18 Aug 2022, 20:10
So You Think You Can't Dance?
Date: September 5th, sometime in the afternoon, a few hours after classes have ended
Faint whisps of memories jetted around through his mind, each stayed just long enough to let the moment come into view and disappating away within seconds. The Midspring Celebration while not entirely a disaster; it hadn't been the picture perfect night that people were hoping for. It dissolved into a mess far quicker than Alec had imagined it would. The tables of food came crashing down before Alec had the time to check over it's contents. Everything went downhill the second the champions were announced. The champions and the Hexwizard Tournament were a whole other mess considering every going on these days, the fights started were gruesome, Alec tried not to think about it.
Despite also having a rough start to the ball, there was a memory or two he preferred and liked to keep in his recollection. The ones he preferred had specifically been such as his time with Rose. For someone who didn't know how to dance, she came to pick up what he was teaching her rather quickly. It meant either she was a fast learner, or she had a natural talent. Admittedly, dodging practice in duelling wasn't going to do any harm to your dancng skills either.
With a hum the fourth entered the Rehearsal Room, listening to the door harshly slam behind him as he entered. A satisfied look on his face, he would take in the sight of the rehearsal room, empty, it had the space Alec and Rose would need to practice dancing. They'd both enjoyed their time dancing at the ball, and Rose had fun learning the small bit of a ballroom dance here and there. It only made sense for the two to pick a time in order to do it again. This time, however, there would be less people around, no fights to be involved in and stop; meaning the two could focus on dancing. There was going to be the few odd comment or two from a portrait here and there, but he preferred comments from paintings to dancing amidst a ball going up in flames, sometimes literally. The two had done this a few times since the ball, however, it would be the first time they did it this school year.
Walking over to the side of the room Alec would take his enchanted satchel off setting it on the ground. Alec had arrived a few minutes early, and would take the extra time he had to stretch. Before heading here, Alec had been studying. He was hankering for something active to do. Conveniently, dancing with Rose had been next in his planner. It wouldn't take long before Rose had arrived and Alec turned to look at her, smiling and waving towards her. “Hey! Rose, how are you doing? It's been a while,” it had a while since they'd had much of a chance to talk with fourth year being so busy and all. It was only the start, he couldn't imagine how it was going to get by the end of the school year. “I figured today we'd try something a little more challenging today.” Alec spoke he smirked, his eyes met hers, challenging her, “If you're up for it that is.”
“Think you'll be able to handle it?”
@Rose Moon
13 Sep 2022, 15:12
So You Think You Can't Dance?
Keen Eye / Lovely Creature / Healing Sage
Mentioning | n/a
English | British Sign Language=================== ===================
It was weird to say that Rose was a fourth year. It felt like her third year went by so fast. She didn't feel entirely finished with it when exams and finals were upon her and then the year was gone. Rose was determined to make her fourth year a good year, at least for herself. Rose was establishing better habits- using a schedule calendar thingy, staying on top of her work, making herself a morning routine. The little things that she did made her life a little bit better. Everything seemed to make her The past couple of years of her life had been rough, but she had gotten through them. This year could be a time of making herself a better person. A better student. A better duelist.
A better friend.
Rose liked to consider Alec as her friend, at least. There had never been any ceremony or conversation or anything, making them officially friends. But they were going out of their way to see each other, and they talked on a regular basis. He was a constant in her life, and she liked that.
Rose made her way into the Rehearsal Room, finding it empty except for, of course, Alec. She smiled seeing him, waving back. She spied his bag on the edge of the room and placed hers next to his, reaching her arms up in a stretch.
Rose liked the memory of him first teaching her how to dance. It was sandwiched by two bad things- the drama with the Hexwizard champions and her getting stood up- but still, it was incredibly fun. Him being able to dance had come as a surprise to Rose. The fancy ballroom dancing was something she hadn't ever really done in her life before, only read about in books. Books with queens and lords and archdukes and stuff.
It sounded kiddish to admit it, but it made Rose feel like a princess. So of course she had wanted to do it again.
"I'm doing really well, actually," Rose said. "How about you?"
Alec proceeded to mention that he wanted to try something harder today. Equal amounts of nervous and curious thoughts came to her mind. Rose brushed aside the nervous thoughts. She wasn't very experienced with dancing, especially compared to Alec, so sometimes she would doubt herself a little bit, feeling unsure and like she was doing it wrong. But it was fun to learn at the same time.
His challenge was only about the most Gryffindor thing he could have said given their situation. Rose smirked. "It's just dancing. How hard could it be?" The redhead knew full well that statement could haunt her in the end.
