My entry for the February 2008 Contest. The theme was Ballet Couples.

I've based my image on the Pas des Fleurs from act two of "The Talisman".

The story of "The Talisman" follows that of a young Hindu goddess, Niriti, who must visit the Earth to test her heart against the temptations of earthly love. Before her journey, her mother gives her a star from her crown, with the stipulation that if she loses it, she cannot return to heaven. If it is lost, the only way to recover it is for the star to be freely returned by whatever mortal comes to possess it. The wind god, Vayu, travels with her to protect her on her journey.
As the story progresses, Niriti loses the star to a mortal man, Nourredin.
In the second act, she comes to Nourredin in the guise of the Goddess of Flowers and performs a sort of Pas de Deux with the mortal. Vayu is also there with her the entire time, and leads the Grand Pas des Fleurs after Niriti and Nourredin leave the stage.



Now watching that part from Act II online [link] , I noticed, Vayu multiple times seems to try to separate the pair and seems to try to convince Niriti to get away from the mortal man.

Given, I'm not a ballet expert, and this is only my interpretation... But it felt like a bit of a love triangle to me.
The role of protector taken by Vayu made me think of Fakir, and I think his strong dancing style would suit a deity that controls the wind and storms. And the possession of the star talisman representing who held Niriti's love reminded me of the importance of Prince Mytho's heart shards to the story of Princess Tutu.

So I've drawn my interpretation of the dance preceding the Grand Pas des Fleurs, with Niriti (Ahiru) dancing with Nourredin (Mytho). Nourredin holds the star talisman just within Niriti's reach, but she cannot simply take it back. Vayu (Fakir) dances desperately in the background, unable to pull her away from him, or take the star talisman back for her by force.

Obviously, I've had a lot of fun with Hindu deity inspired ballet costumes. (Ahiru is NOT topless; she's wearing a leotard slightly darker than her skin tone and decorated to imitate the gold jewelry seen on statues of the Vedic Gods.)

There are blue paint designs on Fakir (and yes, his scar is also there) to imitate the blue skin of Vayu. I did an alternate version where is skin is all blue, but it didn't look as good, so I went with the artistic interpretation.