about the trips? It was not her fault that someone indicated her the wrong airport and she had to cross all the city of Milan to find the good one. It was not her fault, it was a terrible experience and she could have told something else, she could have invented an adventure or a loverâ¦
She decided to not bother too much about this, and even if he is going to make her mad she will just avoid his classes. Anyway she was already giving up about being an actress. Everything seemed complicated mostly with these kind of teachers, cold, arrogant and critics. Even if she wasnât dying about the âMr Teacherâ, theater and cinema class became her favorite one. She liked it because she was free, she could express herself and live different situations, she could experiment new feelings and explore everything in a way she never did; but she didnât like Mihai and because of that she wanted to challenge him, to take down his ego.
Every time they had different little games: moving, synchronizing, attention etc. Apparently it was very important to be a team. âTeamworkâ was the magical word that Mihai always used and he wanted everyone to understand that. It was important to communicate, to open up and to not be afraid to seem ridiculous. Not be afraid to express. Being creatives and originals.
He encouraged them to free themselves and be able also able to criticize.
One day, Mihai asked them to express their creativity with a song. It was a hard challenge.
Full of emotions, Selena sang like a star, she had fun and she surprised even the teacher. He looked at her with a less icy look, and for her was enough.
Another time, they had to dance on a song that was already chosen. Selena choose âUmbrellaâ of Rihanna. She danced in a sexy way and she even used an umbrella to do some moves. At the end she invited all her colleagues to dance with her and at the end of the song all of them applauded. Everyone looked at her with energy and in that moment she felt a genius. Selena felt wonderful. She liked improvising. Maybe was the only thing she actually liked. She was happy because she was feeling free.
One day, Mihai propose a game that Selena liked more than the others.
Now we are going to do something to concentrate. We will pretend that we are alone in the room during ten minutes. Nobody is in the room, nobody is listening to you. What are you doing ? How do you behave? Do whatever you want, but be careful: focus on being alone even it is not true. Be yourself, like you are chilling home!
Interesting, was thinking Selena. Pretending to be aloneâ¦simple but hard. What would she do if she was alone? She would look on the walls? How would she behave? She closed her eyesâ¦she imagined herself homeâ¦She walked then to the desk and he opened the computer. All the others were still. Then someone sit on the ground. A boy started to speak out loud, but Selena didnât care what was that about. A girl was doing her manicure, another one started to sing then continued out loud. Someone was pretending to be in the shower. A girl started to act like she was in the kitchen. Interesting. Thatâs how we behave when nobody is watching. But what was she doing when she was alone? It was very simple : she was watching a movie or listening to music! She laid on the chair, then she found a movie on the computer and she didnât do anything special. She tried to look as natural as possible. Her colleagues were more agitating, they were dancing and walking and she was just in a corner without doing anything. She was watching the movie and she started to not see any more the others around until she felt a hand taking down her feet from the desk. It was Mihai, on the other side of the desk looking at her with no expression on his face. Selena looked at her feet weirdly.
-This desk is so slippery; I canât even sit as I want!
She ignored Mihai. She put again her feet next to the computer but as soon as she did it, he pushed again her feet on the ground, in a brutal way. She almost felt.
Cursing him in her mind, she didnât say anything this time; she took her computer and sat on the floor, making noise with her foot. She sat next to the window, in a secure position. He couldnât make her fall again. But her heart was fast beating, who knows what he was going to do again. He would touch her again? Her leg was hurting.
Mihai didnât want to let her alone, it was pretty clear. He came close to her, next to her face andâ¦he just stayed still. He was staring at her with intensity, who the hell knows what was in his mind. She was kinda scared but she tried not to move. She even tried to ignore him by watching her movie even if the action there was almost ending. Even if she was pretty mad she was trying to ignore him so badly, what else could she do? What ifâ¦
She took a facial tissue from her pocket and she pretended she was catching an annoying fly. She âhitâ his face with the tissue and she had a good time doing that. After she came back on her computer, but he was still there. Damnit!
Finally he went away.
The ten minutes are over. Thank you all!
You saw, he smiled, what does it mean being yourselves, pretending you are alone and do your normal things even if there are people around you. That happens too on the stage : you have to face yourself, you need to say a line or do something, avoiding the fact that someone in the audience is doing noises. You need to focus on the stuff you need to do even if you are aware of people around you. Then he turned to Selena:
Good job, moon name. You didnât let people know that I was in front of you. You even found a nice replica. I loved when you hit me; even if you wouldnât have shown the fact that I was upsetting you. Anyway, good job.
He did a short break and then he asked:
What was the movie about?
Selena froze. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She had no idea what the movie was about, she watched like ten minutes but she was too distracted about what was happening around her.
-Yeah, you were watching the movie, he said. Meanwhile everyone else was exaggerating the movements, you did the most natural thing ever: watching a movie. Only that people are very careful also to the action, donât you think? He smiled. But he didnât expect an answer from her so he leaved her alone. Finally.
One day, Mihai seemed more worried that ever. He was always thoughtful, not able to focus, he was elsewhere. She was getting used to see him in different moods every day. At the end of the class he asked Selena:
Darling, you with the moon nameâ¦what about a role in a movie? Donât be scared, itâs nothing special, but it could be a beginning.
He analysed every her move to see a reaction. Selena looked at him trying to understand if she heard well. She? In a movie?
Mihai continued:
I know you donât have experienceâ¦But sometimes is not so important. I donât know why, but I see you very well in a movie. You are made for the screen, but not for theater. I like how the light falls on your eyesâ¦
Selena was scared.
Mihai! Do you have any idea what are you saying? Me, in a movie? In a real movie? Not even in my wildest dreams I saw this coming.
She didnât expect that in real life, not from him at least.
Selena darling, he said with a soft voice, Iâm sure this is surprising for you. But donât be scared.