Rose watched Alec, ready for what he wanted to throw at her.
18 Oct 2022, 23:07
So You Think You Can't Dance?
The minute Rose entered the room, Alec brightened at her arrival. He'd smiled and waved, asking how she was as he welcomed her. The fourth year would continue stretching for a few moments as he listened to Rose form a reply, he was happy to have the time to stretch after feeling so cooped up all day. Besides, Alec wasn't going to deny the fact that having Rose around could have made just about anything enjoyable, the last ball was living proof of it. She said she was doing really well and Alec nodded, she asked how he was and Alec's head turned towards her. “I'm doing great,” he responded, then quickly felt the need to add in, “there's thing um- event sort of thing I'm hosting by the lake later, I'm looking forward to it.” He explained, his face reddened, looking sightly flustered as he attempted to figure out what to call it. Event was one word for it. It seemed somewhat awkward to be forward about the fact the event he was holding was a kissing game. She would have been able to put the pieces together had she seen the fliers around, however, if she hadn't maybe the obliviousness was a nice save from any possible awkward moments.
Alec smirked his eyes meeting hers challenging her as he announced that as far as ballroom dancing went, they would be trying something harder today. If she was up for it, if she thought she could handle it. Rose would say it was just dancing asking the rhetorical of how hard it could really be. Alec laughed, “well, if your so sure, then I don't see any reason to not.” He did see quite a few actually, he was somewhat nervous about this lesson, but he would take it as it went. There was no expectation to be the perfect teacher, Alec felt he could hardly call himself anything near skilled in the field of dance. He was novice at best.
His eyes sparkled with a mischievous glimmer, “I do have to warn you, this dance still gives me some trouble.” There was no better way to perfect his skills than through with Rose, though admittedly, it could have it downsides, trying to teach a dancing he hadn't yet perfected. “Today we're doing the foxtrot,” if Rose knew of the dance Alec would be satisfied his words would have had some affect bringing in image to mind. He knew more likely than not she had never heard of the foxtrot, Alec gave himself a chance to explain. “Visually it looks similar to the waltz with a few key differences. The time signature is also different.” It most definitely required faster movement than the waltz, you had to have certain steps down or you would never get others.
The foxtrot was an old dance. He'd always been perplexed by the history of dance, it was one of those things to read up on another time. Alec took a chance to do a preview of the foxtrot for Rose so she got the idea. From that point on the real teaching would begin, going over the steps of the foxtrot with Rose. He'd actually have to put it all together in motion at some point but he figured this would be the best place to start.
@Rose Moon
6 Dec 2022, 13:45
So You Think You Can't Dance?
Keen Eye / Lovely Creature / Healing Sage
Mentioning | n/a
English | British Sign Language=================== ===================
Alec looked happy to see her, which made Rose even more excited about her lesson. It was easy to be happy when Alec was happy. He just had that kind of skill. She smiled as he mentioned his event. "Oh, nice! What's the occasion?" she asked. It was probably along the lines of a birthday or a hangout with friends, though it was very possible that it could be much bigger. She squinted, remembering some of the flyers she had seen around the castle. "I think I've seen flyers, but I didn't really look close enough."
He moved on to explaining the dance, warning her that this dance they were trying still gave him some trouble. Her eyebrows rose. "The Master of Dance, Alec Mason, has trouble with a dance?" she joked, failing to suppress a smile. Although Alec may not define himself as a Master of Dance, Rose didn't know differently, especially when it came to ballroom dances. So, to her, he was basically an expert on everything ballroom dance. Before the blossom ball, Rose hadn't waltzed a day in her life. Now, she considered herself fairly good at learning this ballroom dancing business, but she was very confident the credit went to her teacher.
The foxtrot. It wasn't a dance Rose had heard of before, like the waltz, so Alec explained a little, then showed her a little bit of what it looked like. Different time signature, faster steps, but still visually similar to the waltz. She watched him, trying to analyze his movements. It was a little quicker than the dances they had done before. Rose was learning that with these dances, it was vital to feel the movement and the music in you, to respond to the way the music was arranged and let the music dictate the timing of your movements.
She stepped forward, following his instructions as he provided her with the steps, just the basics. Everything was a little bit backward for him, since there were "ladies" parts and "gentlemen" parts, and they had separate steps, but he was still able to teach the basic movements to her. The steps were a little more complicated than what she had learned with him before, but it was a nice challenge. The hardest thing was the timing of the steps, and making sure she was exactly on time with Alec's steps throughout the whole dance.
"Okay... I think I've got it," she said, going through the basic steps once more. "You're right- it is a little more complicated."