Writing Prompt: She took her place on stage.

Good morning everyone. It seems like everything is going well this morning. Alarm clock went off, I got up and nothing out of the ordinary caused delays. Kind of shocking actually. But I will take it. So on with the prompt! Timers ready and off we go…

This I find fun. I think it is not the beginning of the story. I think that it is either the middle or the end, which is always interesting. I will have to think about where it begins though.

Tuesday, November 21^st: She took her place on stage.

She took her place on stage.  ‘This is going to be a train wreck,’ she told herself, not for the first time.  She was luckily in the back of the group, her slightly taller height ensuring she was in the back row so that no one else would be blocked from the audience.  While her height was in reality only half an inch taller then the other girls, she judged the back row the safest and piled her hair up in a tall poofy bun on top of her head to make her self look taller on the day when the positions were assigned.

The music began to play and the dance began.  Emily concentrated on her own steps, reasonably certain she memorized them.  She was distracted by the need to watch out for the mistimed kicks and turns of the dancers in front of her.  She didn’t worry too much about her own row of back of the line dancers.  In general they kept their motions small and deliberate.

It was the dancers in front of them that needed monitoring. Each of them seemed determined to be the star and were from families who often found it was easier to pay for starring roles than to earn them.  All of the dancers looked spectacular.  They spent a lot of time on costumes, haor and makeup.  They spent less time learning their steps. 

With so many angling for the star role, their choreographer had them rotate in and out of the spotlight.  Each of the ‘best’ dancers in the class, were supposed to get their turn in the spotlight, each having a small solo.  The problem was that once in the spotlight no one wanted to step aside again.  It resulted in a great deal of shoving.  As many of the dancers in the front rows were making up their dance steps as they went instead of performing the set choreography it was difficult to tell when one dancer was supposed to leave, shifting out of the center of the stage to give another a turn. 

As the dance continued there was more and more shoving and interpretive choreography. Looking off stage, Emily could see the choreographer looking stunned at the stage while the instructor dropped her face into her hands. 

That was when the entire first two rows went down in a tangle of limbs and accusations.  The backrow, with Emily in it, was left standing, performing the steps as learned in full view of the audience. 

“Keep dancing, and for god’s sake smile,” was hissed from someone off to the side as someone fumbled with the curtain, trying to get it to close.  Emily and the other back row misfits put on stiff smiles and continued to work through the steps in time to the music.  They ignored the others who, once untangled, stomped off the stage in anger.  The music ended with only the back row on stage.  The crowd clapped hesitantly as the stagehand struggled with the knotted curtain rope. Emily looked left and Denise shrugged and turned to the left.  All of them followed suit and they walked off stage.  Back stage there were recriminations flying and accusations of sabotage.