Dancing With Visions - Another Style of Dancing - Durin - Redowa
Author Notes: So, my first Durin fic! This is was actually quite difficult to write. I didn't really have any particular music I listened to while writing this one, but i did watch a youtube video that can be watched here to help me write the dance itself. As a bit of info about the Redowa, its a Czech dance that uses waltz steps that was originally a folk dance before getting introduced to to London ballrooms in 1846. Just like the rest of this series, reader is female. I hope you enjoy!
If you would like to read more of this series, the fics can be found here: Dancing with Visions Masterlist
Type: Female reader/ fluff/ sfw/ platonic
Word count: 920
I shifted idly, my eyes staying locked on the young man in front of me, who was distinctly awkward in the way he stood as the rhythm of our music started up. Causing me to curtsey lightly before holding out my hand for him to take. And Durin awkwardly held out his hand and gripped mine, raising it so I could slowly spin under our upheld arms before he let go of my hand and we both turned. Facing the same direction and holding hands once more.
Frankly speaking, I still didn’t know why Varka had decided that I, of all people, would be a good choice to teach Durin how to dance. Especially considering the fact that I hadn’t even known Durin before we’d started his lessons.
Still here I was, teaching Durin how to dance the Redowa. An old folk dance that was sometimes described as a turning, leaping waltz.
We stepped forward with light, almost skipping steps, and I watched, with a slight smile, as Durin’s bright red eyes stayed locked onto his feet as he quietly counted each beat of the music to himself.
Being perfectly honest, I didn’t know much about Durin. He struck me as quite young and deeply unsure. Almost like he was still finding himself. But one thing was for certain: he learned quickly.
He might not have been a natural at dancing, but he more than made up for that with his determination and an endearing level of curiosity. The only trouble was his own lack of faith in himself. It was the reason a certain level of awkwardness filled his every motion despite the fact he’d already shown me he’d successfully learned this dance countless times.
It was almost more a situation where he would choke at the last second before changing positions and look to me for guidance.
He didn’t look back up at me until it was time until we were about to enter a closed hold. A brief smile flickered across his face as his gaze met mine.
My hand rested lightly against his forearm as one of his arms wrapped around me to press a gloved hand to my back while our other hands stayed locked together and I inclined my head. Silently reminding him of the next steps to dance and causing him to let out a tiny ‘ah’ before he led us into the rotations.
And I felt myself smile as he remembered the light hopping steps that were also in this part. Those had probably been the most difficult part for him to learn, but I could already say that he was probably ready to graduate from this class. Other than the lack of eye contact and confidence, he was doing wonderfully.
“Good,” My voice came out in a murmur, but he heard me nonetheless. Visibly perking up at my encouragement the same way he did every time.
And this time, his eyes stayed on me rather than his feet as he spoke, a slight nervousness still apparent in his voice despite how distinctly pleased he seemed at my soft encouragement, “Do you think I’m doing well?”
I nodded, almost laughing at his anxious question, “Yes, I would say you’re about done with these lessons. The only thing left that we could work on might be your confidence with the steps. But you haven’t faltered even once.”
He blinked as we gradually transitioned into the next part of the dance, usually called the pursuit section, without even an ounce of hesitation from him. With me stepping back until we were only joined by our hands before I started dancing backward. Gradually shifting from one foot to the other as my hands rested lightly in his.
“Oh…. I guess I won’t be needing to come here anymore then…” He trailed off, a slight frown appearing on his face that had me tilting my head.
In all honesty, I would’ve figured that he would be glad to have accomplished learning the Redowa since he’d been incredibly determined to learn it from the very start of his lessons. But, instead, he seemed disappointed.
I watched him silently for a moment as we continued dancing. Trading off on which of us was dancing backward and which was dancing forward until we slowed just enough to re-enter closed hold and resume our gentle circuit around the dance floor.
“Well, I suppose I could always teach you another style of dancing if you want to continue coming here to learn dancing styles,” I spoke softly, watching him closely as I made my offer.
And his reaction was immediate. With him visibly brightening once more and even leaning toward me slightly, “Really? Do you think that would be possible?”
I laughed slightly, nodding as we parted, returning our starting position. Side-by-side as we danced forward with light steps in a promenade, “Of course it is. You just need to pick out another style of dancing, and we can start right away.”
We came to a slow stop, and he let go of my hand as I pivoted to face him. Curtseying as he bowed lightly before he popped upright. A little too quickly to match the music perfectly, but it hardly mattered, “Maybe the schottische then? That one looked fun!”
I bobbed my head in agreement as I held out my arms, ready to re-enter closed hold as he quickly grabbed my hand once more and stepped forward excitedly. And I felt myself smile, “Alright then, the schottische it is.”
