"I'll let you know that I'm proficient in tap, ballroom, jazz dancing, and some ballet! There never was a performer like me, and there never will be again!"

In early 2020, things were changing a lot at the bar. They were becoming more drag based, with less of a variety of performers than before. It had been Tatara's dream to make it be a drag bar, rather than one that hosted a lot of different kinds of performers. First, they'd had to establish themselves in the neighborhood, and then Tatara could make the changes he wanted. It had taken him over five years, and now he felt comfortable enough to make these changes. Little did we know what was coming, and I don't mean the covid pandemic.

Shortly after I had been hired, I was told about Tatara's plan. There'd be resident drag performers, and I was just the start of these changes. They were going to hold auditions, and I'd watched Tatara prepare for them. Io, their long time bartender, had been helping. However, I learned that Tatara was woefully ill prepared. For one thing, he'd wanted to hand out actual flyers.

"That's not how it's done these days," Io had explained to him. Darla had been mystified by Io as well, his explanation of how to do this. We'd all listened to him eagerly, Tatara most of all, as we gathered around the bar as he made drinks for us. "Are you going to hand a flyer to a queen by happenstance? How many will you have to print out to get just one in a potential queen's hands? No, do it online. It's called Instagram. Twitter. Social media."

"Oh! I have a Twitter!" Tatara had said, jumping up from his stool. I'd secretly thought that was cute, but I just put my hand over my mouth instead and then made like I was swiping something off my lips.

Io's finger was wagging at him. "And you don't use it for anything. This whole bar could be transformed with the proper social media."

My hand was in the air, then I took it down. Glancing around nervously. They'd all seen it, though.

"Yes, Yuki-san?" Io said, calling on me like a teacher even though he was younger than me by quite some years.

"Um. I have social media. I have a lot of followers."

Darla and Tatara's faces popped up and looked at me, so curious. "You do?" Tatara asked, looking directly at me. Good thing is was so romantically lit in here. Maybe they didn't see my blush.

I just nodded, thinking about my socials. I'd been a YouTuber for a long time. Starting small, but some of my piano covers had gone viral. People loved when I covered anime songs and songs from movies. However, I wouldn't say I was the most popular. But, it was decent. I made some money from it, too. Enough to sustain myself modestly, if I cut out most of the pleasures of life. Still, it was better than a 9 to 5. As a consequence of having such a presence online, I did have socials such as Instagram and Twitter. However, YouTube wasn't as big in Japan as it was in the west. So, maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

"Would you mind saying something about Cinderella Bar looking for queens?" Io asked, so direct.

Tatara's hand was on my shoulder quicker than I could react. He squeezed and my heart...

He was so eager. "I'll make a graphic for it! You can post it tonight! I'll get on it right away! Oh- um, if that's okay. Are we intruding?" His searching face, so close to mine.

My eyes were wide. I'd only recently started feeling about him this way, but my heart was running away with it. "No, you're not intruding. I'm a part of the bar now. I'd love to do it."

His hands went to his face, his smile so large there. I realized I couldn't stop smiling, too.

That's how we found ourselves in quite the situation a week or so later.

A very young queen was standing in front of us on the low stage. He had short, curly blonde hair such as from an American film from the 1930's. He reminded me of Ginger Rogers and Jean Harlow, but his personality was more Jean Harlow for sure. No doubt this was what he was going for, since he was dressed as Ginger Rogers from the film "Roberta" during the "Too Hot to Handle" dance scene. I thought appearing before us in pants was a bold move, but he'd just told us he was dancer, so maybe it was calculated. He was as pretty as Ginger Rogers as well, which kind of irritated me and I couldn't put my finger on why.

He put his hand on his chest. "My name is Champagne Rose! It means 'pink champagne', not the flower! That wouldn't make any sense! Now, watch me dance!" So commanding, a loud and much too bold voice. He'd even been staring directly at Tatara's face the whole time. Staring him down, as if daring him to look away. I was still stunned by what he'd just said before this, even more boldly claiming that there'd never be another performer like himself.

But, oh then he launched into a quick tap dance and my hands scrambled to the piano to catch up in the sheet music he'd given me. I wish I'd noticed that tempo on the paper before he'd started.

However, I noticed something odd right away, and from the murmurs in the small three person audience, they'd noticed it, too.

Champagne Rose tapped away for two whole minutes, and honestly it was quite the awesome rendition of Ginger Rogers dancing the "Too Hot to Handle" dance scene. I loved those movies, and really, Miss Champagne Rose was not missing a beat. My fingers could hardly keep up on my keys. But-

"Wait a minute," Darla said. His hand was in the air, a trend I'd started due to my shyness. Now everyone else had been copying me for a week.

