the dance we do [callie]

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The dawn was breaking outside of the castle, not that Zytka could tell. Inside of the Room of Requirement there were no windows. It was strange, but Zytka preferred to dance in the dark. Before she could dance, though, she had to put on her shoes. Zytka was sitting on the floor, rolling up the feet of her tights so she could slide her toe pads on. Her fingers worked quickly as she tied her pointe shoes onto her feet, flexing her toes. She needed to warm up first, but thankfully she had thought of that, and there was a barre at the side of the room. The Room of Requirement began playing soft piano music, a song that Zytka didn't recognize but went quite well with her pliés. She faced her back towards the door so she could better focus, humming along to the music as she prepared to begin her day with dance.

calliope ivory fleming

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Calliope had risen early that morning; her mind full of tasks that she needed to do that day. She needed to set aside morning time for practice, grade the papers she’d collected from her sixth years that were due out tomorrow, afternoon practice followed by a frog choir rehearsal, and of course meals and regular classes in between all of that. She decided that for the the best start of her morning, she’d sing first. Today, she’d try the Room of Requirement for practice. She’d used it a few times before and the acoustics the room provided her were amazing and preferable to her basement level rooms.

Coming to face the room however, Calliope found it was already in use. Her curiosity overcoming her, she gently pushed open the door to find Zytka on the other side. She’d been meaning to see out a meeting with her fellow professor; Caroline was her best friend after all and she and Zytka had been spending plenty of time together. “You dance?” she called out, her voice soft. “I don’t mean to disturb you; I too use the Room of Requirement to practice my art,” she added quickly with a small smile.

@zytka

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Zytka stopped warming up the moment she heard the door click open behind her. She hadn’t meant to freeze, but her dancing wasn’t something that she advertised, or talked about at all, really. It was a hobby she had taken up after her first grandmother had died, and while she was quite good now, it had always been one of her insecurities. Zytka forced herself to move, turning around so she could face the door and see who had walked in on her warm-up. “I do.” Zytka answered when the question was asked. “Never professionally, though.” It was no secret that Calliope, who was at the door, was a professional performer over the summer, so that distinction felt important to make. Zytka had always thought about what it would be like to dance professionally, but she had also never let anyone watch her dance long enough to judge whether or not she’d ever be able to make it a career. The room had thoughtfully shut off the music, and Zytka let the silence hang in the air for a moment. “If you have need of the room, I can leave.” She could just come the next day, or perhaps later that night.

calliope ivory fleming

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Calliope immediately felt bad when the other woman froze; she didn’t know whether or not Zytka made her dancing public knowledge and didn’t want to feel like she was intruding. “That’s a shame,” she said when Zytka told her she did dance but never professionally. “The Royal Ballet could always use more dancers,” she added with a small smile.

She shook her head when Zytka offered to leave. “Oh no you got here first the room is all yours.” Calliope then got an idea, but she wasn’t sure how the other woman would react. “Actually…” she hesitated. “I just accepted this role for next summer where I have to do some ballet. I’m a little rusty, would you possibly be willing to help me?” she asked cautiously. She’d understand of course if the woman wanted to be left alone to her dancing; personally Callie didn’t mind whether or not people listened to her singing but she was not like most people.

@zytka

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Zytka smiled softly when Callie said that the Royal Ballet was always looking for more dancers. “I doubt that I am talented enough.” She demurred. It was times like this when Zytka wished that she knew more other dancers, so that she could gauge where in the field she lay, talent-wise. Since all she had been doing when Callie came in was warming up – simple tendus and dégagés – she doubted that her fellow professor could help any with that aspect.

Zytka had been all too prepared to leave, but it seemed that Calliope was opposed to that idea. She, however, asked if Zytka would be willing to help her polish her ballet skills. Zytka hesitated a moment before answering. “Certainly.” She said once she finished her internal debate. Even if she couldn’t help Callie, at least she would have someone to dance with for a while. “What do you know already?” Zytka asked. A little rusty could mean a wide variety of things, and Zytka wanted to know what she was going to be working with.

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“I remember basic steps, such as plies, tondues, and so on. My pirroettes have never been fantastic, and I do have to go en pointe, which I haven’t done since….I last played the role five years ago,” Calliope admitted sheepishly. She’d seen Zytka hesitate just ever so slightly before agreeing to help her, but Callie was glad that she had agreed to in the long run. “I’m sure you are better than you let yourself think you are; that’s typically how it goes. We are our own worst enemies in the world of performing arts,” she added with a smile. Calliope remembered her first audition process for Phantom when she was just eighteen years old; the night after her second callback, she recalled pacing around her living room, her sisters sitting on the couch clutching each others hands. Then, she got the call; she had gotten the part of Christine in Phantom. Her sisters screamed and popped open a bottle of champagne they had hidden from her, just in case she hadn’t gotten the part.

