Chapter 22: Teacher Adam
The last few months have been a little strange since that thing with Adam’s friends. They moved to Toronto and I think one of them attends the academy, but Adam never talks about them. He will sometimes go out with them, he has gone back home without me twice, and I think one of the times the guys went with him. But I know it has to be hard when 3 of your good friends don’t get along with your girlfriend so I don’t push the subject. I’ve just accepted he has friends out of our inner circle, and he is entitled to them. He never keeps it a secret and I respect and appreciate him, the conversations are always very quick. ‘I’m going out with my friends to wherever, okay great have fun’ I know when he says to my friends who he is talking about. If he is going out with the guys from our inner circle, he says the guys and gives more details. Sometimes I wonder if I should give them a second chance or if we could meet with an introduction so I know who they are, but I figure if we are met to be friends then it will happen. I have my friends from Stage Masters who Adam knows, and we have hung out together but normally I just go out with them so I think it’s normal. Adam and I have been spending more time together during school since my group and I have been working with Adam for months now on his choreographed contemporary dance, our mid-term performance is right around the corner. I feel like I have double the amount riding on this because it’s Adam’s grade too. He has choreographed such an amazing routine. We are dancing to a more upbeat tempo than what you would normally see with contemporary dance, but it tells a great story which is the fun part of this genre of dance. Adam has us paired up doing the same moves which is stressful to stay in sync with each other. The song is ‘I think he knows’ by Taylor Swift. It's about a girl who wants a boy, but she thinks the boy knows exactly what’s going on. I am so in love with the storyline and the moves. We have been learning to worry about ourselves and our partners, don’t look at the other couple dancing, stay on beat, staying in sync with our partner and we should stay in sync with the other couple.
Adam worked so hard on choreographing this routine, he would put his earbuds in, and I would watch as his hands would move, or his feet would move slightly. But he created it all by himself, we never spoke about it at home because I didn’t want leverage over my group mates. It is also hard to practice with Adam and then go to Danny because they dance differently and are at different heights, so it makes a difference when it comes to where my hands have to be.
Ah, I hate this time of year in Toronto, it’s too cold to sit outside, but there isn’t any snow yet, so I always think I want to go outside. We stayed inside for the break between the lecture and dance. Our options are the cafeteria, the pub or the library. I am walking out of my last lecture when my phone buzzes.
Adam: Hey I’m heading to the pub, are you gonna join me?
Me: for a bit sure I head to the pub and when I walk in, I see Adam standing at a table with some other people. As I get closer, I notice one of them is Adam’s friend Simon from his past. Great. I hope this won’t be awkward. Adam turns around and walks over to me. He kisses me hello, puts an arm around my shoulder, and steers me away from the table.
“We can stay and hang out if you want?”
“Nah it’s cool, let's go eat in the cafe.” We walk away towards the cafeteria.
“Do your old friends hate me?”
“No, why?”
“Just because you never talk about them, I’ve never met them, but I know they live in Toronto and I’m pretty sure one of them was sitting at the table back there.”
“It’s fine Molly, I just know they didn’t give a good impression, and I just think it's better if we just left it alone.”
“It was months ago, if you want us to meet, I’m willing to give them a second chance.”
“Thanks, babe, I’ll think about it.” I drop the subject as I don’t want to fight over something like this. We head to the cafeteria, eat lunch, and work on some homework.
“Are you ready for the dry run on stage today?”
“I think Danny and I feel pretty in sync, I am excited to see the space and adjust accordingly for stride length and range. What about you?”
“I’m feeling confident in the routine.”
“Speaking of which we should start making our way to the studio to change.”
I head into class and find Cameron, Danny, and Veronica already there. We sit together to stretch, then our professor enters the room. “Okay so this is a dry rehearsal, each group will have 30 minutes on the stage to see how their performances look. We will call you when it is your turn. Samuel, your group can go first.” Adam approaches the 4 of us.
“Okay, so today will be all about just seeing the space, getting an idea of where on stage everyone needs to be, and when in terms of the music and moves, I’m not worried about nailing the moves or being perfectly in sync as 2 groups. today it’s about you and your partner being in line on stage and marking the stage so you know where to go and where to stop, we have an entire month for the rest.” We all nod at him. I turn to Danny.
“Danny do want to do a run-through before we head to the stage?”
“Sounds good, Roni, Cam, you wanna run through it with us?” They nod and we all get into place.
We start by walking out on stage just me and Veronica, heads down snapping along to the music, the boys saunter past us, and we snap our heads up, I reach out with my leg and arm at the same time to turn my body, then run after them. stop quickly, leaning back a step, as they continue to center stage and lean back to back as if they are leaning on a bar. Once Danny is facing me, I move toward him again, stopping so he is just out of reach. I lean forward reaching for him then pull back to my own body then continue to close the gap. Once I reach Danny I run my hand down his chest, Danny grabs my hand and spins me, I arch my back to lean into him resting my head on his shoulder, hand over hand we make the motion as if my chest was moving up and down quickly to which I stand up and skip away stop stretch up tall then collapse to the ground, roll so I am facing Danny again, Arching my body off the ground twice with the beat of the music. As Danny moves towards me, he slides up beside me on the ground so his legs are beside me, I throw myself over them and Danny wraps his body around me, we move together as I try to get up and get away when I stand he grabs my hand, I act as though I am pulling it away but Danny jumps up in my direction, passing me he turns and we repeat the sections of moves for the chores of the song. I end up on the ground and make it seem like I am being pulled towards Danny while he smiles, once I reach him it will appear, I pull him to the ground and he drops fast. I quickly crawl on top of him, and he grabs my hips to support me as I kick into the air hold it for a second come back down, and do it a second time, this time I flip over and land in a standing position, Danny rolls to his stomach to a standing position, leaving us to face to face, we lean in touch foreheads, I wrap my arms around his neck and together we bend and he lifts me, I kick one leg then the other in the air. As soon as I come down Danny ducks out of my arms, moves behind me, grabs my hands, and motions as if my chest is beating hard, I skip away without letting go of his hands, and he follows still holding my hands behind me, we stop, lift our hands, I spin to face him not letting go of hands, we come together, let go I lean back with my hands falling to my side, Danny wraps an arm around my back and pulls me back up to him, I wrap an arm around his neck, pull my knee up he catches it, our head turn in towards each other and the music stops.