Some might have called Lynn and Craig a mismatched couple. She was a few years older than him, the house was in her families name, and he was still finishing his graduate studies. They also didn't seem to share a lot of common interests. But amoung their circles of friends, they were considered about as happy and close as a couple could be, and had lived together for a few years now. Perhaps it was the fact they allowed each other enough room to pursue their individual hobbies, best exemplified on Sundays when he would spend most of the day in the living room, while she would be in the basement rec-room, specifically furnished to her needs.
Although she'd always been a fan of dance, she never got the chance to study it as a child, so she was delighted to find that ballet was offered as an adult-learner class at the local community centre. Lynn enjoyed it immensely, and would spend part of her Sunday afternoons practicing her skills. Craig had installed a long wooden barre for her along one wall, though he himself found the whole thing terribly boring, and often said so. Thus, it was a bit of a surprise when he came down the steps into her little mini-studio.
"Well, hello stranger," Lynn said, coming down from 'battement fondu'.
"Just wanted to see what you were up to," he said casually, sitting down on a nearby chair.
"Either that or the tv cable's out."
Craig's sheepish smile told her she was right. Lynn was dressed in her usual practice clothes; a long sleeved black leotard, white tights, and ordinary soft leather ballet shoes. Her shoulder length brown hair was tied back in a short ponytail. It was all a little different than what Craig was used to seeing. Most days Lynn preferred simple dresses with low hemlines, which while quite elegant, disguised much of her lean, shapely figure.
"So, what sort of strange things do you get up to when you're down here all alone?"
Lynn laughed. "You really don't get it, do you? Why do you find ballet so uninteresting? What is there not to like?"
Craig resettled his narrow-rimmed glasses, trying to think of a diplomatic answer. "Well, I'm not a fan of classical music for a start."
"Ok, so, there's not any playing right now. What else?"
"And, um, well, it seems an unusual way to tell a story. Even opera has dialogue at least. And, um.."
Lynn smiled, arms folded across her chest. "I think I know what the problem is. You've got in your head that there's only one way you're meant to watch it, that it's supposed to be some austere high-class art form. Let me try and see if I can present it to you in a somewhat different way..."
Lynn came to stand in the middle of the hardwood floor, facing him directly, her one foot placed before the other in the '5th position'. She made a sweeping gesture in front of her, demonstrating the straight line she was making with her body.
"Right. Now, picture this as a stage during an average production. What do you see?"
"Um, you?"
Lynn smiled. "Yes, well, of course I expect to be the centre of your attention, but I meant generally."
Craig shrugged. "Well, I guess there'd be a whole lot of other people up there with you. There's usually a lot more women in these things than men, right?"
Lynn nodded, gradually moving herself into an elegant 'arabesque', leaning forward toward him on one leg, turned in such a way so he could get a good look at how the other stretched out behind her, her arms making a diagonal line to the position of her body.
"Now, what would you say that these women all have in common?"
Craig sat forward in his chair. It was hard not to notice the sweep and shape of her figure in this posture, especially her long beautiful legs. "I guess they're all thin, attractive, young..."
"Ah, but not just thin, but strong, very fit," Lynn added. She shifted now into an 'attitude', straightening her torso while crooking her right leg behind her in a particular way, one arm raised in an arch above her head. In this half profile, Craig could see the shape of Lynn's small but perfectly formed breasts outlined through the tight black leotard. "In fact, you could say they represent a kind of paradigm of feminine beauty."
