AT THE BALLET
Calah McCombs
SETTING: A DANCE CONSERVATORY AT A PRESTEGIOUS PERFORMING ARTS UNIVERSITY. A LARGE DANCE STUDIO IN MOERN DAY.
CHARACTERS
Angel- A young woman with an intense passion for dance, but for all the wrong reasons. She strives to be the best in her class but hasn’t gotten her moment in the spotlight. An overachiever in the strongest sense of the word.
Kamilla- A senior with no clue to what she’ll be doing after school. Indecisive and irresponsible in nature, but a vision on stage.
Lucille- A freshman who is reconsidering her decision to pursue dance. She questions her genuine love for the art and finds herself falling behind several other dancers.
Morgan- The star of the class, with all the natural inclinations of a prima ballerina. Slender shoulders, long neck, and hair fastened in a tight bun, dance is her natural gift, but a secret threatens her chances of making it through the program.
Dance Instructor- A dance professor in the ballet program.
Ensemble- 10-15 dancers in the ballet program. A diverse group, all with extensive ballet training.
* * *
SCENE: A DANCE STUDIO DURING REHEARSAL FOR STUDENTS IN THE BALLET PROGRAM. A LONG BALLET BARRE LINES THE ENTIRE STAGE FROM RIGHT TO LEFT AND LIES UPSTAGE. THE AUDIENCE SERVES AS THE MIRROR. ENSEMBLE STUDENTS STAND AT BARRE WARMING UP SEPARATELY.
ANGEL STRETCHES SECOND AT BARRE. MORGAN STANDS FIRST AT BARRE OBSERVING HER FIGURE IN THE MIRROR. LUCILLE STANDS AT THE END OF THE BARRE WITH HER BACK TURNED TO THE REST OF THE GROUP, AND KAMILLA STANDS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BARRE, CHATTING WITH FRIENDS.
DANCE INSTRUCTOR ENTERS STAGE RIGHT WITH CLIPBOARD IN ONE HAND AND A TO-GO MUG IN THE OTHER, RUSHING
Dance Instructor: Good morning, ladies! Are we warm?
DANCERS WHO HAVE NOT ALREADY BEEN STRETCHING BEGIN TO STRETCH.
Dance Instructor: I will take that as a no… lucky for you all I’m in a good mood so how about we start with some light barre, yes? Alright (CLAPS) fifth position.
DANCERS ALL ASSUME FIFTH POSITION AS CLASSICAL BALLET MUSIC BEGINS TO PLAY. THE DANCERS BEGIN TO WARM UP AS THE DANCE INSTRUCTOR STROLLS THROUGH CORRECTING FORM.
Dance Instructor: Janet shoulders down, and Lucille you call that a tendu? We haven’t the time for childish mistakes.
DANCE INSTRUCTOR GRABS LUCILLE’S FOOT AND TURNS IT OUT.
Dance Instructor: Please don’t make me have to say it again.
Lucille: Yes ma’am.
Dance Instructor: In fact, Angel!
ANGEL ENTHUSIASTICALLY STEPS FORWARD FROM BARRE AS CLASSICAL BALLET MUSIC ENDS.
Angel: Present!
Dance Instructor: Could you please demonstrate our tendu combination properly for our less motivated peers?
Angel: Of course.
ANGEL SCURRIES TO CENTER STAGE AS FAST TEMPO BALLET MUSIC BEGINS TO PLAY. ANGEL PERFORMS HER TENDU COMBINATION, FACING THE MIRROR AS A SINGLE SPOTLIGHT SHINES ON HER.
Angel: (To the audience) I wonder if she’ll notice I had to buy a new pair of shoes. This is the shortest time I’ve been through a pair yet. No more than a week of rehearsals and I’ve worked them to its bitter end. How long has Morgan had her shoes? A week? Two weeks? I doubt she notices me much. Not that it’s any different from anyone else. Directors push me to the back of the pile and teachers put me second at barre. In my senior ballet I was a shoo in for Wendy, and then some know nothing freshman who was easier to lift came in and suddenly I was tinker bell. I’ve held on to the fact that tinker bells are the best dancers because they’re diverse! Flexible. But really its just a front for lack of talent. Or strength. Or whatever it is Morgan has that I don’t. Whatever the stars have, that I don’t. I know it’s not drive. Believe me I’m driven! But I still fall short. I always fall short. And I wish she would ask me to do more than some boring tendu combinations. It’s an insult to my skill and training. Fifteen years of training and I’m demonstrating tendu combinations so Lucille can keep up. Fifteen years of training and I’m still second in class… fifteen…fourteen (Angel counts down the amount of tendus left in the combination) … God how long is this song?
