~{.dancedance.}~

Heat filled the room, heavy and sticky. Thick heat, dense heat. The room felt small, like there was a charged, pulsing pressure building.

Deep inside, Ember felt her heart thudding a rhythm. Steady and deep, her body responded, letting her beating heart set the pace.

From her lips came small paths of air, hard, steady, controlled. She pushed air out, she pulled air in.

Her whole body beat and breathed at once. Her heart thudded from her chest to her ankles; when her lips drew a sip of air, so did her fingers. Beating, breathing, steady, together.

She felt her body improvise, a thud of her heart led her head to turn. With the next breath, her legs found their way into the air. Again, her arms twirled, her feet spread themselves wide. Her body twisted, her hands pulled into a tight spin.

Before she could notice, her heart had stopped beating. She had stopped breathing. There was no thud; there was no air.

There was only Ember and the music. From somewhere at the center of who she was came a bright spark that quietly exploded.

The world was there only as an afterthought. Nothing was in the front of her mind, only that she was. She didn’t feel tired or anxious or frustrated; she didn’t feel happy or proud or calm. It was a feeling much deeper.

She felt whole.

And there's an excerpt from one of my stories :]

It's especially appropriate because today is my dance recital! I've been dancing for almost 15 years and it's the love of my life. Whenever I write Ember dancing, it's really just me writing myself, from my heart.

I love a lot of things, but dance is somehow in an entirely different category, an apple among the oranges of my life.

Here's hoping the recital goes well :]

~Stephanie