Funny / Dance Class

• When the girls and the rest of their fellow dancers are participating in their African folk dancing class, Fatou (their instructor) tells them that the next dance they'll be practicing is more masculine ("Warrior-like, even" as Fatou describes it) and says that they have to jump higher and with more power. After the students leave, Mary (the instructor for modern and jazz dance) tells Fatou a trick that she uses to get the students to jump higher: pretend that there are jars of choconut spread hanging from the ceiling. The next time Mary sees the girls in Fatou's class, she sees that their jumping higher and with more power than she's ever seen them do—Fatou then reveals that she took Mary's advice but "improved" on it. And by that, Fatou means that she literally hung jars of choconut spread from the ceiling, which is what's getting the students so motivated.
• In the ninth volume of the series ("Dancing in the Rain"), Mary introduces the girls to a friend of hers named Thomas, a stage manager who's going to be helping them on their month-long dance tour (which is happening during their summer vacation from school). But after Mary's done explaining to the girls what the tour itself is going to be about (the history of jazz itself), what's the first thing the girls ask?

  Alia (speaking for herself and the rest of the girls): Is Thomas your boyfriend?

  Thomas (with a smile on his face): I don't think they heard a thing you said, Mary!

  • Also in "Dancing in the Rain," when Mary first tells the girls in her modern dance class about the summer tour, the girls' math teacher from their school tells them and their classmates that she'll be hosting math seminar during the summer. Julie, Lucie and Alia are able to participate dance tour, but Alia's brother (who's name is never revealed) ends up being forced to do the math seminar by his and Alia's parents since he didn't really have anything planned for the summer. When the main trio is texting each other about the dance tour, Julie and Lucie are having trouble getting in touch with Alia—when they do manage to reach her:
    Alia (text message to Julie and Lucie): Sorry girls! I couldn't answer you right away. I was with my brother. My parents agreed for me too! The important thing for them is that we don't lounge around the house all summer long. On the other hand, my brother hadn't planned anything, so they enrolled him in the math seminar. And...
    (Alia looks over at her brother, who's sitting on the floor in front of the couch with a shocked/stunned expression on his face)
    Alia (text message to Julie and Lucie): Nope! He still hasn't recovered from it!