She was growing up and it felt good.
Really good.
"Katie!"
Two of the other girls in the corps came through the door. Jane was wearing her costume as part of the Spanish Chocolates and Eun was dressed in her Mirliton costume. Well, part of it at least. Her powder puff tutu of mint green with cotton candy pink was adorable and she had matching pink and green puffs around her upper arms. Her normal class leotard was showing and under her tutu her leggings could be seen. Katie was really excited for her friends. They'd worked really hard during the lead up to auditions and during the rehearsals.
Eun reached out and fluffed out Katie's skirt. "I wish we were both dancing Mirls on the same nights. It would be fun to get a picture together. Although..."
Katie dipped her chin and looked at her friend. "Although?"
Eun reached down and plucked at the edges of her tutu with her fingertips. "I feel like I'm going to get a cavity dressed up like sugary sweet candy."
All three of them giggled at the idea.
Katie motioned for Eun to turn around and when her friend did, Katie peeked into the back of Eun's waistband. She sighed when she read the number on the tutu.
Eun turned around and wrapped her arms around her middle as she rolled up to pointe. "What's the sigh for?"
Katie frowned a little. "I was hoping we could wear our costumes at the same time and take pictures together, but you're wearing the same costume. We're just performing on different weekends."
Jane groaned. "I'm not even in any of the variations with you guys."
Katie reached out and took Jane's hand. "We're all in Flowers together!"
Jane and Eun both perked up at that.
"That's right!" "We are!"
A man stepped into the open doorway and waved at the girls.
It was Jon Dooley who was the stage manager for the performances. He'd been doing the same job for over ten years longer than Katie or her friends had been in the production.
"Hey, girls!"
"Hey!" "Hi, Mr. Dooley!"
"Sorry to bother. Have you seen any of the stage hands come through here in the last few minutes?"
The three girls looked at each other and shook their heads.
"No." "Sorry, no."
Mister Dooley shook his head and sighed. "Sorry to bother. The theater director just hired a few new people and one of them in particular doesn't seem to show up when we need them." He shook his head again and smiled at them. "You girls have a good rehearsal!"
He waved and disappeared back into the hallway and the girls continued to warm up and talk.
It was only a few minutes more before the speaker in the corner of the room crackled to life.
"Rehearsal for snow in five minutes. Ladies, lead up to the stage."
Katie, Jane, and Eun gave each other matching thumbs up signs. Katie waved at the other two as she headed for the stairs to get to the stage level.
Jane and Eun weren't in Snow for that year's Nutcracker. They were both Co-Captains for the Toy Soldiers for all the performances.
Once in the wings, Katie joined the rest of the dancers for snow. Some with their bodices sewn onto their skirts, but all of them had their skirts on. It was the biggest element when it came to spacing on the stage and with the movements of their arms, their skirts were going to move along with the dancers during the number.
The head of the dance company came to the center of the apron that extended out over the orchestra pit. She welcomed them all onto the stage and then directed them into the wings. "The first time through, we're going to be dancing, using the markings on the floor. All of the wings are in, so this will be closer to the actual performance than we've had so far in the studio."
