Post by Angela on Oct 9, 2007 13:29:06 GMT -5
(the following scene contains a little profanity)
It took a few weeks, but finally Bradley Rodowsky gave Evgeni Potemerenko the music he wanted for his programs. He chose X-Ray Dog, and together the two of them put together two medleys: one was two minutes and fifty seconds, his short program, and the other was four minutes and forty seconds, his free skate. They scheduled Bradley's senior test for the final week in August. It wasn't much time to learn choreography, at least to be truly comfortable with it, but there wasn't much they could do. Rhiannon was determined that her son would see his first senior season this year.
So for the next few weeks, Evgeni had Bradley work extra hard on his jumps, execution of his spins, and helped with footwork. The footwork was the least of his concerns at this point, since the test would no doubt be more concerned with jumps and spins. The two worked constantly on exercises designed to improve posture and carriage. Then the day came when Evgeni and Bradley had their first ballet session together...
Evgeni had sent Bradley to classes with Anna Dupont, originally, but he never showed up to them. He always gave awful excuses for why, and finally Evgeni decided that he had to teach him himself. The two of them strode into one of the ballet rooms, and Evgeni closed the door behind them. This was a private session and they needed to focus.
"First, we stretch our legs so we can get them warmed up, so that we don't tear muscles," Evgeni instructed, and put his left leg on the barre, bending his upper body so he touched his foot with his hands. He held his position for a moment, and glanced at Bradley, who was sitting on one of the two chairs that were in the room. Evgeni stared at him.
"Get over here, stretch," he instructed, annoyed. "If you do this without stretching first, your muscles can get strained."
"Look, I might as well be honest, this sucks," Bradley said with a sigh, walking over to the barre. He did a poor job of imitating Evgeni's movements. Evgeni sighed.
"Bradley, your mother is paying me to coach you as I see fit. Therefore, you will do as I say. Now then, how much ballet have you studied in the past?"
In the end, Evgeni had to teach Bradley the essentials of ballet all over again, and taught him exercises like plies and battements. After these exercises, Evgeni strode over to the chair and sat down, taking two bottles of water out of his nearby bag.
"You're doing very well, Bradley. Break time," he said, offering him one of the bottles of water. Bradley took it and gratefully sat down.
"Man, my legs are killing me," he admitted. "I don't know why. I play basketball, it's not like I'm inactive."
"Your muscles have not moved this way before, it takes some getting used to," Evgeni replied.
"No offense, but I don't know what you see in this shit. Guys who like ballet are either pussies or fags." Evgeni sighed disapprovingly, but tolerated his attitude, for the time being.
"Ballet is essential to skating. It's a necessity. In my country, you have two years of ballet before you even put on skates. You must have balance, as well as grace, in order to perform well. Up until now, you have survived only because your jumps kept you in the top three. But that won't help you as much in the senior ranks. You need artistry. But you should also have a sense of pride and love for what you are doing on the ice. That is why I am trying so hard to get you to have good music to skate to. It is late to study ballet extensively, but you won't be performing on the stage, so I think it's all right enough. better late than never for skating."
"Why do you like it so much?" Bradley asked, sighing.
"I suppose it comes from my father. He was a great man, he danced with the Bolshoi for about ten years before he was forced to leave them because of his political views. He taught me everything I know. When I danced I felt close to him. I still do. I loved him very much, and I still do even though he passed away. I felt like he was proud of me when I danced, and that made me happy to believe that. I wanted to see my father happy." Evgeni smiled. Bradley paused.
"I know what you mean... I started skating because my mom wanted me to. I gotta admit it was fun at first, jumping was the best. Then she started going on about the Olympics, and music I'd be using, and costumes I'd be wearing, and I don't know, it just seemed less fun then."
"Since she was putting so much pressure on you," Evgeni agreed.
"Yeah. That's why I really don't want to be doing this. I think I'll quit once I'm 18 and she can't tell me what to do anymore."
"Well, until you are 18, why not try and give it your best effort, sometimes that can be rewarding in itself. Already you have more freedom than you did with your past coaches. You're not as insubordinate as you used to be. I truly see a lot of potential in you to be better than you are. Of course, it will ultimately be your own wish to use that talent, or to give it up and pursue other things, which would be fine with me," Evgeni quickly added. "If you really want, we can talk to your mother, and see if she would consider letting you quit."
"Forget it, I've tried everything to get out of this sorry excuse for a gay sport. I've pissed off the coaches, I've performed poorly, I've skipped practices and classes, I've even considered injuring myself, but I love basketball too much to do that. I did manage to fake an injury before, but it only got me out of a few practices because my mom found out about it."
"Well I'm sure once we have a talk with her, she will consider letting you quit. Now, let's try working on some steps. I know it doesn't seem like you need to if you plan to quit, but it's best to work on them just in case."
Reluctantly, Bradley got up and the two of them continued to work on Bradley's programs for the next hour.
"So now we go to the ice?" Bradley asked with a sigh. Evgeni nodded, and they went to the ice, where they practiced the steps Evgeni had just taught him.
"You know," Bradley admitted thoughtfully, "those fast steps are pretty fun. Certainly gets my heart pumping at least." He laughed. Evgeni grinned.
"I'm glad you enjoy doing them. That will help you when it comes to performing them. And the slow section allows you to get a break."
"I gotta admit, I'll need that. This is harder than basketball..."
"That's because in basketball, you aren't alone, you have a team to help you. In skating, you're entirely alone. Oh, you have me, but not on that ice during competition. It's all you."