ANGEL FINISHES HER COMBINATION FLAMBOYANTLY AS MUSIC CUTS AND THE CLASS APPLAUDS. ANGEL THEN RETURNS TO HER SPOT ON THE BARRE.
Dance Instructor: Thank you Angel, I’m sure our classmates are more encouraged now. Let’s start with across the floor.
LUCILLE AND SECOND ENSEMBLE MEMBER AT THE END OF THE BARRE PREP FOR TURN SEQUENCE AS PASO DOBLE LIKE MUSIC BEGINS TO PLAY.
LUCILLE AND PARTNER FINISH SEQUENCE AND PARTNER HEADS BACK TO BARRE AS LUCILLE STAYS AND TURNS TOWARDS MIRROR. NEXT PAIR BEGINS TURN SEQUENCE BEHIND HER.
Lucille: (Out of breath, to the mirror) Man she’s a bitch right? Like, I had a mile walk and two busses just to get here by 9, so sorry if my tendus aren’t motivated. And by the way, catch me on a good day and I’d dance circles around Angel. Maybe not ballet though… but who pays for ballet anymore anyways. Though I guess a good dancer, a hirable dancer, is someone who can do it all. Someone who has the right body, can nail every turn, someone who has the time and money to spend on private lessons. Someone like Morgan. I don’t want to be like Morgan, but I can’t help thinking how easy it would be if I was. If I had a passion and I was good at it, well everything else would just be a funny story that I’d tell after I achieved success or fame, or whatever it is you get out of dancing. I forgot what I used to get out of it. For a while I think it was an identity. Lucille the dancer. It’s who I was. But the longer I danced, the better the other girls became and the more average I seemed. Here at university, I can’t help but feel like the worst in the room, all the time. Like I was the cut off and anybody even slightly worse than me wouldn’t have made the program. Maybe it would have been better if I didn’t make the program.
LUCILLE RETURNS TO BARRE AS MUSIC CUTS.
Dance Instructor: Alright, and which group would like to execute the thirty-two count we learned in last week’s classes?
KAMILLA SNICKERS AS ENSEMBLE MEMBER WHISPERS IN HER EAR.
Dance Instructor: Kamilla! How wonderful of you to volunteer. You and your group to the front please. Refresh our memory.
KAMILLA JOKINGLY MAKES HER WAY TO CENTER STAGE, TWO ENSEMBLE MEMBERS FLANKING HER SIDES AS JAZZY BALLET MUSIC CUES AND THE THREE BEGIN A JETE COMBO.
Kamilla: I wonder what I’ll eat after this. Maybe I could go get one of those garden salad wraps from that new deli on the corner. Or I could get a smoothie. Do I have money for a smoothie? God, I hope I have money for a smoothie. Speaking of I’ve got to find a way to make some, you know after finals and all. I’ll have a degree from one of the most prestigious universities in the country for dance, and with my training I’d probably have my choice of ballet company. But to do that I’d actually have to go to auditions and much to the dismay of my dad who pays his weight times a thousand for this school, I haven’t gone to any. It all feels too final. If there was a post university training, I’d take it in a heartbeat. Anything to keep me from applying…. Must be easy for someone like Morgan. I heard she has companies coming to her like moths to a flame. She’s sure the flame in our eyes.
KAMILLA AND TWO ENSEMBLE MEMBERS FINISH THEIR COMBINATION AND RETURN TO BARRE AS THE REMAINING DANCERS APPLAUD
Dance Instructor: (Clapping as well) Very well-done ladies. Kamilla a pleasure as always.
KAMILLA CURTSEYS AS IF TO SAY THANK YOU.
Dance Instructor: Now did anyone take the time to look at the Baldwin I assigned last week? Surely the most coveted of prima ballerinas.
CLASS IS SILENT AS STUDENTS ATTEMPT TO AVOID THE DANCE INSTRUCTOR’S GAZE.
Dance Instructor: Well one of you must have… Morgan?
Morgan: (sheepishly) Well I didn’t watch the video…
Dance Instructor: Oh?
ENSEMBLE ALL APPEAR SHOCKED AT MORGAN’S REVELATION.
Morgan: Well, you sent her rendition of Napoli and well, I’ve seen it a thousand times. I might even say I’ve learned it from memory.
Dance Instructor: (Beaming) Well of course you have! Would you be a gem and demonstrate Napoli for your fellow dancers?
Morgan: Certainly, ma’am
MORGAN TAKES CENTER STAGE AS NAPOLI MUSIC STARTS.
