The Dance

“And now coming to the stage…Chasity,” she heard the new DJ call. With that dry introduction she knew he wouldn’t last long. That wasn’t her God given name, but it was the name her best friend convinced her was far enough away from her real name for anybody to recognize her and close enough to her name for her to remember to answer to it. She stepped to the stage and the dance began.

Her lines were flawless as she swirled her hips and twisted her body to the beat of the music. She was the very definition of a dancer, even if to the mainstream she was seen as something much viler than that.

She closed her eyes as she dropped the first layer of clothing down to the floor, so she could think of Him and only Him. Him with his brown eyes and thick smile. Him with the warm glow that followed him wherever he went. Him with the vibes that made her feel like she was the only thing that mattered in his world. Him with his deep baritone voice that turned her on at the very sound.

“Come on, Baby. Do it for me,” she could hear him say as she grabbed hold of the pole. She leaped and twirled around it, so that now she was upside down sliding. Her arms spread out as she spun around the pole. She flipped over and clutched the pole loosely and slipped all the way down. She landed in a split and bounced up and down, up and down, while she imagined Him saying, “Yeah, Baby. That’s it.”

Then she crawled with her legs still sprawled open as she looked for the first sucker of the night she could play. He was there, at the end of the stage, waiting with a hundred dollar bill sticking straight up in the air. First sucker of the night. She lifted her legs wide in the air and pushed her pelvis in his face to the beat of the music.

She was talented. She knew it. There was so much more to her than this. But at this moment she needed that hundred dollar bill. She needed it because Jamie needed more pampers and baby food. She needed it to help pay her tuition. She needed it because rent was due next week. She needed all this money because this lifestyle didn’t come cheap. What did he know of her pain or her struggle? Nothing that her eyes didn’t show.

She spun around to move on to the next. The next one held out only a five dollar bill. She did a half spin to the ground and bent backward so her breast were straight up in the air, the lights blinded her eyes, and she reached backward for the five. Then she rotated herself upward and the dance continued.

She walked sensually back to the pole all the while placing her rent into her g-string. She looped her leg around the pole and spun like she did when she was a little girl. Then she picked up the bills on the stage, someone had let it rain while she spun, and discreetly placed them in her garter. There was Jamie’s pampers and food for a month.

She did a full spin upside down on the pole; thankful for her tips. This was the dance she did to praise the tip gods for making sure her bills were paid.

She did one more half spin with one leg looped. Then she slid her hand and her body down the pole, and the music ended. All that was left was the product of ten years of ballet, five years of tap, and three years of jazz training. She closed her eyes and the lights went out. She had left it all on the floor.