Action

The video opens to Peter and MJ sitting at the kitchen table. 

“Hey guys!” Peter says brightly. “Welcome back to the Ironfam! Today, as you can probably see, I’m here with the one and only MJ!” 

“As you can probably see?” MJ asks, her tone teasing. 

“I mean, I don’t want to discriminate against blind people, Michelle.”

{cut}

“So last video, I asked MJ to prom,” Peter picks up. “And it has been almost two months since that video, which I’d like to apologize for, but we were setting up a posting schedule and stuff, so we’ll be posting way more consistently now. We’re now going to post every Saturday, and if there’s special occasions, then those will be sprinkled throughout. Anyway, that’s the plan we got. We obviously didn’t make a video about prom, but we posted a bunch of pictures on Instagram, so if you want to see those, they’re linked down below.” 

“Get on with today’s video, loser,” MJ rolls her eyes. 

“I’m getting there, I’m getting there!”

{cut}

“So,” Peter continues. “For some weird reason, you all wanted to see what a day looks like for me with dance class, so… here we go. I’m just gonna go to dance tomorrow, and you all are going to come with me. MJ, Ned, and Harley are also going to be coming, and I don’t actually know what they’re going to be doing there… they might be trying to do some of the things, they might not, I dunno. We’ll see when we get there!”

{cut}

Peter, Ned, MJ, and Harley are sitting in the backseat of a car. Happy is driving, and Tony is in the front seat with him. 

“So, I attend All-Star Dance Studio,” Peter informs the camera. “It’s about a half hour drive from the Tower, so that’s what we’re doing right now. During the summer, I have classes most of the day, four days a week, Monday through Thursday, I really don’t know how nobody figured out I had other things going on, and then Friday through Sunday I have off. It’s currently seven in the morning on Wednesday. Classes are from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon, at least for me, because I’m doing most of their classes. During the school year, I have classes from three thirty in the afternoon, after school and Decathlon practice, until seven, and then I have some… other activities that I do after that until my curfew at midnight. Saturdays and Sundays are the same as the summer schedule.” 

“Which classes do you take?” Ned asks. 

“So, the studio offers Hip-Hop, Tap, Ballet, Acro, Pointe, Lyrical, Jazz Contemporary, and Modern, as well as classes for, like, toddlers and stuff,” Peter explains. “I take everything except for, obviously, the toddler classes. Each class is an hour and a half, except Pointe, which is at the end of each day and is only one hour. Monday and Wednesday have the same schedule, and Tuesday and Thursday have the same schedule. Today I’ve got Hip-Hop, Acro, Ballet, Tap, and Pointe, in that order.”

“Your schedule is so crazy, man,” Ned shakes his head. “I mean, you do all that, plus school, plus filming and stuff, and-” 

{cut}

“We’re here!” Peter exclaims. “I told all my teachers we’re filming, and they’re all fine with it, so… let’s go!” 

{cut}

Tony, Peter and his friends are standing in a dance room with a young woman. 

“So this is Lindsay,” Peter introduces the woman, who smiles and waves at the camera. “She used to teach ballet and tap exclusively, but she’s qualified to teach everything, and when I joined, Mr. Dad set things up so that I’d be able to have private lessons with her.”

“So how’s Peter in class?” Ned asks excitedly. 

“Peter is a very accomplished dancer,” Lindsay informs them. “He tried out the public classes before they decided to have privates with me, and he was the best in the class, even though I was told he hadn’t taken lessons for a few years.”

Peter turns a very dark red, but Lindsay isn't finished. 

“He’s also extremely expressive, which is oftentimes very difficult to get a dancer to do,” she continues. “He tells a story when he dances, and it’s clear that he loves what he’s doing. Not to mention he’s impressively flexible, which means he can perform moves that most other dancers can’t.” 

“Did you know he didn’t even tell us he danced until his sister was born?” Ned asks. “This whole massive part of his life, and he just never said anything!” 

“I was aware of that, yes,” Lindsay laughs. “I do watch his videos, and I did wonder why he kept it a secret from his friends?” 

Lindsay’s sentence changes into a question halfway through, and she’s looking at Peter with her eyebrows raised. 

“Well, you know…” Peter mumbles. “I didn’t want to give Flash anything else.” 

Lindsay and the teenagers look sympathetic, but now Tony’s eyebrows are raised. 

