The Last Dance

“In that case," Jane paused to inhale some fresh air so as to calm her nerves down, “I'll dance."

The offer that Jane had proposed was quite tempting. The reason was simple: they needed a dancer because their star dancer was unable to arrive at the function due to a traffic jam. It would take her another hour to reach and her performance was supposed to be in fifteen minutes. The contemporary dance was the main event and everybody was waiting for it. And Jane could not afford to disappoint the guests and the host as it would not only ruin her reputation as an event manager but would also prove to be a stigma on her record of successfully managing all the events till date.

“Really? Will you be able to? You haven't practiced in years!" One of her colleagues said.

“Oh its okay if you are unable to pull it off successfully. Something's better than nothing," said another one.

“What nonsense! I'm not permitting Jane to do anything of that sort." Louisa, Jane's best friend, objected.

“If Jane's got no problem with it then who are you to interrupt in between? Let's go Jane. We've got no time on our hands. Let's get you dressed." The costume designer without waiting for anyone else's approval took Jane's hand and dragged her to the dressing room.

Louisa could not believe that Jane would cross the heights of stupidity. But the thing that angered and enraged her the most about all this was the fact that none of Jane's colleagues really cared about her. The truth was that Jane always had to do give in even though she was the boss and other's worked under her.

In all honesty, Jane could not dance. Not because she was not a dancer but because her leg was broken. Ever since the car accident Jane had not danced. And there she was planning do it for the first time in ten years in front of thousands of people. This part scared Louisa the most. What if Jane's leg hurt even more? Louisa could not bear to see her friend in agony.

In around ten minutes Jane was ready. Her make up was done and the dress was selected. She had chosen her song too. She sat in front of the mirror looking at her reflection. She looked gorgeous and young. Around twenty five. She was twenty eight in reality. She nervously fidgeted with her fingers. Her breath was uneven. Even she had no clue why she had proposed it. Was it just because of her job? Or it was something entirely different?

Louisa came in the room. She looked upset. Only two minutes were left.

“Promise me this will be your last dance." Louisa said. Jane nodded. The anchor had announced her name on the stage. It was her call. She had to go . . . She had to dance . . . for the last time . . .

The butterflies in her stomach had gone crazy by now. She heard Louisa say a ‘best of luck'. But she didn't turn around to reply to her friend. Instead she moved forward towards the stage. Her knees felt weak and her hands trembled a little. Her fear increased when she saw the audience stating at her. She tried to be calm. She took her position and waited for the music to start. She wondered again why she had agreed to do this. It seemed ridiculous now. She felt like backing off.

But when she heard the first note of the song she was filled with excitement--the kind which she had not felt in years. As the music started she began her dance. The music was slow at first but she knew that the beats were going to get fast soon. She could not understand why her body was reacting in that manner. She realised her legs were itching to dance. She was eagerly waiting for the beats to pick up their pace. When they did, she danced with all the might she had inside her. She was so engrossed in the music and the rhythm that she no longer cared whether the audience enjoyed her performance or not. The pain in her leg grew worse with each passing minute but she didn't want to stop. In fact, she liked the way it felt.

She was free—alive. The ecstasy of the moment had completely engulfed her. It was pure bliss. The taste of freedom was delicious. She took several turns. Her leg ached like anything. But she could not stop. She did not want to stop. Her heart wanted her to continue with her dance till eternity. She had not experienced this before. Of course, she used to dance before the accident but then she didn't know how much dancing really meant to her.

But now she knew what joy truly was. Now she knew that joy and pain were actually one entity. It was in pain that joy resided and that joy had no existence without pain.

The fear in her mind and heart was wiped away in fraction of minutes when she had heard the song. That was the power of music. The song finally came to an end leaving a weird emptiness inside her heart. Jane stopped in a beautiful pose. Her heartbeat was erratic and her head was pounding hard. The whole room was filled with thunderous applause and before she knew it she had blacked out.

Louisa rushed on the stage to help her friend. Several others did the same. Jane was immediately taken to the hospital. It was because of excessive strain on her leg that she had fainted. Even though her soul and heart had thoroughly enjoyed the performance it was obvious that her body had not.

After an hour or two of waiting Jane opened her eyes. She saw Louisa sitting there staring into the infinity. Her mind was numbed. Probably, it was the anesthesia.

When the seriousness of her situation struck Jane could not take it anymore. Her eyes began to water as she realised slowly that life had snatched away her passion from her. If it weren't for the car accident she could have danced.

Dancing was the only thing that belonged to her and now even that was taken away from her. Dance was not just an activity for her—it was much more than that. Dance defined her—reflected her. It was one of the finest forms of art extremely hard to master. To her dismay, in this life she could not master it—could not make it her own.

The only thing that relieved her a little was that she had experienced happiness for one last time. Nevertheless, she was grateful to God for he gave her the chance and the power to dance for the last time.

After she was done crying she rested her head on the pillow. Now that the event was managed successfully and because she was stuck in the hospital she had nothing to do. She closed her eyes again and drifted off to a long sleep dreaming about her last performance . . .