Dancing Through The Stars - A Splendid Partner - Gepard - Redowa
Author Notes: Gepard actually ended up being a pretty tough character to write (which was kind of frustrating, but here we are XD). In my defense, though, he was actually hard to find content for. Which is sort of a shame, since he seems like a real sweetie. The performance in this chapter was inspired by a performance of the ‘Winner’s Redowa’ by the Stanford Village Dance Ensemble and Academy of Danse Libre at Spoleto Festival in Stanford in 2011. I wrote this while listening to the song “Crush” by David Archuleta. Just like the rest of this series, reader is female. I hope you enjoy!
If you would like to read more of this series, the fics can be found here: Dancing Through The Stars Master-List.
Type: Female reader/ sfw/ fluff/
Word Count: 1206
You really weren’t entirely sure how you’d found yourself hauled into a performance being put on by the Silverman Guards, other than the fact that Gepard needed a partner. But here you were. In a vintage ballgown with an absurdly huge skirt and standing awkwardly next to Gepard while Serval giggled at you from the audience.
Or, perhaps, she was giggling more at her brother than at you. After all, Gepard looked just as awkward as you felt. A fact that was not helped by the faint dusting of pink that remained spread across his cheeks.
You glanced his way, your eyebrows arching slightly before you leaned over, “Nervous?” Your voice was pitched low and you fully intended to break the ice a little with your soft question. If anything though, your words had Gepard’s bright blue eyes darting toward you in an almost alarmed fashion as he somehow managed to straighten further than he already had been.
“I- Yes. I’m confident I know the steps, so you need not worry about me making any mistakes.” He stammered slightly before answering you in an almost rushed fashion. Like he was at attention and you were his commanding officer.
And despite everything, you felt yourself start to smile at the way his reaction clearly gave away his nerves.
But then, Gepard was shy. It was something you’d known for years now.
Despite being the respected, honorable, and reliable captain of the Silvermane Guards, Gepard was easily embarrassed. As was evidenced by the blush that remained present on his face as his gaze darted away from yours a little bit too quickly.
Still though, all things considered, it was ridiculous for him to be nervous. You knew perfectly well that he practiced all but relentlessly to ensure that he knew the steps of redowa by heart.
In fact, you wouldn’t be surprised if he had the whole performance memorized by now. If one of you was going to mess up, then it definitely wouldn’t be him.
You opened your mouth, about to reassure him only for the music to start up, signaling you to turn toward your partner and bow as you reached out and took each other’s hands.
All told, the performance was going to be very simple. The redowa was a dance that had everyone moving in a circuit around the stage, and that was precisely what all of you would be doing.
The only truly strange thing was that you were here, considering you were not a member of the Silvermane Guard.
But there was no helping it. Gepard’s previous partner had abruptly come down with the flu and Serval had wasted no time in eagerly putting your name forth as a candidate for replacing them.
What had been interesting was that, while you hadn’t really been that bothered by Serval’s actions beyond a little whining on your part, Gepard had done his very best to come up with an excuse for you. At first you’d genuinely thought that he absolutely did not want to dance with you. But the moment Serval and Lynx had scolded him about possibly hurting your feelings, Gepard had backtracked.
Apparently, according to him, he had no qualms about dancing with you. He just hadn’t wanted to trouble you.
So you’d ended up being his partner and coming to all of the practice sessions where you’d both learned the dance you now performed on stage. Swirling around in a large circuit with the varying guards as you went through the light, occasionally hopping steps of the redowa.
And for almost the entire dance one of your hands remained gripped in Gepard’s while the other rested lightly against his shoulder. Leaving his other hand to wrap firmly, but carefully against your waist.
And as you danced with him, you couldn’t help but smile slightly at the mere memory of the way he’d apologized for standing so close the first few times you’d entered hold.
You glanced up at him as you paused mid-circuit across the stage to lightly kick to the side with one leg in a way that had your large skirt flipping up ever-so-slightly at its edge.
Predictably, Gepard was focused on what he was doing. With the slightest of frowns on his face as he pivoted with you. Exchanging sides of the stage so that you were now toward the inside of the circle made of dancers while he was on the outside, with his broad back to the audience. Almost like he was hiding you from those present as they clapped along to the music and cheered all of you along in genuine enjoyment.
The performance was obviously a success, but you really weren’t sure if the Silvermane Guard’s had ever done something like this. Gepard had mentioned that it was intended to improve the guard’s image since a large majority of people viewed them as very stuffy. A part of you honestly wondered how many of the members were like Gepard though.
Upstanding and determined to do their very best, even if they were just slightest bit awkward.
But therein lie Gepard’s charm. His earnestness and innate determination to do his very best. And that, paired with his slight shyness, was why most everyone who knew him either admired him, enjoyed teasing him, or were just overall fond of him.
And you were among that number of people.
“Looks like you were right. I didn’t have anything to worry about.” Your words came out softly, but they had Gepard’s gaze quickly shifting to your face as you smiled at him. And he blinked in quiet surprise as the performance came to an end.
