FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

They had all come together at the old community center, about 15 of them, all women, various species, from college-aged to middle-aged. It was an odd building, an old building. Many hallways were blocked off and many doors had signs warning people not to enter. Paint peeled off the walls and many of the tiles underfoot were chipped and battered. They all thought the building should be condemned. At least the room they met in, an old banquet hall, looked fairly nice still, if you ignored the cobwebs cluttering the corners.

At the front of the room, on a raised platform, was a rabbit in garish 80's colors, complete with leg and arm warmers and a headband. "I'm so glad you could all make it to our modern dance class," the rabbit said in a bubbly voice. "We're going to be teaching you the moves to brand new dances that are a hit on the club scene right now."

The younger women in the group smiled eagerly at this, planning to put their new skills to use right away; while the older women smiled too, hoping to relive their wilder days.

"First, let's stretch. All instructions will be shown behind me on the screen. It is very important that no matter how you move you keep your eyes up there."

A projector whirred noisily to life and, after a moment of flickering, settled on a swirl of colors with the same neon 80's look as the rabbit's clothes. The lights in the room dimmed around them.

"Start with your hands raised high overhead."

All the women lifted their hands high.

"Higher. Up on tippy-toes. Give those arms a good stretch. Now bow forward. That's it. Keep those arms fully extended. Oh and keep your head up. Have to keep your eyes on the screen."

A few women looked up sheepishly. They had bent forward and been staring at the ground before the rabbit reminded them. Most of the words she was saying were replicated on the screen, embossed white on black to set them off from the swirl of color.

"Now back up straight. Bend to the side. Stretch out that flank. Now the other way. Good, good. Don't forget to get your tail involved. It's a part of you too."

One fox in the group gave her tail an overdramatic, flourishing swish, hoping to provoke laughter, but most of her companions were focused too intently up on the stage.

"Let's stretch those legs now. Step forward with one leg and kneel down with the other."

The screen showed an image of someone down on one knee and leaning forward on the other leg. It also showed the words, but there was something odd about the word "kneel," as it was displayed, although none of the women could put their finger on it. It just seemed slightly more real than the other words around it.

"Okay, back up to standing, and then step forward with the other leg. Don't worry if you feel a little lost. If ever you don't know what to do, just remember to obey the instructions on the screen."

Again some of the words were different. "Lost" stood out. As did "Obey." But the women were so focused on trying to stretch out their legs they couldn't pay much attention to it.

"All right. That's great, everyone. Let's start with our first new dance. We'll need a lot of room for this one. So spread out. Those at the edges, keep moving out. We should fill most of the room. There we go."

All the women moved as told, only glancing away from the screen for a split second to check on their relative positioning.

"This first dance is done mostly with your legs. You can let your arms just relax for now."

"Relax" looked different. The other words faded away on the screen.

Music started up, slightly tinny in the banquet hall's aged speakers. It was a slow techno piece, driven by a deep underlying beat that had most of the women starting to sway their hips in time with it.

"Just take a step in the direction I tell you and don't be afraid to cross your legs when you do. Left, left, back, back, back, back, right, right, right, right, forward, forward, forward, forward, left, left. You did it! A full circuit."

Each step instruction blinked onto the screen as it was spoken, large and highlighted by the swirling colors, as if it were the single most important thing in the world.

"Let's practice that a few more times, until we can do it without getting our legs tangled up."

The few women who had tripped over themselves smiled at this, but only briefly. Then they refocused their attentions on the screen's instructions. They had to obey the instructions. That was important.

Around and around they went, until they were moving in sync, arms relaxed by their sides.

"Now this dance is known as the Spiral. Every time we loop, we take smaller and smaller steps. Like so."

The women in the room followed the rabbit wordlessly, the size of their steps shrinking just a little.

"And with each circuit, you relax your upper body more and more. Don't just relax, go limp. Let that tail hang behind you. Let your jaw go slack."

"Relax," "limp," "hang," "slack." The words appear emboldened on the screen and they seemed the most important words in the world.

"Make that spiral tighter. Sink into the beat. You should be able to do this mindlessly, without thinking at all."

"Mindless" said the screen and at this point, the women were too dazed to even nod in agreement.

"Tighter... Smaller steps... And stop. Now there's nowhere else left to go. We've reached the center of the spiral. The dance is complete. We are all deep and relaxed. So just fall to your knees."

The women all kneeled, staring at the screen and heedless to the passage of time. They didn't notice the rabbit leaving the stage. They didn't notice the doors being opened. They didn't notice the men who marched in and took their places, one next to each woman. They certainly didn't notice that all the men had the same glassy-eyed look they had.

The rabbit climbed back onto the stage. "And now for part two of our lesson, we'll be doing partnered dancing. This one is a bit more risque. It's called Riding the Cowboy."