<sub>New York, New York. The very core of the big apple. And here we are, walking down Main Street, in the heat of a Friday night. Time like that, a place like this is exactly the best place to be for some fun. And that is exactly where Kailee McKenzie now walks, entering through a door into loud music and the noise of people. A smile came on those red lips, her hands loosely resting on the belt loops of cargo pants that felt so natural on her slender body. With all the work she put into ballet, with how hard she tried to be that elegant pure ballerina, she knew this was still where she wanted to be. But she wasn't sure that if it came to the point where she couldn't have both, if she could walk away from all that, and be here. Here, with her hair in its natural semi-curl, in a small black tank-top revealing on the small of her back the small lotus flower and belly button piercing on her slim stomach, with her many bracelets and necklaces, with makeup that wasn't just earth tones. Here with the music the beat. Here with the people that know who she is. Kailee McKenzie, a bit of a legend in these parts. She may be away more and more every year lately, but she'd always find time for home. Home sweet home.

So when she walked into that club, she smiled, looking around at the familiar territory, making her way through the crowd. "Hello Stranger," she heard a voice say from right behind her, having not really noticed being distracted and with so many people around. She turned around, surprised to hear the voice. Like her father, because of her father, she had people who knew her, people ho cared. "Kai-lee McKenie. Beginning to think a big star like yous startin to forget about us down here." She slapped his hand with hers, creating a fist and pulling them close just as he was doing the same. "Aight aight, I've been busy. But never doubt me." He smiled with a bit of a laugh, "Good ta see ya kid." With the word kid she groaned a bit, rolling her head. Someday she was just going to have to accept that she would always be Chase McKenzies little girl, their little girl. "How many times do I have to school y'all to get to stop being the kid?" "One more might be the charm." She watched him motion to the little raised area of the floor, following the motion with her eyes and giving a small laugh knowing what he meant. "Are you challenging me?" She looked a bit skeptical, considering he hadn't been out on the floor himself in years, she really didn't think he had it in him. "I'm challenging you," he pointed at her, then the stage "to get up there, and take on anybody in that crowd willing to try you." he motioned to everybody in the area. "That is, if our little girl here still has the moves." She looked around for a minute, then heard his comment and just had to defend herself on this one. "Oh you just got yourself a dancer." she backed up from him, stepping onto the stage. "Jus find me somebody worth it this time, don't go insulting me." She knew she'd always be the kid, and he was just trying to get her on stage, she always brought a good night. Right now, Kailee wondered how many people in this crowd remembered her or knew who she was. Time she remarked her territory.

"There's my girl," he pretty much ran this place, tis was his thing, so he picked up the mic, speaking into it as his voice rang over the crowd. "Aight listen up we got a treat for ya here tonight. Give it up for Kailee McKenzie everybody!" He paused for a minute as the crowd made noise, after a minute speaking up to calm it down. "Aight aight. We're gonna have us a little dance off. So any of you willin to take on my girl Kailee here, get your ass up on that stage and show us what you got!" He put down the mic, music starting. It wasn't long before the first girl stepped up, starting off with some simple moves. Kailee watched, nodding, and when she was done, went into her own sequence. She figured, might as well start out with a bang, thin out the people who thought to give her a try. Her moves had a smoothness to them, probably from the ballet, yet still with that original style she had started out with before any of that, started out with here in this place. She did a lot of big showy moves instead of little shows of 'attitude' ending up in the other girls face. She didn't last long, the second one a little longer but not by much. Kailee wasn't finished, this night was making her day, or week, or... month, several months? She needed this more often. Tonight she wasn't expecting her Clarksbury life to sneak up on her, for the most part the people there weren't the people here. So when she got up on this stage she wasn't expecting anybody from there to be here, and even if they were, she wasn't expecting them to recognize her.</sub>

<sub>The music pulsing through the stage, through the air, through her. It had been too long since she'd been able to just be like this, just be herself who she'd always been. In this moment it was like there was no mask to hide behind, no pretending, no need to worry about who to impress. She was just her. She really didn't care about the other dancers up there with her, it didn't really bother her that they weren't breathtakingly impressive with the talent they had. If anything, part of her envied them for making that choice, having the talent like she did, and not perfecting it and taking it to the level she was straining for. This was what dance should be, she kinda missed it, this was nice. Her style wasn't quite what it used to be when she started out, a bit more refined, professional. With the first few competitors, though her moves were spectacular and impressive, it just wasn't what it was supposed to be.

The next competitor was introduced, Dominic. She watched as he addressed the DJ and came on the stage, not really putting much thought into it. She didn't expect him to be any different than the last couple. Who knows though, might find some real talent tonight. Watching his moves, that's exactly what she noticed, still with that street-like style. Unprofessional. That was the point, this isn't professional. She watched him, and smiled. He got n her face, bringing out that attitude, showy acrobatics. When he finished she nodded, acknowledging him, impressed. This would be a bit more fun than she expected.

As she returned, going through her next set of motions, she changed it a bit. Now she lost a bit of that refined technically professional style, digging more into her roots. This was the type of stuff she'd first started dancing, those years at Clarksbury though with Ballet had really created a new style in her. But nothing could destroy that old style, as she now discovered. She had loosened up a bit more tonight, just being her, enjoying it. Something like that really wasn't too easy for her, considering how hard she has to try to be that other person, how much of this she covers up. And now she was taking all that away and getting as deep into this as she had been before all of it. The people here that really knew her, not just her name, would definately notice the difference, even if it wasn't an all of a sudden drastic difference. It would take a few rounds for here to really get into it. That set of moves she got more into his face like he had hers, including her acrobatic and showy moves, but also the more hip-hop street dancing style.

