Isabelle Dances Into the Spotlight Page #4

Isabelle, please keep up.

Ugh!

All right, stop. Stop the music.

Please, everyone.

Isabelle, what on earth

is going on?

Nothing, I just...

Isabelle sometimes

has trouble keeping the beat.

But don't worry.

I'll work on it with her.

All right. Thank you, Renata.

That's very kind of you.

Let's try this again,

shall we?

(CHUCKLES)

(sums)

NANCY:
So, girls, what do you

think of the costumes so far?

JADE:
Are you kidding? They're amazing!

LUISA:
Yeah, they're so cool,

it almost makes me

want to be a ballet dancer!

(ALL LAUGH)

Well, thank you both so much

for your help today.

I really appreciate you coming out to

help sew costumes on your day off.

Why don't you guys wait here

and I'll go get the car?

Okay- Okay.

Okay-

Okay-

Thanks for hanging out today.

It was fun. Totally.

What?

Oh, great.

What are you doing

here on a Sunday?

Not that it's any

of your business,

but I was helping my mom

out with the costumes.

Well, I'm here to practice. My

parents hired a dance coach for me

to go over my choreography

for The Nutcracker.

They're the best.

Well, if that's what you have

to do to get ahead, then fine.

(SCOFFS)

I'm sure Jackie Sanchez will be really

impressed when I tell her tomorrow.

You haven't forgotten that

tomorrow is when we start

rehearsing with

the adult dancers?

Of course, I haven't.

Well, I plan to dazzle them.

All of the other dancers, especially

Jackie, will be telling Mr. Kosloffthat

he has to pick me for the fourth

grade spot in the summer program.

See you tomorrow.

If she impresses Jackie, I can

kiss the summer program goodbye.

Whoa!

This is it!

Our first time dancing with the real

Capital Ballet Theatre dancers!

I'm nervous.

You're nervous?

What do you have to be nervous about?

You know you'll do great.

What?

Nothing.

MR. KOSLOFF:
So, Clara has just

saved the Nutcracker Prince

in the battle between the mice

and the tin soldiers.

And the snowflakes welcome Clara

on her way to the Land of Snow,

on their way to the

Land of Sweets.

Now, this adventure is the Prince's way

of rewarding Clara for saving his life.

Sol need this to be joyous,

and you need to dance

as light as snowflakes.

Yes? All right. Circle.

Ready?

Five, six, seven, eight.

(VOCALIZING RHYTHMICALLY)

Light and fluffy

like snowflakes.

Come on, Isabelle, keep up.

lam keeping up.

(SNICKERS)

Could've fooled me.

Maybe you're the one who could

use some extra practice.

Ow!

(LAUGHING)

Why don't you just

leave my sister alone?

I didn't do anything.

You did, and you know it.

Is there a problem, ladies?

No. Everything's fine.

(sums)

Isabelle, are you okay?

I'm fine.

I can take care of myself.

I don't know why you were

acting like such a weirdo

today at rehearsal.

I was just trying to help.

I know, but I don't always

need your help, okay?

Fine. I'll remember that.

I get nervous during

rehearsal, too.

You don't have to say that

just to make me feel better.

That's not what I was saying.

Never mind.

Listen, I think I might know

something that could help you

when you're feeling nervous,

like you might mess up.

It helps me when I dance,

and it even helps me get through

some tough algebra tests.

Do you want to hear it?

Okay.

Okay, so I've noticed at practice

that you sometimes get off beat.

You didn't have

that problem before.

So there must be

something in your head

that's making you nervous and

hurting your concentration.

Well, if Renata's bothering me

or I start to worry that everyone

else is better than I am,

I get off the beat and start

to mess up the steps.

You need to forget where you

are and what you're doing.

What do you mean?

Last year in intermediate

modern dance class,

we learned about

visualization.

Instead ofjust focusing

on steps and counts,

I think of each dance as

a series of images in my head.

Like, oh,

when I do a pli,

I imagine myself

sitting on a balloon.

As the air goes out, I go lower, and

as the air goes in, I go higher.

Or, oh, do you remember that

gypsy dance I did last year?

Of course! That was amazing.

Well, lvisualized

I was a firefly.

Here. I'll do some.

(CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)

(BOTH LAUGHING)

I feel like I'm transported

inside the image in my head.

My mind goes free

and I just dance.

I don't know what happened. I used to

feel like that, too, when I danced.

(sums)

Can you think of anything that you can

visualize to help you clear your mind?

Do you really think

this will help me, Jade?

It's worth a try.

But you just need to pick the right

visualization to make it work, okay?

(BELL RINGS)

Mmm-hmm.

All right. Well, I've got to get to class.

But I'll see you later.

Bye.

Bye.

(LILY POND DREAMS PLAYING)

That's the perfect thing.

(CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)

Come on, people.

We really need to nail

this snowflake sequence down.

Sound like hailstones

right now.

Renata, smile, please.

Executing the moves isn't enough, darling.

You need to sparkle.

Come on, Isabelle, keep up.

JADE:
Don't panic.

Visualize the water lilies.

(LILY POND DREAMS PLAYING)

MR. KOSLOFF:

Isabelle, keep up.

(sums)

JADE'. Come on. Stay focused.

M R. KOS LO F F:

Isabelle, please.

ISABELLE:

It's not working!

Ugh!

All right, everybody.

Looks like some of us

could use a 15-minute break.

Get some water, please.

Hey, Danielle.

So after practice, my parents are taking

me out for dinner and ice skating.

Maybe you guys can meet us there.

Sure.

But maybe we should

invite Isabelle.

No, she probably needs

to practice instead.

Come on. This is gonna be fun.

DANIELLE:
So where are you going

to dinner with your parents?

RENATA:
Well, there is

an Italian restaurant...

Ugh!

Why can't I get it?

Working on the snowflake

choreography?

Yeah. I just can't

get the timing right,

and I keep messing up

the pirouette at the end.

I know the steps.

Let's try it together.

With you?

(LAUGHS)

I don't see anyone else here.

Just relax, don't think

too much about it.

I'll try.

Jade taught me this visualization technique

that's supposed to help with that.

But I just tried it

and it didn't work.

Maybe there were too

many distractions.

Right now it's just you and me

and the dance floor.

Let's give it a go.

Five, six, seven, eight.

Ugh!

(sums)

Let's go again.

And this time, don't worry about

whether or not you're going to mess up

while you're doing it. Just use

that visualization technique.

(BREATHES DEEPLY)

(LILY POND DREAMS PLAYING)

Five, six, seven, eight.

Yes!

That's it!

Look at you.

There's that spark and passion I saw

in you at the Halloween Benefit.

That felt amazing.

I'll bet.

I want to see you dance

like that in rehearsal.

Okay.

(LAUGHING)

ISABELLE:
It was so great.

Jackie helped me

and the visualization worked!

That's fantastic, lz.

Now you're one step closer to

getting into the summer program.

Just think, an entire summer

of ballet in New York City

with some of the best

teachers in the world.

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