. We were quickly escorted to our group for the ‘corps de ballet’ audition. I practiced the order of the steps several times to cement them in my mind before our group was called and we hurried to the wings. The group before us had just finished, and one of the girls was crying. I felt badly, but also hoped I wouldn’t end up like her. I had somehow been positioned at the front and center – there were two rows of five.

We started the dance, and I did each move from muscle memory, having practiced it over and over at home and the studio – even while waiting at school.

 I could easily tell that several of the other girls didn’t know their part. When the last note played, I landed my pirouette and posed.

The director nodded, and then leaned over to the same assistant and pointed with a pencil to either me or one of the girls around me. We all curtseyed before hurrying off the stage in the other direction.

“Did I do alright?” Esther asked as we walked down the hall.

“I think so,” I replied uncertainly. “I was kinda only focusing on making sure I didn’t mess up.”

“Same here,” she answered with a small sigh. We knew that it was already getting late, and so we went ahead and changed back into our everyday clothes. Even if I didn’t make it into the program, I would remember this day.

As the final dancers from our studio finished, everyone loaded up on the bus.

A week later, Esther and I were impatiently waiting for the results. Each studio would receive a list of the dancers from their studio who had made it into the holiday production. Finally, the head dancer of the studio made her way through the throng of dancers.

 

“These are the names of the dancers who have qualified for The Nutcracker from the Sunrise Studio.” She began reading off a list of names in alphabetical order. Suddenly, Esther squealed from beside me.

She had said Esther’s name.

What about me?