The Devil of DiRisio Read Online Free Page A

backyard.
    “They’re not calling you fat.”
    “Alejandro and Madame Mara said, and I quote, ‘you are too big.’”
    “I’m sure they just mean you’re tall. You are tall. But I thought that was a good thing for a dancer.”
    “It is a good thing to be tall if you’re not fat as well, like me. They said if I was smaller, then Pierre could lift me easier.”
    “Maybe Pierre needs to hit the gym. I have no problem lifting you.” Will grinned, thinking he was so clever.
    “Will, this is serious. This is my career. I’ll never be invited to join the company if they think I’m fat.”
    “But you dance with the company all the time.”
    I sighed. I got so tired of explaining the situation to him over and over again. He just didn’t understand the ballet world.
    “Will, I’m a member of the academy . I’m a student. They invite me to dance with the company once in a while, but I’m not paid. It doesn’t mean I’m a permanent member or will ever be a permanent member.”
    Even though I frequently got invitations to join the company for one performance or another, Alejandro still despised me. I think he didn’t like that I wasn’t as skinny as the other dancers. I didn’t believe I was overweight. Ms. Alexander, my instructor back in New Jersey, never said I was overweight. But in Alejandro’s mind, I didn’t look enough like the other dancers. The real reason could have been that I was black. I was the only black female dancer in the academy or the company. I was so tired of race always being an issue.
    But I was even more tired of not knowing if it was really an issue or just all in my head. And not having anyone to talk to about it made it worse. Will just didn’t get it. He didn’t have to think about being white. For me, I was reminded about being black every time I looked around the dance studio. I always felt so alone. I didn’t think Alejandro would ever invite me to join the company permanently.
    It wasn’t that he wanted to invite me to dance with the company here and there. It was that he had to. I had excellent technique and I was possibly the best at turning in both the company and the academy. Ever since I was little, I loved pirouettes, chaines , fuettes , pique turns and every type of turn there was. I considered myself queen of the turns in any direction. Anna Marie, on the other hand, had amazing jumps. Her tiny frame and muscular legs allowed her to leap high in the air, like a little jumping bean. But her small stature prevented her from having a striking elegant extension like Olga, Isabella, or me. Isabella was beautifully graceful but her timing was awful. She danced in her own little bubble without acknowledging anyone or anything else. Not even the music sometimes.
    I always felt Beatriz was at a disadvantage because she had been dancing with her brother Acacio as her partner since she was six. That long, close relationship allowed them to have a great connection on stage. They flowed as one. But she had been dancing with him for so long she didn’t feel comfortable without him. Not only was she virtually incapable of dancing with another partner, she was terrified of doing solos. Also, it kind of freaked me out when they had to pretend they were in love during a dance. They were brother and sister. Ew ! Agnes, Raquel, and Cynthia still needed to improve their technique somewhat and really couldn’t compete with Beatriz, Anna Marie, Isabella or me.
    So, much to Alejandro’s chagrin, that left me to fill in for many of the professional parts, as I was one of the few that could handle the choreography. It must have pained him to have to ask me week in and week out to join the company since he believed wholeheartedly that I did not have the ideal body type for a dancer.
    “I have to lose weight,” I told Will. I just had to prove that I could do it. That I was worthy of this scholarship I’d been given.
    “You better not lose weight. You’re perfect just the way you