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“Oddly enough she does watch it on occasion, to the accompaniment of a lot of harsh criticism and cutting remarks about the celebrities.” He leaned closer. “I think she might have a crush on Tyron.”
“Oh too much information now,” Micki said with a theatrical shudder. “Back to the topic at hand, you do understand this is going to be an interpretative piece, right? And I’m only going to be on the periphery—the focus is all on you. Are you comfortable with the direction I have to go in designing this dance?”
“As long as no one thinks I’m going to wear sequins.”
There was a constant battle between the show’s costumer and Josh over the theatricality of his costumes. Micki was happy not to be caught in the middle of the disputes. She was a Comette—she wore whatever the costume designer gave her as long as the important bits were covered. But of course her partner was coming at it from a completely different perspective. He had to maintain his reputation in the business world when the ISD was over so sleek and sophisticated was better than glitzy.
“I’ll see what the dreams bring,” she said. “Was there any more cake left?”
“No, but I have a better idea for second dessert,” he said with a devilish grin.
“Insatiable man.” Micki gave him a mock pout but actually she was pleased he desired her so much and thoroughly enjoyed his stamina and creativity.
In the wee hours of the morning she awoke from a vivid dance dream and slid out of bed so as not to wake Josh. Taking her handheld, she crept out to the living room and sat on the couch cross legged, working out preliminary moves in her choreography app. “This might work,” she said, beginning to be excited by the concepts.
“Don’t you ever take a break?” he asked from the bedroom doorway, moving to join her. “I woke up and you were gone.”
“I had the dance dream and I wanted to start on it before I lost any of the ideas.” She kissed him and asked, “Did you ever do any gymnastics in college?”
Staring at her, he shook his head. “What are you dreaming up for me?”
She closed out the app and rose from the couch. “Let’s talk about it later. I don’t want to intimidate you too soon.”
“Nothing intimidates me,” he said, taking her hand. “And I trust you. Shall we adjourn to the bedroom and see what gymnastics we can come up with together?”
With a chuckle she shook a finger at him. “I can’t put those into a dance for a family friendly program.”
Josh stood in the spotlight, waiting for the music to begin. Micki was by his side, gracefully posed, but as she’d told him, this dance had to be primarily about him and his journey. There’d be some partnering of course but this was all on him. His muscles were sore from the practicing she’d made him do and the unusual movements he’d had to master, or at least be able to execute with proficiency in a two minute routine. His brothers were going to owe him bigtime for this. When he’d agreed to take the hit and do the show as the Benfield representative, he’d expected to be doing a more sophisticated version of the various genteel dances he and his brothers all had to learn as a kid. He hadn’t counted on a partner like Micki, with her inventive choreography dreams.
He hadn’t counted on wanting so badly to please her and do well at this torture for her sake.
As if reading his mind, Micki flashed him a smile. The first notes of the song sounded and they clasped hands to start a deceptively gentle opening. The dance quickly transformed into a powerful interpretative piece that had Josh doing physical feats with various apparatus, somersaulting through the air, two tumbling runs and a lot of powerful gestures in between, all fitted to the music. Micki had designed a set consisting of stairs and platforms and as the dance continued he moved from one to the next, with her following him and in the context of the dance encouraging him to tackle even more daring steps, until he reached the topmost tier and stood triumphantly, reaching to lift Micki effortlessly to join him, where they executed a few steps reminiscent of their opening moves and ended with her bent backward over his arm, with his other arm raised to the hypothetical sky.
The applause was thunderous and he could see the holos of this brothers and mother rising to their feet and applauding. Ther rest of the audience in the Nebula Zephyr itself followed suit, even the relatives of some of his competitors. He did a quick bow with Micki curtseying beside him and then they descended from their lofty perch in a controlled fashion, so as not to break the mood.
“That was amazing,” the female co-host said.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like it on ISD,” her husband added.
“You said you were doing the show in honor of your mother,” the woman reminded him. “How does this unique and powerful dance you did relate to her?”
Josh and Micki had practiced his answer in the privacy of his suite. First he pivoted to where his mother’s holographic presence stood and gave a little wave. “Hi, mom!” The audience laughed and he was stunned to see his mother wiping away tears. Real or crocodile? He’d never know but it was an effective gesture and might garner him a few more votes, which he was pretty sure she was thinking. “She always inspired my brothers and me to do our best and then find a way to do even better, to rise above our problems.” Most of which arose from the poor parenting and lack of love from that same parent but he wasn’t opening the Pandora’s box on interstellar trideo.
“I sure see the connection to the dance,” the co-host was gushing. “Let’s see what the judges thought.” She walked them over to the judges’ dais and Josh was again taken by surprise as the two women judges were teary eyed.
“Beautifully done,” said the one who was slated to give her feedback first. “So powerful. I honestly didn’t think you’d be able to handle the interpretative aspects of this week’s assignment, but you showed me how wrong I was.”
Blessing Micki for designing a dance with so much physicality and power, rather than some abstract jazzy number like Kumisarc had tried to pull off, Josh bowed to his partner and said, “The credit for the dance is all hers. And she’s a hard task master when it comes to rehearsals.”
Micki dipped her head to acknowledge the remark but this phase of the show was all about Josh and the judges, who each took their allotted time to opine and shine in the interstellar spotlight so she didn’t speak.
“And the scores?” the male co-host prompted. He looked into the camera. “Will the all important numbers match the comments?”
Five more ‘10’s’ flashed and Josh put his hand over his heart and bowed to the panel. “My mother and I thank you,” he said humbly.
He and Micki made their way offstage and as soon as they reached the behind the scenes area most of the other dancers gathered around with congratulations. “We’re just getting started,” Josh said. “Wait till you see what Micki has in store for us in the next round.”
“Don’t build up their expectations too high,” she said in mock alarm. “We might get assigned the fox trot or some other antique dance, you know.”