When she finished she kept her eyes locked on his, waiting for his reaction, his return. For a moment she thought she recognized him, but just figured its probably cause she knew a lot of people here. She didn't even consider that places like this weren't where she recognized him from. Would he recognize her? At Clarksbury she may be so completely different, but if you really looked, it wasn't that hard to see that she's the same person, or recognize the name.

He looked younger than her, probably underage, but then again, so were a lot of people here. It really doesn't take much to fake your age to get in places like this, and they really aren't that strict. Now her, she was of age, 21, yet could look so much younger, depended on who was looking.</sub>

<sub>She laughed with him, shaking her head a bit as she waited for him to start again. Yeah, yeah, I can work with that. "Careful what you wish for, I'm just gettin started." She watched him dance once more, aware of the crowds reaction. She had to admit, he did have talent. It bothered her a bit though the resemblance that talent held to hers. Natural talent, but sculpted into learned talent, learned and refined. She noticed that this time, and though she didn't let that suspicion show, it really did bother her, and she hoped to god that if she was right, he wouldn't recognize her or her name, hopefully not even remember. She pushed it to the back of her head, for now wanting to just enjoy the night.

She watched as he showed off, incorporating certain moves into it to get an extra cheer. She loved how cocky he got after that round, addressing the crowd confidently, chugging a beer on the stage, even taunting her a bit. She loved things like that, because she loved to shut them down. C'mon, girl. You know you can beat that! "Your right, I can. You have no idea who your talkin to." She let him have his moment, finding a good place in the music to work from. "Try ta keep up." She spoke, moving along the edge of the stage, getting the crowds attention and cheers before starting.

This time, it was like Kaye McKenzie the pure and innocent Ballerina never existed. This time, she was completely and fully Kailee McKenzie, born and raised the streets of New York New York. This was the girl her friend the club owner had been looking for when he got her up on that stage. She used definite street-dancer style, yet moves that most couldn't pull off, and definitely not without working for it. With that she added a few of her signature moves, some that she had created completely of her own work. With those the crowd responded loudly, especially the ones that knew her or were familiar with the area. She danced, working that slender body of hers with the music the DJ created.

Finally she finished up in his face, a fresh wave of sound going through the crowd. "What else you got for me?" she asked challengingly, her eyes looking him over before back to his eyes. She never stood still on the stage, her body always keeping the rhythm to the music. She waited for him, but this time he wouldn't dance alone. Enough with the back and forth one set at a time.</sub>

<sub>When her father died was when she had started dancing. Before that moment all she did as far as dance with was some little stuff with no thought into it, like kids do. But in the aftermath of that event, there had had to be something that could make it better, just for a second. She was just a kid at the time like any other, with a father that loved her very much. And that sweet little girl, watched as the father that was like her entire life, died. She was there, and she was conscious every second. Something like that can scar a little girl for life. The time around that was the hardest of her life. Not only had he been killed and her hospitalized, but they had tried to take her away. They had tried to separate her from the only people that cared even the slightest bit enough to just tell her a comforting lie, hold her while she cried, or even just that things would be okay, and the only people she had left. The moment she started dancing was with voices in the other room, discussing her, and the sound of music playing. In that moment, she felt safe and free. She could get lost in the music and the steps and just for those moments let go of it all. That's when she fell in love. Her father never got to see her dance, but he would always be there with her when she did. And now, here she was. That little girl grown up, dancing with her heart to the beat. She had loved it then, and she loved it now, enjoying every moment.

Kailee and Dominic were a pretty well matched pair, a lot of talent on that stage. There was only so much they could do back and forth like they had been, only so many moves and sequences. But when they danced together, challenging and returning all in one continuous flow, there was more. Competitions aren't done separate and alone, they are done against another, with the opponent. With them both there, they could really get into the challenging aspects, up in the others face. This could get interesting.

She shook her head a bit at his show-offy tricks with his hat, letting him have his little slow and simple moment. As he did that though, she unzipped the small hoodie-shrug she had been wearing, sliding it off her slender shoulders now left almost completely bare by the tight spaghetti strap tank-top she wore. Leaving that at the side of the stage she joined him in the center, waiting. The DJ here was actually pretty good, rare talent, but he had it.

The difference between street dancing, and the stuff you do at a school, is that the professional comes from the ability to grade it. Street dancing doesn't have the specific set of rules, the defined way that means its right or wrong. Stuff like that can't be refined and defined, not without loosing its true meaning. The people at schools looking can't see that, they can't define it so they can't accept it. They expect you to have the emotion and freedom that comes with street dance, but to have it shaped into something they can define. The hardest part for Kaye, was keeping their vision of what a dancer should be, refined and sculpted into nothing but pure perfection. Here, her moves were free, smooth and completely natural. yet still so difficult looking. Any street dancer that was any good could go out there and do some cool motions and interpret the rhythm in a challenge, but only the good ones could really pull off the difficulty and complexity of moves like she was doing, like Dominic was doing. It took a lot of strength, and a lot of trusting your own body and mind. You weren't just doing the physical aspect, your were creating the motion as it happened, its easy to get tangled up in something like that.

As she danced she got close to him a lot, loving to use her body with the hip-hop. Having fun yet babydoll? He pulled off a big stunt after breaking away from that brief encounter, and so did she, ending only inches from him, close enough she was almost touching him. "Been waitin on you baby," She flicked his hat off of his head, putting it backwards over her loose semi-curly ponytail and smiling before he could stop her. "If your lucky they'll be some real fun." She broke away again, not quite done, he could contemplate on those words. Though, she was definately getting hot, those moves no matter how easy she made them look, were strenuous.</sub>