This article is taken from Stand 248, 23(4) December 2025 - February 2026.
Dance, Dance
HERE WE GO!
Muddy forgot to take a breath before he began. Multi-coloured arrows scrolled up the screen in a familiar pattern. His legs took up the song through muscle memory.
Marvellous!
He matched the colours and directions as the machine required. But he could feel his body overbalance at the waist. Ms. Rafferty was dancing to his right, drawing his attention away from the screen.
Marvellous!!
He struggled to stay in time with the music, his mind restraining his body from rushing ahead.
Marvellous!!!
Next to him, Ms. Rafferty was flying. She didn’t use the bars behind her, opting to flare her elbows and splay her hands out to keep balance. Muddy was sure she was smiling.
Perfect Combination!
The song ended and two on-screen cartoons gave them a thumbs up. Muddy and Ms. Rafferty stepped off the machine, making way for the next pair to warm up.
Ms. Rafferty had used the phrase ‘bifurcated corpus’ – that’s what you got with an English teacher – when she had first seen Muddy dance a fortnight ago. She said it was strange that a dancer of his calibre kept his upper body so stiff. His father, George, had loved that. He’d laughed whole-heartedly, and then laughed some more. Muddy, for his part, had decided to laugh along too.
It had been the first time just the four of them – Muddy, George, ...
HERE WE GO!
Muddy forgot to take a breath before he began. Multi-coloured arrows scrolled up the screen in a familiar pattern. His legs took up the song through muscle memory.
Marvellous!
He matched the colours and directions as the machine required. But he could feel his body overbalance at the waist. Ms. Rafferty was dancing to his right, drawing his attention away from the screen.
Marvellous!!
He struggled to stay in time with the music, his mind restraining his body from rushing ahead.
Marvellous!!!
Next to him, Ms. Rafferty was flying. She didn’t use the bars behind her, opting to flare her elbows and splay her hands out to keep balance. Muddy was sure she was smiling.
Perfect Combination!
The song ended and two on-screen cartoons gave them a thumbs up. Muddy and Ms. Rafferty stepped off the machine, making way for the next pair to warm up.
Ms. Rafferty had used the phrase ‘bifurcated corpus’ – that’s what you got with an English teacher – when she had first seen Muddy dance a fortnight ago. She said it was strange that a dancer of his calibre kept his upper body so stiff. His father, George, had loved that. He’d laughed whole-heartedly, and then laughed some more. Muddy, for his part, had decided to laugh along too.
It had been the first time just the four of them – Muddy, George, ...
The page you have requested is restricted to subscribers only. Please enter your username and password and click on 'Continue'.
If you have forgotten your username and password, please enter the email address you used when you joined. Your login details will then be emailed to the address specified.
If you are already a member and have not received your login details, please email us, including your name and address, and we will supply you with details of how to access the archived material.
If you are not a member and would like to enjoy the growing online archive of Stand Magazine, containing poems, articles, prose and reviews, why not subscribe to the website today?
If you have forgotten your username and password, please enter the email address you used when you joined. Your login details will then be emailed to the address specified.
If you are already a member and have not received your login details, please email us, including your name and address, and we will supply you with details of how to access the archived material.
If you are not a member and would like to enjoy the growing online archive of Stand Magazine, containing poems, articles, prose and reviews, why not subscribe to the website today?
