Alyssa looked around her as all her friends danced with their partners. She felt like a wallflower. She had known all the answers to the questions Mr. Stryker had asked them, like she did have some dance experience, if dancing with her family counted, and that she liked the Latin Samba and the Viennese Waltz. She loved to dance because it made her happy. She was able to express herself better in dance than any other way. If she was angry her movements were more aggressive but at the same time, it helped to "burn off" the anger. As for the types of ballroom dancing there were so many but one example was the Minuet which was first introduced into ballroom dancing in 1650. She also knew the answer to the question "What is a waltz"

Actually there were different variations of the waltz depending on the culture. The waltz usually comprises of a couples who do not pass, but turn continuously left and right while travelling counterclockwise around the floor following each other. Their bodies are never apart.

"Yes", Alyssa thought to herself. She knew all the answers, but every time she was about to raise her hand to answer, others would do so and give their answer and the Professor would move on to the next and the next. And so she was not of going to be able to earn any points for her house which made her very sad.

Alyssa loved dancing and danced all the time with her dad and sometimes her brothers....when they were forced to dance with her. She even danced by herself just because she liked the feeling of dancing. Most of the time, when she danced, she would use her current emotions and express them in the dance she was dancing. Dancing relaxed her and helped removed stress. Dancing made her laugh when she was feeling sad. When she danced she felt like she was in her own world. Sometimes she didn't have music to accompany her and so she would hum a song when she danced. She loved the waltz because it was not only elegant but when people danced the waltz, it seemed to her like they just floated through the dance floor. She especially loved it when the played the Blue Danube by Johann Strauss. That was her favorite waltz tune. She had tried the swing a couple of times and found it invigorating. But now in this class, she felt alone. She didn't even have a partner to dance with.

Alyssa slowly moved to the back of the class trying to hide herself so that no one would notice that she was there. She would leave the class but she didn't want her house getting penalized for her rudeness.

Maybe she could volunteer to play the piano for the class seeing that she wouldn't be getting the opportunity to dance with a partner.