Smiling a little at the memory, Calliope sat down and pulled her dance shoes out of her bag. She laced them up carefully, just as she remembered and looked at Zytka expectantly. “Am I tying these right?” she asked her.

@zytka

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Zytka listened when Callie listed off her skills, wincing slightly when the other professor said that she hadn’t gone en pointe in nearly five years. She was hesitant about Callie’s ability to do it again, especially considering all the different muscle groups that the skill required. Zytka had been dancing nearly every day since she came to Hogwarts, and there were days when even she still felt shaky en pointe. Everyone had bad days. But she had promised that she was going to help, and if helping meant building Callie’s muscles up so that she could handle the pointe work, then so be it. “It’s hard to know how good you are with no point of comparison.” Zytka had never seen herself dance except for in the mirror, and that was hardly an accurate representation, since she was focusing more on correcting herself, not looking at what she was doing correctly. And she hadn’t seen others dance before, at least not since she had taken up the craft herself.

Zytka glanced over at Callie as she tied the shoes. “If you tie them slightly lower on your ankle, they’ll stay on better.” Zytka said, extending her own shod foot so Callie could see what she meant. The knot in the ribbon of her shoes sat in the divet of her ankle perfectly, and it really was the best way to keep from having to adjust the shoes every few minutes.

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Calliope caught Zytka’s wince and sighed a little with a small smile. “I know, I should have kept up with it. But it’s been harder than I expected balancing teaching with my art. Now that I’m head of Hufflepuff there seems to be less time. This opportunity though, it was too sweet of an offer to pass by. Phantom is how I got my big break and the creator asked for me specifically. I couldn’t say no,” she said, shrugging sheepishly. She relaced her shoes the way Zytka showed her and stood up, walking over to the barre. She placed a hand gently on the barre and did a few plies to warm up her legs. She worked out her feet, not going en pointe just yet, but making sure the ribbon didn’t move. Thankfully, they didn’t move. “Thank you for the tutorial,” she said to the other woman. She leaned back against the bar, waiting for Zytka to take her position to run through some warmups with her. “How long have you been dancing for?” she asked her curiously. Obviously the woman knew what she was doing, but it was a mystery how long she had known her art for.


@zytka

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Zyka nodded when Callie said she knew she ought to have kept up with her dancing skills. The Ancient Runes professor could understand being busy, though. Since she hadn’t attended Hogwarts she wasn’t eligible to be a Head of House, but it seemed like it was quite a lot of work, since it required one to be available at nearly all times. And Callie had a good reason for choosing to agree to perform even if her skills weren’t on part. When the other professor moved over to the barre, Zytka followed her, also doing a few pliés to rewarm her slightly cooled muscles. “Hakuna shida.” Zytka replied when Callie thanked her. No problem. When asked about how long she had been dancing, Zytka had to think a little. She had always thought of her life in terms of events, and not in years, but so few at Hogwarts knew about her personal history well enough to equate the two, so she took the time to change the event into a date. “I’ve been dancing since I was fifteen.” Which was now exactly half of her life, which was a strange thought to think about. As soon as she had her next birthday, she would have spent more of them dancing than not. “How long have you been performing?” Obviously it had been a long time, since she was a professional, but Zytka was curious about the specifics.

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Calliope smiled as Zytka replied in her native language; it sounded beautiful, like poetry, musical in a sense. “I took dance lessons when I was a child; I’m a Muggleborn, so most of my childhood revolved around proper schooling and ballet lessons. My sister took up the cello, while my other sister chose to try her luck with piano. She’s now a Healer at St. Mungos,” she told her with a laugh. Ariadne had always been keen on Herbology while they had been at Hogwarts, so in the end it hadn’t been surprising to Calliope that her sister chose to go into magical medicine.

“Performance wise, I got my first acting job a month out of Hogwarts. A small bit part in Les Miserables, and then it sort of snowballed from there. My first big part though was Christine in Phantom of the Opera...gosh about ten years ago now? Crazy how time flies,” she said with a chuckle. She shook out her feet and shifted them into first position. “Right,” she said, then tondued out and back in so her feet were in fifth. She rose slowly, her hand on the bar and the other above her in fifth position. “How does it look?” she asked her.

@zytka

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Callie said that she had been taking ballet lessons since she was a child, and Zytka nodded. She almost wanted to be envious of Callie and the fact that she had gotten to begin realizing her passion when she was so young, but Zytka just couldn’t bring herself to feel envy of any sort. She knew that part of the reason she had given herself so completely to dancing was because, at the time, she hadn’t been able to bear feeling anything at all. It was easier just to lose herself in the movement. If she had been forced into lessons, that passion probably never would have been realized, because it would always have been a chore. “I wish sometimes I had chosen an instrument instead of dance.” Zytka mused. “Much easier on the body as you get older.” Everyone knew that dancers had expiration dates. Musicians did, too, of course, but the day generally came much later.