“I’m sorry, Flash is still a problem?” he asks, his voice betraying rising anger. 

{cut}

“So you teach Peter everything?” MJ asks. “Does he just do everything as a solo, or…?” 

“I am generally his exclusive teacher, yes,” Lindsay nods. “He usually does solos, but we have incorporated him into other classes group dances before. We have an annual recital, as well as a competition team, so he has competed before, and usually wins. Whenever we have him in a competition group, we usually give him a solo or a duet, as well. I’m usually his duet partner, but we have paired him up with others in the studio occasionally.” 

“Okay, I need you to explain something to me,” Harley asks. “How do you possibly go to Midtown, do Decathlon, this, and the other thing, and still have time to, like, do homework and hang out with us and the team and work in the lab with Tony?” 

Peter turns pink, and shrugs. “Good time management?” he shrugs. “I mean, I’m usually with you guys either in the evenings or on the weekends, when I don’t have class, during the summer. Sundays are lab days. School gets out at two, and I have Decathalon from 2:15 until 3:00. Then I drive here and have class until seven. I do my homework in the car to and from class, and do the other thing until my curfew at midnight. During school I’m with you guys on Saturdays after class, and I hang out with everyone Sundays after class.” 

Lindsay shakes her head. “Let me tell you, this is one busy, hard working kid.” 

Peter turns pinker. 

{cut}

“Alright, time for some actual class time,” Lindsay says. “Hip-Hop right now. Everyone who’s not Peter, go stand over there. We’ll give you some time to try stuff out later.” 

{cut}

There’s a time-lapse of Peter and Lindsay going through complicated hip-hop moves, including flips, hand-stands, and complicated and very fast hand and foot movements. 

{cut}

Everyone is standing in the middle of the floor again. Peter and Lindsay are both sweaty, red-faced, and slightly out of breath. 

“Now we’re gonna let them try,” Peter says, grinning at his friends. “Ready?” 

“After watching that?” Ned shakes his head. “Absolutely not.” 

Peter laughs. “Well, do it anyway. Lindsay?” 

“So, this first move is twist and punch,” she explains. “So to do it, you’re going to face that way,” she points to the right side of the screen, their left. “You’re going to push your right hip out,” she says, demonstrating as she goes. “Kind of hit your hips twice. While you do that, your right arm is going to be up in the air, punching, while your left is doing the same thing, but by your shoulder. And your right foot is going to tap the floor each time your hip twists.” 

Everyone, even Tony, starts trying to copy the move. Peter and Lindsay are both doing it very slowly, correcting them as they go, until finally, everyone’s done it right. 

“Excellent!” Lindsay laughs. “Alright, let’s keep going.” 

{cut}

There’s another time-lapse of Lindsay and Peter slowly demonstrating moves, and the rest trying to copy them. This results in some pretty hilarious fails, lots of laughter, and massive improvement. 

{cut}

“Alright,” Lindsay says. “It is now time for acro. Peter, take a quick break, grab some water. Everyone else, back to your corner, please.” 

{cut}

“So, first,” Lindsay says. “I thought Peter could show off a little bit. Peter?” 

Peter rolls his eyes. “Fine. What do you want me to do?” 

Lindsay shrugs. “Whatever you think looks coolest.” 

Peter thinks for a moment, before stepping back and prepping. He goes into a cartwheel, back layout, and ends in a backflip. He then does three side aerials in a row, two front aerials, and a front handspring. Peter turns back and goes into a backbend, before slowly lifting his feet up. He’s balancing on his hands, his butt almost touching his head, his legs in a seated position with his feet hovering in front of his face. 

“Wow,” Harley says. “That’s… I don’t think I can do that.” 

Peter laughs, standing up. “We’re not going to make you, don’t worry.” 

{cut}

There’s a time-lapse of Peter and Lindsay flipping around the room, and doing some crazy contortion moves. It seems that Peter even learns a new one, as Lindsay does it several times and Peter fails rather spectacularly several times. He seems to get it in the end, though. 

{cut}

“So, we’re going to start with some of the more basic moves,” Peter informs his group, who are once again standing in the center of the floor with him and Lindsay. “First, we’re going to try a back-bend. So everyone, lay on your backs.” 

The group obediently lays down. 