Morgan: (Frozen) The hardest thing about being at the top is having the farthest to fall. Having the most to lose is a special kind of pressure. It’s like stress on speed. Like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and how tall they look, your chin and how elevated it is, your ankles and how much they can hold before finally they break. My mother thinks I’m broken, and hell if I don’t think so too. When I told her, her first instinct was to fix the problem. (Morgan places her hand on her stomach cradling her womb) “Just a bump in the road” she said. All of the greats have one and this just so happened to be mine. “It will be fine” I noticed that she never said I will be fine. Or that I will feel fine. But surely it will. (Begins dance) I wonder what my peers would say if only they knew. Would they sympathize? Feel that I’ve fallen from grace, or maybe they’ll think its what I deserve. Nobody’s perfect and maybe this is the first time in my life I haven’t felt like it. And despite my mother’s quick jump to believing my unborn is a problem, I can’t help but think that it saved me. Caught me right before I jumped off a cliff, pointe shoes anchoring me to the ground. I know they’ll think it a waste of talent and potential. Years’ worth of training just for dance to become a hobby like knitting or crossword puzzles. But maybe I don’t love it like everyone else. For me, dance is a duty. And like they say, it would be a shame for me to throw it away. Shameful.
MORGAN FINISHES NAPOLI AND MUSIC CUTS. SILENCE OVERTAKES THE STUDIO FOR A MOMENT AS MORGAN CATCHES HER BREATH. ENSEMBLE IN AWE OF HER PERFORMANCE. APPLAUSE ERUPTS AS MORGAN RETURNS TO HER PLACE AT THE BARRE.
Dance Instructor: Well done! Well done! Such a vision. We all can learn from Morgan. Well done!
Angel: Really great job Morgan!
Morgan: Thanks, its nothing really.
Dance Instructor: Do not sell yourself short! And that goes for all of you, a true ballerina is confident but not boastful. Humble but never doubtful. Now! Seeing that nobody had the time to watch last week’s assignment at home, we can watch this as a class.
DANCE INSTRUCTOR EXITS STAGE LEFT.
Kamilla: (Walking towards Lucille) Hey.
Lucille: Hi.
Kamilla: You’re Lucille, right?
Lucille: As I live and breathe.
Kamilla: Yea, I just wanted to come over and tell you not to take her words to heart. She was kind of harsh earlier but she’s only like that to make us better. I know you’re a first year and all but you’re good. You just need time (grazing Lucille’s arm).
DANCE INSTRUCTOR ENTERS STAGE LEFT WITH A ROLLING TELEVISION AND PLACES IT DOWNSTAGE CENTER. ENSEMBLE SITS ON THE FLOOR FACING THE TELEVISION.
Dance Instructor: Now pay attention! Artists can only become better by…
Ensemble: (Chanting in a call and response manner) Studying art.
Dance Instructor: Very good!
LIGHTS GO DOWN AND FOUR SPOTLIGHTS SHINE ON LUCILLE, ANGEL, MORGAN, AND KAMILLA. THEY SPEAK TO THE AUDIENCE.
Lucille: Am I actually getting better?
Morgan: Will I get worse?
Kamilla: What am I doing?
Angel: How much longer?
Morgan: What are my options?
Angel: How can I get better?
Kamilla: Will they like me?
Lucille: Should I quit?
Morgan: I can’t quit.
Angel: Why aren’t I like her?
Kamilla: Do I have time?
Angel: What does she have that I don’t?
Lucille: Is it worth it?
Morgan: Where’s the top?
Kamilla: When is it time to live?
Morgan: Who am I without it?
Lucille: Can I live without it?
Kamilla: Can I be without it?
Angel: What is life without it?
Morgan, Angel, Kamilla, Lucille: If I don’t have dance, then what do I have?
LIGHTS GO DOWN AND DANCE INSTRUCTOR ROLLS TELEVISION OFF STAGE, EXITING STAGE LEFT. DANCERS TAKE THEIR PLACES IN THE DARK, BEING SURE TO MAKE SHUFFLING NOISES AND WHISPERS. MUSIC BEGINS AND LIGHTS GO UP AS ALL DANCERS PERFORM A BALLET NUMBER. AFTER THE NUMBER THE ENSEMBLE EXITS AS LUCILLE, KAMILLA, ANGEL AND MORGAN BOW GRANDIOSELY IN SYNC. THE DANCERS SEEM TO SHIFT FROM PERFORMERS BACK INTO CHARACTER AFTER THEIR BOW. THEY GRAB THEIR RESPECTIVE BAGS AND WATER BOTTLES AND EXIT.
Calah McCombs is from Plainfield, New Jersey, and is an expected 2024 graduate. Calah is a political science major with a creative writing minor in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers New Brunswick. Her passion is for fiction, but she is also an avid lover of poetry and journalism. She strives to write past the physical world and into the emotional one, hoping to provide an entertaining yet humanly connected experience for her readers.
This piece was written in Creative Writing: Form and Technique in Playwriting, taught by Professor Caridad Svich. Svich selected the piece for publication in WHR.