"Yes, indeed wait," Tatara repeated after him.

They'd stopped Champagne Rose on one foot. He stood there with one leg raised in the air and at an angle with his arms airplaned out towards the floor. He didn't move an inch, what awesome control.

"Yes?" he asked, obviously eager to keep going, puffing away a little bit since he'd had to stop so suddenly.

"Is this supposed to be a two person dance? You're dancing as if you're supposed to have a partner," Darla observed. He'd hit it right on the money.

"I don't need any partner. I'm fine just by myself." So daringly bold again. That was no way to speak to an elder, especially one as senior as Darla.

"Ah, but. It would look better with a partner." Tatara was already getting up from his seat. He hopped up on stage, looking awkward next to Champagne Rose as he was dressed in an oversized sweater and regular jeans. He was taking his shoes off fast and tossed them off the stage.

Champagne Rose's mouth was opening to protest, but Tatara took his hand and waist and spun him around and his mouth was open for another reason. He'd been just as shocked at his expertise in that spin as we'd all been by his disrespect.

He had no idea who he'd been talking to. Now, maybe he would.

"Okay, maestro," Tatara said, snapping his fingers and pointing. "From the top."

Just like that, as I played they began to dance. So fast, Tatara pulled Champagne Rose into a quick footed pair tap, and his mouth was open the whole time, completely shocked. Tatara was the Fred Astaire to his Ginger Rogers. He even leapt him off stage as he squealed, dancing him down the aisle of our modest set up of chairs, then all around the bar. We were all laughing by the end, even Champagne Rose.

"Tell me, can you sing?" Tatara called out over my piano as they danced at opposite ends of the room and started to come back together. They looked like they'd been dancing together for years. His expertise was total, able to keep up with Tatara and matching his every move like Shirley Temple did with James Dunn in "Baby Take a Bow" from the film Stand Up and Cheer. His ability to predict and come back with more was his real talent.

"Like a canary!" Champagne Rose called back to him, spinning back into his arms in front of the stage.

"You have the job," he laughed.

"What are you?!" he demanded to know over the music, his face still in disbelief at Tatara's dancing.

"A drag queen!" he answered, and I laughed so hard. Io laughed loudly with me at the same time. It was chaos. Tatara took his hand and waist again, and danced slowly with him as my song became a romantic interlude. He got close to him, and I felt my heart burn. "Your name is too long, though. Can I call you 'Cham'?"

Cham was so enchanted that there was no possibility to say no.

Over the four years of knowing Cham since, we learned why he was so good at dancing and also why he was so rude. He had in fact lived in Los Angeles as a child and teenager and therefore was practically American, and studied dance right where those old Hollywood films were made. He was right, he was a fantastic performer, and a uniquely qualified one. However, nobody was better than my Tatara. Cham might have been dancing since he was a kid, but Tata had about twenty years on him in that department. He'd have to study for twenty more years to be as good, so he was only half as good as him. Still, his queen was quite pretty and youthful, a standout for that reason at the bar. His youth often made Tata jealous, but in a playful way. That was the one thing he had that Tata didn't, and it drove him crazy.

They'd been dancing together now for four years and were better than ever. One of Cham's favorite schticks was to act as if he had no idea how to dance at the beginning, and as his show amped up, he'd be "taught" how to dance by Tata and the audience loved it. They learned more about dance this way and could then appreciate just how good Cham was at dancing by the end, overjoyed at the dance spectacular before them. It was just like those old Hollywood films, so feel good and wonderfully nostalgic. Except, instead of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, it was two queens dancing together, which I thought was a million times better.

The image of them dancing together, Tata's mouth open in a grin and his arms up near his shoulders opposite Cham who was in the same pose as they tapped together, spinning in tandem as the audience cheered. Tata would shove Cham to the center and he'd spin there, doing his grand solo and calling back to him, asking if it was right while he completely wowed the audience. It went together as well as bread and butter.

Despite how rude I found Cham to be at times, I was glad we'd found him. If we hadn't, I wouldn't get to see Tata dance as much as I do. And, I wouldn't have found him practicing dancing so many nights in the empty space of the bar if not for Cham, too. So, I had to be grateful. What great memories I had, because of this bold and disrespectful, enormously talented young queen named Champagne Rose. He'd come in like a dancing whirlwind, forever changing the bar and my life even more so than the covid pandemic. And for that, I was forever grateful.