“Bring your feet as close to your butt as you can,” Peter explains. He and Lindsay walk around the room, correcting placement as Peter explains. “Turn your hands over and place them as close to your ears and shoulders as you can. Then just push up. Your back is going to be arched, and you’ll be mostly holding yourself up on your arms.” 

MJ and Harley seem to accomplish this without much trouble, but Ned and Tony seem to be struggling. Lindsay goes over to spot Ned, while Peter helps Tony. Eventually, all four of them are standing in a backbend without any help. 

“Awesome!” Peter exclaims. “Alright, moving on.” 

{cut}

Another time-lapse of Peter guiding them through handstands, headstands, front rolls, and cartwheels. 

{cut}

Lindsay is in the front of the room, standing immediately in front of the camera. The group is back in their corner, and Peter is in the other one, lacing up pointe shoes. 

“So, we’ve just had a break,” Lindsay informs the camera. “We’re gonna do ballet now. Peter’s actually just finished learning a routine for this, we’re mostly going to be cleaning it up today. Even though it’s not time for pointe yet, his routine requires pointe shoes, so… Peter?” 

Peter walks forward and goes into fourth position. Lindsay turns on music, and Peter arches backwards, slowly and gracefully rolling, before springing onto pointe. He proceeds to go through a whole dance, often on pointe, doing lots of turns. Right at the end, he goes into a turn sequence, doing several fouettes on pointe, before going into several pirouettes. As he finishes the pirouettes, his shoe buckles beneath him, causing his ankle to arch forwards, and he goes down, releasing a long sequence of censored curse words. 

“Peter!” Tony and Ned exclaim in unison. 

Peter sits on the floor for a moment, before he stands up, breathing hard. 

“You alright?” Lindsay asks, coming into frame. 

Peter nods, still breathing hard, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah, fine,” he says. “I’ve just been using this pair for too long, it gave out.” 

“Alright,” Lindsay says. “Go take the shoes off, we need to do some barre work, and then we can move into cleaning up the routine. Do you have another pair of shoes with you?” 

“Yeah,” Peter nods. “I’ve always got three with me.” 

“Okay,” Lindsay says. “Grab some water, too. Take five.” 

Peter crosses the room, running a hand through his hair again, before somewhat roughly pushing a door open and disappearing. 

{cut}

Another time-lapse, showing Peter and Lindsay at the barre, working on technique, before Peter returns with pointe shoes on again, and they begin working on the routine. After a while, Peter takes the shoes off again, and Tony, Harley, Ned, and MJ join the two of them at the barre, and get a crash course in ballet. 

{cut}

“Tap time,” Lindsay says brightly. “I love doing tap, it’s always been my favorite. Now, the problem with this one is you really can’t do it without tap shoes, and as these four don’t have shoes, and I don’t have extras, they’re not going to get to participate in this one. Same with pointe, which is after tap. So you’ll only get to see Peter and I for these two.” 

{cut}

There’s another time-lapse of Peter and Lindsay going through some sort of warm-up, before Lindsay steps back and Peter performs what seems to be an entire tap routine. They go back and work on bits and pieces of it, before Peter leaves the room again. He returns, again in pointe shoes, and he and Lindsay go through several exercises. The point of this class seems to be technique and strength. Towards the end, Peter and Lindsay sit on the floor and go through several stretching exercises, apparently as a cool-down. 

{cut}

“And that’s today done!” Lindsay says. “Great job today, Peter, and all of you, really, you all did really well for having never done this before. I’ve got to run, Peter, but I’ll see you tomorrow! Bye, Ironfam!” 

Lindsay jogs out of the room, leaving the group standing alone. 

“Well, there you go,” Peter shrugs. “A day at dance class. I hope you guys enjoyed the video, and liked seeing what goes on in a dance studio. You probably saw some really cool things, and you saw the tougher side of it, especially ******* pointe shoes. They destroy your feet, by the way, I’ll forever have blisters.” 

MJ, Ned, Harley, and Tony all laugh. 

“That definitely was harder than I thought it would be,” Harley adds. “It was all very impressive, and the parts we tried were actually pretty difficult, which… is kind of sad.” 

It’s Peter’s turn to laugh. 

“Well, thank you for watching, and I hope you enjoyed this video,” Peter says. “Like and subscribe to join the Ironfam to see more of… this. See you guys later! Bye!” 

{cut}