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sensational on stage.
    “My tendons can get stiff
from time-to-time, but stiffness and aches are the norm for dancers, so there’s
no getting away from some form of discomfort. One thing a dancer doesn’t
require is the weather report – if it’s cold, our joints will tell us.”
    “Yeah, I’ve heard that. How
did you meet Kayla? She wasn’t on the show, was she?”
    “No. Around that time,
before the auditions started, I came here for a weekend with Leona. We met
Kayla in a nightclub, of all places. We stayed in contact and late last year
she offered us the opportunity to be in Release . I didn’t even have to
think about it.”
    “This isn’t your first time
in San Francisco?”
    “No.”
    “You like it here?”
    “Yeah, I do. The weather’s
mostly shit, but it is in the UK as well, so I’m fine with that, though it’s
more unpredictable here. I’m also used to city life, so in some ways it doesn’t
feel completely different. I love the hills and the character of the houses and
things like that. The street art is wicked – a good wicked, by the way. The
language barrier is the biggest thing. Sometimes when I’m having conversations
with Kayla or Ella, or the other dancers, they don’t get me. Vocab-wise it
seems for everything that’s the same, there’s something that’s different.
There’s more to it than cell phones versus mobile phones and trash cans versus
bins, and that’s without the differences in spelling and pronunciation.”
    “I like your accent,” I say.
    It’s the way her soft tone
works with her words, the clarity and refined articulation. I don’t personally
know anyone from the UK, but I’ve heard tourists from there speak and I’ve even
spent time with British chicks over the years. Though I meant it when I dropped
the “I like your accent” line, it was more about it being the perfect
icebreaker. I didn’t feel this type of appreciation for it.
    Maybe it’s more about
Brooklyn than her nationality. I guess that means I like her voice.
    “I get told that a lot
here.”
    My lips curve with humor.
“So I’m no different to all those other annoying Americans you’ve encountered?”
    “No, not really,” she says,
scrunching her nose in a way that appears playful.
    “How long does the show run
for?”
    “Four weeks.”
    “Every night?”
    “Thursday through Saturday.”
    “Then what after that?”
    “We’ll be touring with Release ,
but I’ll be based mainly here. I teach Pilates as well, and Kayla and Ella want
me to do some classes at their studio. There’s quite a bit of demand for
one-to-one sessions as well. I’m not sure how long Leona and I will stay for.
Our visas last three years – it’s likely we’ll do the whole time, but we
haven’t decided for definite.”
    “That’s quite some time
you’ll be away from home and your family, do you miss them?”
    “Like crazy. My mum, my
brother and his girlfriend are coming for the final show and staying for a
week, so I have that to look forward to. Are you close to your family?”
    “You might’ve met my sister,
Saffron. She’s tight with Ella, so you probably will if you haven’t already.”
    “Kayla introduced us on
Saturday. I can see the resemblance. Different eyes, though. Do either of your
parents have the same color eyes as you?”
    “No. Some throwback gene
thing, I guess.”
    “Not a terrible throwback
gene thing,” she says and quickly draws her attention away from me and down to
her mug, cupped in her hands.
    She obviously doesn’t want
to show any interest in me. If she wasn’t even slightly interested she wouldn’t
be here, so I can live without anything blatant right now. I find it hard not
to complement her, every time I look at her I want to, but I know she needs to
trust me for those complements to carry any weight.
    She meets my gaze. “So you
and saffron are close? I love her name, by the way.”
    “Yeah, we are. We lost our parents
in a car accident when I was nine and