His gaze kept darting your way as he bowed next to you, his blue eyes flashing your way in an almost curious fashion as you mirrored his motions and curtseyed to the polite applause of the audience and overly loud cheers of both Serval and Lynx.
And when you straightened you glanced over, only to find a slight smile on Gepard’s face as he looked your way more openly now. Inclining his head with a steadily softening gaze, “I’m glad that I didn’t hold you back then.”
You blinked, pausing for a moment before outright chuckling at his words with a slight, disbelieving shake of your head, “If anyone was being held back, Sir Gepard, it was you.”
You couldn’t quite help the teasing lilt to your voice as you playfully called him ‘Sir.’ But he either didn’t notice, or it didn’t bother him considering the way he shook his head with a gentle smile that you always wished he wore more frequently, “No, you were a splendid partner. I…” He faltered. Pausing to cough awkwardly into his gloved hand as he looked away before his gaze inevitably flickered back your way as he hid the lower part of his face behind his hand, “I can’t think of anyone who would have been better.”
And while you felt your smile spread at his words, there was no denying that the pink flush that was visible at the tips of ears made his words all the better and had you leaned towards him playfully, “And I could say the same to you. Sir Gepard.”
# Crayon Dragon (Waltz) Brett recently sent me a piece to hack: the music from this [adorable animation](http://vimeo.com/41314639). It has a nice moderate tempo, and has a springy, almost-Mazurka sound. (Also, a bunch of foot-changes?) - Tempo: 140 bpm - Date of original hack: June 15, 2012 - Hack: Pattern 12[34] - Overlap 100 Percent, intro removed, middle removed - Field-tested: September 7, 2012 at FNW.
Richard has been playing a particularly energetic Schottische at dances recently; I looked it up and fount out it's a piece called Wavin' Flag used by Coca-Cola for the 2010 World Cup.
The strong drumbeats (and very strong 1) make it easy to convert to a waltz, though it took some effort to add the "oo-oo-o-oo-o-o-o-o-oo-oo-o-oo" chorus parts back into an instrumental version. Fortunately, the song appears to be on a click track, so by adding a beat-shifted version of the instrumental, we get strong 1-2 downbeats for Redowa.
# Mind Heist Redowa (v2.1) I'm a big fan of Christopher Nolan's movie Inception, and [the second trailer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM) is probably my favorite movie trailer ever. While [Hans Zimmer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zimmer) composed the movie soundtrack, the trailer music is a piece by [Zack Hemsey](http://music.zackhemsey.com/album/mind-heist) entitled Mind Heist. Of course, my reaction to the trailer was: > Am I the only one who hears an advertisement with background music in 4 and thinks "This would make a good Redowa"? (Jane's response: ``No, of course you aren't. I think that happens to everyone with enough dance experience.'') Anyhow, this needs at least one more revision, since Zack Hemsey has released his alternate mixes with more material. But I think it's pretty epic already. - Tempo: 160bpm - Date of [original hack](http://music.garron.us/hacks/?song=mind_heist_redowa.mp3): July 17, 2011 - This version (2.1): October 24, 2011 (?) - Hack: 1[23]4, slowed down, added hits
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In the movie "The Rock", Sean Connery has a low opinion of those who claim to be "doing their best." He said gloomily: "Losers always complain about their best." Is he right? This article attempts to give an answer. In the film, two men are together it almost impossible to disable bombs rockets armed with nerve gas on the island of Alcatraz, which was occupied by rebel forces ace special. The lives of five million citizens of San Francisco will depend for their success. The tension is high everywhere. Sean Connery is one of two men. It is a tough ex con. He asks his inexperienced partner, a chemist moderate, acted by Nicholas Cage: "Are you ready for this?" His partner answers bravely, "I will do my best." Sean Connery instantly corrects: "Losers always complain about their best. "Is Sean Connery, right? Yes and No. Yes, people sometimes say they will do their best, but really say. " I will make some effort, but I do not really expect to succeed "They do their best use as an excuse to fail and are not planning information really do their best. On the other hand some people say they really will do their best, whatever happens. These people do not always win, but they often win because so few others do their best. Those who do their best soon stand out from the majority who are content with mediocrity. In addition, do your best, you can not worry about results and frees you to focus on the task at hand. Come hell or high water, you will do your best and leave the results to the universe. More often than not, you will win. Suffice it to say "I'll win," instead of "I'll do my best," does not guarantee you will win especially if the other guy says he'll win. In the struggle between the last World Heavyweight Champion Valeri Klitscho and the British Challenger Danny Williams two men said they would win. However, Danny admitted that he and his rival win and believed they would make a great fight. Danny also had the grace to say he would only win "God willing". In the end Danny put up a very brave fight and lasted until the eighth round, but Klitschko won and retained his championship belt in the world. In my opinion, there is much to say to really do your best. The result is on the lap of the gods and not necessarily under your control. But if you do your best, you may well win. Anyway you're not a loser. If you want to see who won in the movie 'The Rock', get video or DVD and watch it!
