GABRIELLA
The music cuts out for the fourth time in twenty minutes.
"Again," Instructor Reyes says from the center of the studio, and no one in the room breathes.
We reset our positions. I roll my shoulders, trying to shake out the tension that has been building since the second run-through. The overhead lights in the department dance studio are unforgiving at this hour, and the mirrors lining the far wall give us nowhere to hide. Every mistake in one’s movement or position is right there to be seen by everyone, including yourself.
The music starts again.
We get through the first sequence cleanly, then the second. When we reach the lift combination in the third movement, the one that has been destroying us all week, we all hesitate before moving forward.
My partner's hands find my wa