Zytka raised her eyebrows in surprise when Callie said that her first acting job had come a month after she had left school. Zytka hadn’t had a real, proper job until she came to Hogwarts, which was several years after she had come to the United Kingdom. “Time does fly.” Zytka agreed. “I think that I blink and I end up ten years older.” She had never had a crisis about whether or not she was doing something great with her life, but Zytka did wonder, sometimes, if there was something better to do. Zytka watched as Callie tondued, nodding a little. “Make sure you’re pushing all the way through the arch of your foot. It creates a better line.”

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Calliope smiled at Zytka’s comment. “We do have some talented students in the orchestra club; I sometimes ask one of the piano players to come and accompany the Frog Choir at practices,” she told her. Being involved in the arts was a wonderful thing, one that Calliope always encouraged if any student even mentioned in passing being interested. The hardest part was making sure to nurture the artistic talent, and Callie was always available and willing to be a mentor for anyone who was looking to break into that area. The more students who possess a passion for the arts, the better in her opinion! “I do wish I had continued with dance lessons after I left Phantom the first time; I didn’t really need it much for the other musicals I performed in, so I let is slide. Silly of me since I am nearing thirty and should be focusing on staying active and healthy,” she admitted, laughing a little.

Callie listened to Zytka’s instruction carefully, making sure to push her foot all the way through and really feeling a difference in the movement. “Thanks!” she exclaimed. She did a few more warmups, then looked over at Zytka. “Why don’t you start a dance club? I think there would certainly be students interested in learning about different kinds of dance?” she asked her curiously. She had been fortunate that the Frog Choir had been well established before her tenure had started at Hogwarts, and the opening for the professor mentor happened to be open. She also knew there was an Art Club, so in her opinion a Dance Club just made sense.

@zytka

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Zytka nodded when Callie said that there were talented students in the orchestra club. It amazed her sometimes how many extracurriculars some students were able to take on, in addition to their classes and a social life. It looked awfully exhausting. She nodded again when Callie said that she wished she had continued with dance. “It’s much harder to rebuild old skills than to maintain them.” Zytka commented. That was why she tried to get into the studio at least once a week, even if there were other things pulling for her attention.

At the suggestion of a Dance Club, Zytka paused. “I’m already the supervisor for the Black Student Union, and it’s been struggling.” She said. There wasn’t much interest in the club, it seemed, which saddened her. But if the BSU wanted to grow, then all of its members would have to devote a lot of time an energy into it; Zytka didn’t want to split her focus with another club, especially since it sounded exhausting to try to build the membership bases of two clubs at once. “And besides, a student would need to volunteer to be captain.” Zytka didn’t see many of the students in the school, since Runes wasn’t the most popular of electives, and of the students she did see, none of them had expressed a particular interest in dance, at least not that Zytka could see. “Thank you for the idea, but I’m not sure it’s practical.” Especially since dancing was a side of herself that Zytka didn’t show often, especially not to her students.

calliope ivory fleming

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Calliope nodded; she didn’t necessarily agree with Zytka’s argument against starting a Dance Club, but it wasn’t something she was going to push on someone. Running a club was hard work; even with a group like the Frog Choir which had been well established since before she had even started at Hogwarts as a student. “I wonder how many students take dance, or took dance in the Muggle world before coming to school. I’m sure at least some of them have some skill,” Calliope wondered aloud. She knew there was a set of royals from the Muggle world that currently attended Hogwarts, the youngest being a member of her house. She probably had had dance lessons at one point or another. Callie continued stretching and working out her feet, knowing she wasn’t quite ready to try the routine she’d have to perform with the opening number of Phantom when her character Christine was still just a chorus girl instead of the lead soprano of the Opera house. “Zytka, could I ask for your assistance maybe once a week in building up my strength for this? It’s only for the first...five minutes of the show if that, but it’s also a nightly performance sort of deal and I don’t fancy injuring myself the first week in Paris,” she asked the other woman, only with a slight hesitation.

@zytka

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Zytka cocked her head to the side when Callie wondered how many students danced before coming to school. “I feel like most children try dance at a young age.” Zytka said with a shrug. Nearly every little girl – at least the ones in Europe – seemed to have a story about being hauled off to dance lessons. It hadn’t been that way in Uganda, at least not in Zytka’s village. It was a waste of resources to buy lessons and costumes for children when they could entertain themselves just as easily running barefoot or singing silly songs. “Most don’t continue once it requires a time commitment, I’ve heard.” Zytka added. When it was only one or two lessons a week, anyone could dance, but at the higher skill levels, when hours a day were devoted to dancing, not everyone could hang on, either because of other time obligations or a financial strain.

Zytka was glad to be pulled from her thoughts when Callie asked for help in building up her strength. “If you have the time, twice or three times a week might be better.” The professor suggested. She certainly had the time, but she also knew that Callie had additional responsibilities, being the head of a house and all. “I don’t imagine that a foreign country would be a good place to be injured.” Zytka said with a wry smile. It was bad enough getting hurt at home.

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