winked at me as he came through the door. Or maybe it was at Caitlyn. She obviously thought it was, the way her cheeks slowly turned from blushing pink to bright red. I made a mental note to tell him he really must stop teasing her like that. How was she supposed to get over him if he kept encouraging her?
Mr Leonardo had obviously arrived early as he was there waiting for us.
“Well, that, of course, was Romeo and Juliet,” he said. “A brand-new production. You’ll no doubt be learning some of the dances this term so I would urge you all to go and see it as soon as you can. Now, just briefly, before we begin, I have a bit of news. You all know, of course, that at the end of term we have the big summer show where you’ll be put through your paces –”
Showtime! The most important event of the year – the one we were all working towards. How you performed then could determine the whole of your future.
“Just put it on the back burner for the moment,” said Mr Leonardo, “because in the meantime we have another event lined up. A rather exciting one. As I’m sure you’re aware, CBS is part of the Ballet Outreach programme, taking ballet into the community. Last term, some of you may remember, a group of our senior students went into one of the local schools, Cardinal Fisher, which went down so well that the school has now asked whether it would be possible for a few of their Year Eight pupils, the ones who expressed the most appreciation – which I’m happy to say included boys as well as girls – to actually visit us here. So! I think you’ll agree that’s excellent news. We’ve arranged that a small group, about twenty in all, will be coming to us later in the term, and your year have been chosen to be their hosts! Which, I may say, is a great honour. You will, in effect, be ambassadors for the ballet.”
He paused, to let that sink in. We preened ourselves. Ambassadors!
“So here’s the plan. I thought that to kick off we’d show them what a normal class is like – well, a sample of a normal class. Obviously not a full class, there wouldn’t be time. Let’s say about half an hour, and then I propose we demonstrate how we put our technique into practice. Mrs Elkins and I have sat down with Ms Hickman and we’ve come up with a list, which I have here –” he waved a sheet of paper at us – “of what you’ll all be dancing. They’ll only be very short pieces, no more than about five minutes each, and they’ll all be taken from the company’s standard repertoire, which means you’ll already be familiar with them since, of course, you’ll have spent the whole of your first year learning them!”
My mind quickly ran over what we’d learnt, trying to decide what I’d most like to do. Not that I had any choice, but just last term we’d learnt the Dance of the Little Swans from Swan Lake. I wouldn’t mind being a Little Swan!
Mr Leonardo read out from his list. Three of the boys were to do the Trepak from Nutcracker. Four of the girls – Mei, Caitlyn, Roz and Chloe – were to do the Dance of the Little Swans. (I swallowed. I might have known Ms Hickman wouldn’t let me be a Little Swan! She probably still had it in for me. Everyone said she bore grudges.)
Mr Leonardo went on through the list. I waited eagerly for my name. Alex and Oliver – Tiffany, Finn – Amber, Giorgio … what about me? What was I supposed to be dancing?
“Finally,” said Mr Leonardo, “Maddy and Nico –”
My heart thumped. At last!
“I know you haven’t yet actually learnt any of the dances from Fiesta but as you’re both quick studies we thought it might be fun if you did the Fandango. It’s only very short and it would be something a bit different. What do you think? Are you up to it?”
I nodded so hard I thought my head would go flying off! Nico turned and gave me a huge grin.
“Your sort of thing.” Tiffany mouthed the words at me across the studio. She probably thought she was getting back at me for what I’d said about her and Dad’s bendy ballet. As if I’d been having a go at her! I’d only been telling it like it was. She’s a really strong dancer but cold and glittering, like a splinter of ice. I like to think I have a bit more warmth than that. She was right, though, when she said that Fiesta was my kind of thing. It is exactly my kind of thing! Very fast and furious and exciting. And passionate. It’s what I love about Spanish dancing: it is never just about technique. It is full of real emotion.
I felt my face break into a big happy beam. This, I thought, was going to be a really good term!
There are some people who think that being ballet students we don’t have to suffer normal school-type lessons such as maths and geography. They have this cosy picture of us dressed in our tights and leotards doing nothing but dance, dance, dance all day long. I wish! Not that I actually mind doing ordinary lessons. I really enjoy art and English. It’s true I don’t much care for maths, but that’s probably only because I’m not very good at it. I would willingly not ever have to solve an equation again for the rest of my life! But we have to do what Dad calls “the academic stuff” to make sure we’re properly rounded human beings. At least, that’s what they tell us.
“There is absolutely no call,” as Mrs Sinclair once bitingly informed us after we’d pulled faces at the prospect of a double period of maths, “no call whatsoever for a dancer to be ignorant.”
She would say that, of course; she is Head of Academic Studies. What she didn’t say, but what we all know, is that we need to be properly educated in case we don’t make it as dancers and have to go out and find regular jobs like other people. It’s what we all secretly dread. Caitlyn says it’s one of her worst nightmares. “I’d just die!” Like Nico she had to fight really hard to get to ballet school. Not because she has a dad that disapproved but because her mum is a single parent and couldn’t afford lessons.
I can understand why she worries, though in her case I honestly don’t think there’s any need. Mum, who is just about the most critical person I know, says that Caitlyn is a natural born dancer and that she has that elusive thing, star quality. I just don’t think she quite realises it! Even after all this time she sometimes doubts her own abilities. She’s not being mock modest, she genuinely is modest. Just as I’m not being boastful when I say that I’m actually well aware of my abilities. I know that I have a solid technique, a sense of the dramatic, and excellent ballon (meaning that I can jump very high and land very lightly). It’s important, Mum always says, to know where your strengths lie. Those are my strengths! But of course you have to be aware of your weaknesses, as well, if only so that you can keep working on them. I, for instance, have had to accept that my line is not as pure as Caitlyn’s and that I still have problems with adage. Gentle floating is not for me! I am far more of an allegro person. Quick footwork, fast turns. That’s what I’m best at.
When it comes to ordinary lessons, English is what I’m best at. I have quite a vivid imagination, I really enjoy making up stories, but what I love most of all is being chosen to read aloud, like last term when we did To Kill a Mockingbird and I put on an American accent and everybody said it sounded just like the real thing. Even Ms Turnbull, our English teacher, congratulated me. She said, “Well, done, Maddy! Very authentic.” I can do French and German, as well. And, of course, Spanish! I love trying out different accents.
On our second day back we had English immediately following morning class. We always do an hour of class first thing,
