Tai Chi plus dancing equals X (Sam)

[Demetra Katsaros]

[OOC: The events thread takes place before the Mr. Orange quest threads.]

I managed to get the dojo, free of charge. It was an awesome accomplishment, if I do say so myself, and I was totally looking forward to my, uh, session with Sam. Don't take that in a perverted way, you freaks! Though I suppose 'session' doesn't have too much innuendo, right?

Anyhow, I slid down in my cell's phone book until I found her name and gave her a call. Ring. Yes, it was ringing! I'm not exactly sure what I was so excited about; after all, I get to teach Tai Chi every week, and learning to dance might be a rather painful experience for yours truly. I guess I just really liked this girl, even though we met only recently, and I usually didn't get hyper about such things. Oh well. Might as well enjoy the thrill while it was there.

"Sam, it's me, Demetra. I was able to reserve the dojo for us today, so I hope you can come. There's enough room for dancing and martial arts." I wasn't sure what we were going to do first, but oh well. Even if she couldn't show, I wouldn't waste the opportunity. I'd just practice by myself. Still, it would be much better if she was available. I gave her the address along with some surrounding landmarks as I walked into the garage to pull out my bike.

Bicycling is much faster than skateboarding, so while I enjoy both, I was glad that I used the former as my means of transportation. I locked my bike along a pole and began setting up mats on the floor inside the dojo.

[Sam Ballerino]

((OOC: fully functional Sam FTW!))

Sam was cleaning her apartment when she heard her phone ring. Demetra. Yeah, she could stop cleaning for Demetra. She flipped the phone open. "Hello?"

A grin appeared on Sam's face as the girl on the other end of the line laid out her plan. "Absolutely! Give me an address, I'll head over in a minute." When she got it, she'd hang up the phone and change into some clothes that she could actually move in - a pair of black jazz pants, and a green tank top. When she went to grab shoes, she paused. She hadn't asked Demetra which style of dance she might want to cover. She frowned for a moment in thought, then grabbed a bigger bag and threw all of her dance shoes into it.

It wasn't until she was on her way, riding her brand-spanking-new bicycle that her parents had lovingly bestowed on her, that she realized she could have just called Demetra and asked. But it was too late now. Oh well.

She found the dojo without much trouble, and locked her bicycle on the other side of the pole that held the bike she assumed to be Demetra's. She walked in, finding Demetra herself setting up mats on the floor. Sam grinned.

"Hey there," she said, setting her bag down next to the wall.

[Demetra Katsaros]

[OOC: Oh my gosh, I didn't bookmark this thread, so I was like, "Hmm... when is she going to post?" and it turns out you posted the night when I made it. Haha. =X]

I glanced up as I saw Sam walking into the dojo. Well, I was happy that she was here, but I sensed a conflict in interests. Sort of. I had said over the phone that there was enough room for dancing and martial arts, yet I guess I assumed we'd mostly be doing Tai Chi at the dojo. Mah bad.

Still, while I was donned in my single weave keikogi, and she was dressed in dance pants and a tank top, I imagined we could still do both. I'd just feel a little funny twirling around (or whatever we were going to do) with the ends of my dogi flapping in the air. I doubt she'd make fun of me, though.

"Hey, you're pretty quick," I commented, straightening out the last mat and tying as much of my hair back as I could into a ponytail (it's a little difficult when your hair is layered, thick, curly, and all the way down to your hips, plus it was a bit frizzy today. Yay). "What do you want to start with- dance or Tai Chi?"

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam shrugged. "I wasn't doing much, and this is actually pretty close to my house." She finally noticed their difference in clothing, and she grinned apologetically. "Maybe I should have brought my Aikido stuff," she said. But it was a little late for that now. "I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to wear, so I just picked something I could move well in. I figured it would work well for both."

She paused a moment in her own hair tying as Demetra asked her which activity they should work on first. She hadn't really thought about it, but realized that she hadn't comprehended the concept that one would have to go before the other. It made sense, though. It would be difficult and rather frustrating for the two of them to try and teach each other two completely different activities at the exact same time.

"Let's do Tai Chi first, if that's all right," she said. "After all, we are in your studio, sensei." She gave a bow, only a half-playful show of deference. It was, for all current intents and purposes, Demetra's studio, so they might as well start out with the activity that the building was meant for. Of course it would be a good way to warm up their bodies a little bit, but Sam was also hoping to get a sense of how the girl moved, and it might help her decide what kind of dance would be better for her to start with.

[Demetra Katsaros]

Phew. Sam offered to do tai chi first. It's not that I wasn't looking forward to trying the new exercise technique- a.k.a. dancing- that she was going to show me, but now I could have my feet intact and not tripped over for a little while.

"Alright, I guess I should give you a little explanation of tai chi chuan, then," I began. "Tai chi is associated with taijitu, or the principles of yin and yang, making it a both hard and soft martial art. You probably know a good amount of 'soft' techniques, since aikido is largely a soft style. That is, you're using the aggressor's momentum against him or her, like by pushing hands. Hard technique would be actually fighting force with force."

It was really hard to sum up everything about tai chi in a couple of minutes, but I didn't want to do more talking than physical practice. "Anyway, today we'll start out with some basic training movements. They often have, uh, unique names, but that's what makes it all the more fun."

I spread my legs a couple inches more than shoulder width apart and placed my right foot in front of the other. "Okay, this one's called 'White Crane Spreads Its Wings.' You bring your right arm out, lunge a little so your right knee is a little bent," I made the movements as I spoke, obviously, "then draw your right foot forward about half a step. As you do that, move your right hand upward and your left hand downward, and draw the left foot backward. We finish it off with your right hand above your head, palm facing forward, and your left toe facing out, leaving around ninety percent of your body weight in your back right leg, leaving your left hand to rest along your left leg, with the palm facing down." All my movements were slow, as I usually made them while teaching, but I still paused to look over to Sam. "You got that?"