Dance While You Can

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Fanfiction
Title:	Dance While You Can
Author(s):	Alexandra
Date(s):	1996
Length:
Genre(s):
Fandom(s):	The Professionals
Relationship(s):	Bodie/Doyle
External Links:	Online Version at the Circuit Library
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Dance While You Can is a Bodie/Doyle Professionals story by Alexandra.

It was published in Close Quarters and online.

Summary

"In search of a blackmailer, Bodie and Doyle go under cover at a gay club. Doyle succeeds in keeping the fact that it's not all an act for him a secret—until Bodie suddenly pulls him onto the dance floor for one long, slow number..."

Reactions and Reviews

'Dance while you can' was one of the first circuit stories I ever read and it left me with a certain fondness for 'undercover in a gay bar' scenarios.

"Dance While You Can" by Alex T. Mackenzie is somewhat routine but still a good read. Bodie and Doyle go undercover in a gay club and after sitting it out like a couple of wallflowers, they eventually make it onto the dance floor for one long, slow number. You can guess the rest!

‘Black ankle boots, black pants hugging thighs and crotch with little left to the imagination, black silk poloneck, and black leather jacket. Definitely Bodie's best color. Doyle watched him make his way to the bar, admiring his elegance, his subtle grace.’

Does any fic need more to recommend it than this ravishing image? And through Doyle’s admiring eyes, too, with the promise of slash to come.

This is one of the first fics I read, not that long ago I have to admit, and it has yet to be displaced from top spot in my favourites. I love the joy and warmth and humour in Alexandra’s writing. The quality of the writing, the narrative, and the characterisation of Bodie, Doyle and Cowley, all goes without saying as the essentials of a memorable story. But ‘Dance While You Can’ ticks all the boxes for me in all sorts of ways.

The title is a bit of worry. It sounds rather ominous, as though something terrible is going to happen, but in fact there is nothing here to disturb even the most faint-hearted (that’s me). There is a bit of a plot, narrated with a close eye on canon. The plot is enough to place the lads convincingly in the situation they find themselves in, without diverting attention from their relationship. An ironic misunderstanding in that area is enough to give the plot more substance.

Alexandra recreates the atmosphere of the eps perfectly. Particularly vivid is Bodie and Doyle’s visit to Cowley’s office; first the mutual anxiety, then, in the blink of an eye, the lads bouncing back and treating Cowley to their two-man comedy routine, except only they are in on the joke, and there is just a hint that Cowley is not entirely convinced. It could be played out on the screen in front of you.

There is more than knock-about humour, and well-written porn, though. The quality of Alexandra’s writing is in imagery like this:

‘The room stood still, swathed in a bath of moonlight from the small, high window, such an ordinary room in an ordinary flat, with nothing of their own in it, a temporary place. Yet he felt so at home, sheltered in Bodie's arms.’

At the heart of it, really, is that I like my lads happy and in love, but still credibly masculine, strong and independent, and Alexandra does this so well.

Read to the end of this fic and your day will be brighter.

I enjoyed the story, it was very sweet and romantic, and it feels good to see them be on the same page without long drawn out misunderstandings and denials, but the realist in me thought that everything came together almost a little too easily, with both discovering they are in love and admitting to it fairly easily and instantly going on to try it all right away!

Are they both experienced with m/m relationships? If not, they are amazingly accepting and relaxed about it, after just admitting to themselves and each other they are attracted to the same sex and it's not just lust, but love. They seem to anticipate no difficulties at all in their future. (I wish I could just be romantic and not let reality come into my reading!)

I also thought, Ray came across as just a mite submissive with Bodie doing most of the initiating. He was the one being "seduced" by Bodie, and then tested ( I thought Bodie took that just a tiny bit too far, after Doyle had already admitted he didn't want just the sex), and liked to be held (sheltered) in Bodie's arms, and I just see Ray as more proactive. I was happy when he showed more of his usual spirit after they returned from the bar and after they finagle Cowley into giving them a couple of days off.

The bit at CI5 headquarters was my favorite, sounding most like the lads and I could really "hear" them there. Cowley, too. Just like their famous double act in canon.

I love the tension of the story. I think the theatre of it works well. They are wearing masks imposed by others and beneath those masks they are turning into the creatures they are playing. Then at the end it turns out the masks were never necessary, except that they were, to enable them to admit their feelings. Clever and erotic writing; we are surprised by the contrasts and the twists of the story, and we feel Doyle’s anxiety and his mounting sexual tension. I like the way we are effectively left at the bedroom door, given the sex in flashbacks with the emphasis on the quiet time. This is not coyness; it leads the reader to use their imagination and to speculate about what Bodie’s imagination might have devised. It’s ‘hotter’ than explicit description might be.

A couple of criticisms. At times, the love of adjectives becomes cloying. I prefer slightly ‘sparer’ writing. And the drinks. I very much doubt if they drink whiskeys with an e - those are the Irish kind and were not popular in UK bars in the '70s. Whisky/whiskies would be more likely - and if these were doubles (they said ‘large’) I’m surprised they weren’t under the table rather than on the dance floor, given that they're drinking quite quickly. Unlike byslantedlight I recall waiters in bars/clubs in the '70s - in fact I was one myself, in Manchester.

Definitely a story I would recommend to people, and will re-read. I like any kind of under-cover op and this was great!

Well let me start by saying this story uses a regularly used scenario/set up that I generally enjoy. The idea of the characters in an undercover operation, the accidental revelation of non-platonic feelings, and those feelings being requited *grin*, is something that has a lot of dramatic and emotional potential.

