In Your Company

Chapter 9

5:34

"Perfect timing guys. Now everybody start going to get ready, parents should be arriving soon."

The younger kids came later to the rehearsal, as we didn't want to leave them without their parents on some of their first concerts ever, so we didn't get to practice in the exact running order. But once they were finished everyone goes back to start getting ready for the start of the concert at 6:30. I also didn't get to practice my solo, but since we still have an hour, I will run it quickly before the doors open.

Christina was going to help me with my hair and makeup. I normally manage by myself, but with little use of one hand, and lots of quick changes, she offered come and help. She also put herself in charge of our own group performance. Also, for the music performances, some of the acts need piano or guitar accompaniment, which I am helping with. So she also decided to pick out a black dress that I wear when I am doing that.

"So, Does Christina have everything ready? We still haven't seen our own performance outfits." I nod. Although we are not a technical class, the four of us always perform a song.

In our first music class so many years ago, the first project was to perform a song with the group Ms Blakeson put you in. She called it 'Project Band'. Of course, the four of us, Faith, Mia, Coral and I, all got put in the same group. We instantly became friends, bonding over the kicking incident. Taylor never joined the music program. I can't even remember why I was allowed to join, while Taylor didn't, I think she had a temper tantrum because she didn't want to. Instantly, the four of us started to sing the song Ms Blakeson gave us, our voices moulding together smoothly.

Soon after that, we moved onto high school, all going to the same one, our friendship growing even more. We started performing more as a group, even though the project finished years ago. It was our favourite pastime. Then Youtube became a thing, we started to upload covers of songs, just for fun. Our viewings grew, and we started to work out how to write our own songs.

"She should be here soon. But she wants them to be a surprise." Coral, seemingly happy with this answer walks out of our backstage dressing room to go and do whatever it is she is doing. Since my solo is the last act before the interval, only because I needed the floors still on for it, and I have 3 other dances in the first half, she is helping me get ready before we start the night, and then straight after each dance. At interval she was again coming to get all of us girls ready for our group performance which was the first performance after interval, the helping in the small gaps then. After my last dance performance I don't need to be on stage again, and I have no accompanying to do, so Christina was going to come and help me get all the makeup off and just put a light layer on so I looked presentable at the end of the night.

"I'm here Dani boy!" Think of the devil. Turning around in the cramped room, I look at Christina and her glowing complexion.

"I am soooooooo excited Dani! I haven't got to come to your concerts before!" Christina normally is working around this time, at a Fashion Week of some sort.

"You do know it is my last year right?"

"Well yeah. I can still be excited though."

"Well, not to rush you, but I need to be ready in 15 minutes so I can help the kids and run my dance."

"Yes sir!" With a slight giggle, Christina sets to work. She is always a bit giddy when she is styling. I guess that is what happens when you enjoy doing something.

She starts with my hair, pulling it into a tight bun. My first group dance is a ballet one, so we are all wearing long flowing grey dresses. It was a beautiful dance, one that you could put lots of expression into, whilst having difficult technique. We used it for a competition at the start of the season, and Ms Blakeson wanted us to do it for tonight. That is the same for most of the dances I am in tonight, they were competition dances that we just ran over and tweaked every so often leading up to tonight. Each dance is ranked for competition season, not based on age, although age can come into play. Especially for the specialty categories, Ms Blakeson made sure to only choose the best dancers for each genre. Most groups are made up of older girls, just because they are more experienced, but there are some where we have mixed in younger ones to bring our average age down.