It took a few weeks, but finally Bradley Rodowsky gave Evgeni Potemerenko the music he wanted for his programs. He chose X-Ray Dog, and together the two of them put together two medleys: one was two minutes and fifty seconds, his short program, and the other was four minutes and forty seconds, his free skate. They scheduled Bradley's senior test for the final week in August. It wasn't much time to learn choreography, at least to be truly comfortable with it, but there wasn't much they could do. Rhiannon was determined that her son would see his first senior season this year.
So for the next few weeks, Evgeni had Bradley work extra hard on his jumps, execution of his spins, and helped with footwork. The footwork was the least of his concerns at this point, since the test would no doubt be more concerned with jumps and spins. The two worked constantly on exercises designed to improve posture and carriage. Then the day came when Evgeni and Bradley had their first ballet session together...
Evgeni had sent Bradley to classes with Anna Dupont, originally, but he never showed up to them. He always gave awful excuses for why, and finally Evgeni decided that he had to teach him himself. The two of them strode into one of the ballet rooms, and Evgeni closed the door behind them. This was a private session and they needed to focus.
"First, we stretch our legs so we can get them warmed up, so that we don't tear muscles," Evgeni instructed, and put his left leg on the barre, bending his upper body so he touched his foot with his hands. He held his position for a moment, and glanced at Bradley, who was sitting on one of the two chairs that were in the room. Evgeni stared at him.
"Get over here, stretch," he instructed, annoyed. "If you do this without stretching first, your muscles can get strained."
"Look, I might as well be honest, this sucks," Bradley said with a sigh, walking over to the barre. He did a poor job of imitating Evgeni's movements. Evgeni sighed.
"Bradley, your mother is paying me to coach you as I see fit. Therefore, you will do as I say. Now then, how much ballet have you studied in the past?"
In the end, Evgeni had to teach Bradley the essentials of ballet all over again, and taught him exercises like plies and battements. After these exercises, Evgeni strode over to the chair and sat down, taking two bottles of water out of his nearby bag.
"You're doing very well, Bradley. Break time," he said, offering him one of the bottles of water. Bradley took it and gratefully sat down.
"Man, my legs are killing me," he admitted. "I don't know why. I play basketball, it's not like I'm inactive."
"Your muscles have not moved this way before, it takes some getting used to," Evgeni replied.
"No offense, but I don't know what you see in this shit. Guys who like ballet are either pussies or fags." Evgeni sighed disapprovingly, but tolerated his attitude, for the time being.
"Ballet is essential to skating. It's a necessity. In my country, you have two years of ballet before you even put on skates. You must have balance, as well as grace, in order to perform well. Up until now, you have survived only because your jumps kept you in the top three. But that won't help you as much in the senior ranks. You need artistry. But you should also have a sense of pride and love for what you are doing on the ice. That is why I am trying so hard to get you to have good music to skate to. It is late to study ballet extensively, but you won't be performing on the stage, so I think it's all right enough. better late than never for skating."
"Why do you like it so much?" Bradley asked, sighing.
"I suppose it comes from my father. He was a great man, he danced with the Bolshoi for about ten years before he was forced to leave them because of his political views. He taught me everything I know. When I danced I felt close to him. I still do. I loved him very much, and I still do even though he passed away. I felt like he was proud of me when I danced, and that made me happy to believe that. I wanted to see my father happy." Evgeni smiled. Bradley paused.
"I know what you mean... I started skating because my mom wanted me to. I gotta admit it was fun at first, jumping was the best. Then she started going on about the Olympics, and music I'd be using, and costumes I'd be wearing, and I don't know, it just seemed less fun then."
"Since she was putting so much pressure on you," Evgeni agreed.
"Yeah. That's why I really don't want to be doing this. I think I'll quit once I'm 18 and she can't tell me what to do anymore."
"Well, until you are 18, why not try and give it your best effort, sometimes that can be rewarding in itself. Already you have more freedom than you did with your past coaches. You're not as insubordinate as you used to be. I truly see a lot of potential in you to be better than you are. Of course, it will ultimately be your own wish to use that talent, or to give it up and pursue other things, which would be fine with me," Evgeni quickly added. "If you really want, we can talk to your mother, and see if she would consider letting you quit."
"Forget it, I've tried everything to get out of this sorry excuse for a gay sport. I've pissed off the coaches, I've performed poorly, I've skipped practices and classes, I've even considered injuring myself, but I love basketball too much to do that. I did manage to fake an injury before, but it only got me out of a few practices because my mom found out about it."
"Well I'm sure once we have a talk with her, she will consider letting you quit. Now, let's try working on some steps. I know it doesn't seem like you need to if you plan to quit, but it's best to work on them just in case."
Reluctantly, Bradley got up and the two of them continued to work on Bradley's programs for the next hour.
"So now we go to the ice?" Bradley asked with a sigh. Evgeni nodded, and they went to the ice, where they practiced the steps Evgeni had just taught him.
"You know," Bradley admitted thoughtfully, "those fast steps are pretty fun. Certainly gets my heart pumping at least." He laughed. Evgeni grinned.
"I'm glad you enjoy doing them. That will help you when it comes to performing them. And the slow section allows you to get a break."
"I gotta admit, I'll need that. This is harder than basketball..."
"That's because in basketball, you aren't alone, you have a team to help you. In skating, you're entirely alone. Oh, you have me, but not on that ice during competition. It's all you."