I always think in stories that use this scenario the reader is very aware of what the progression is going to be (worry, fear, revelation from one character, revelation from the other, feelings being returned, consummation etc) which means we know we are not going to be surprised. Some people like this and see it as comforting and others find it too predictable, I fall firmly in the middle here, what is important to me is how that journey is described and, of course, the characterisation. Unfortunately the characterisation is where this story falters for me.

There are glimpses of the Bodie and Doyle we see in the show most notably near the end. I do like them working together to get some time off from Cowley, I think that shows them in a familiar light. Although I don’t believe anyone can really manipulate Cowley into giving something he wasn’t already prepared to give but that is a character note not a story one so I'll leave it there. But this shows me the author can capture the essence of the characters but does not in the main part of the story. Essentially I think the portrayal of the lads is off, and that statement is allowing for emotional revelations/development influencing them, and them needing alter their actions because they are operating in an undercover environment.

An example of this issue is shown in the exchange running from: "Jesus--" Doyle gripped Bodie's shoulders, tried to shove him back. "I can't--please, don't do this--" to He couldn't take this anymore. "Bodie, what the hell are we doin' here?" . Doyle is simply too passive here: I would see Doyle swearing at Bodie as well as himself, I would see him pushing back at the teasing/testing especially after Bodie’s physical attraction has been revealed. It then goes onto him asking: "I said it was love, back there. You said it, too. I meant that. Tell me first, Bodie--tell me that this isn't everything.". and then the more submissive Doyle being “sheltered in Bodie’s arms”. It does not match the view I have of Doyle from the show.

This means that I tend to end up viewing the story almost as one with two original characters that just happen to have familiar names. That sentence is taking it a little far but hopefully shows what I mean i.e. the story is fine in and of itself but doesn‘t match my perceptions of Bodie and Doyle. Viewing it like that I can say it had good elements to it: there is a good bit of emotional turmoil, some appealing images (Bodie all in black *happy sigh*), and we are left with a sense that they are committed to one another and are all set up for a happy ending. So it works alright from that standpoint even if it isn‘t the type of story I prefer, it’s just that it isn’t the Bodie and Doyle that I see in the show.

I think it is something I see as a tendency in certain writers, just like a tendency to write in particular genres.

I agree, to a certain extent, that this tendency is more than an early fic writers tick. Amongst the earliest writers, Tarot, for example, never seemed to write either of them as particularly submissive (Consequences, as I think has been said before, was apparently co-written, with Tarot doing the 'fix it' at the end), nor did Lois Welling or Pam Rose, although I haven't done a complete search of all their works so I may be wrong in individual cases. In the early days HG, Meg Lewtan and O Yardley on the other hand seemed more influenced by the tropes of romantic fiction - the assigning of a more stereotypically macho role to one partner which was sometimes at the expense of a mature, adult male portrayal of the other. See how neatly I avoided using either 'infantalised' or 'feminised' *g*

feminise - this is inherently sexist as it is used in connection to certain less than flattering characteristics however I think it is in more common usage.

And definitely used in Pros story discussions too, although it squicked a lot of people for the reasons you mentioned, so "infantalise" has been used more commonly over the past few years that I've been involved. It's a short-hand and so whichever word you use, and whatever particular aspect of writing you're applying it to, there are bound to be problems.

I'm always interested when the balance of discussion goes out of its normal groove. Normally I find myself explaining what I like about far darker Pros fic than this one! It can't be, I tell myself, just because I developed a fondness for DWYC early on that I can still gloss over its flaws. Because you are right when you say:

An example of this issue is shown in the exchange running from: "Jesus--" Doyle gripped Bodie's shoulders, tried to shove him back. "I can't--please, don't do this--" to He couldn't take this anymore. "Bodie, what the hell are we doin' here?" . Doyle is simply too passive here.

So I wonder what changes my usual low tolerance level of this sort of emotional insecurity from Doyle? I do find it slightly irritating, but I can gloss over it - why? Thoughts:

- I recognise that they'd both have to be a bit squiffy by now - I don't count Doyle's brandy so much, he's been slowly sipping it for at least half an hour.Then they have 3 "large" whiskies - assuming the club doesn't water their scotch and 'large' [equals] 60ml, that would be the equivalent of 6 standard drinks (not a UK measure, but I know where I am with it, it's about the same as 3 pints of 4.5% beer). Enough to loosen inhibitions, presumably, without making them incapable. I take greengerbil's point about drinking on duty, but their job is to act as bait... *handwaves that bit* - Doyle's had that half an hour or so to ruminate. The thoughts about love he comes out with on the dance floor are a result of that looking, thinking and dreaming. I don't need to be hand-held through that whole thought process. - what moth2fic said about the theatre of the story, which is, after all, a shortish piece with a predictable arc. I like the way the focus spirals in, narrows until it's just them and their moment of discovery - there's a nice balancing moment in Bodie's cover flat: The door barely clicked shut behind them before Doyle grabbed Bodie, shoved him against the wall, and took his mouth in a fierce, demanding kiss, rubbing and thrusting his body hard against him. All the passion he had held in when he was at the club, when he thought he had to play a role, had to contain himself, erupted in fire, consuming him even as his fervor blazed forth in its need to join the fire within his partner. When he finally pulled away, he smiled to see the stunned look on Bodie's face, lips still parted, eyes wide, his breath coming in soft gasps. "Liked that, did you?" "Oh, God." Bodie slowly shook his head. "I had no idea."

It doesn't quite carry through to the end, but it works for me.