And All That Jazz (2 page)

My name is never read out last. I was so angry that I'd let myself down.

‘You just had a bad day,' Paige told me after we'd taken off our jazz shoes and were walking to the car. ‘At least you still got in the troupe.'

‘That new girl Ashley got called before me and she hasn't even proven herself yet. She's only been here for one class.'

‘She was very good,' said Paige, who never says anything bad about anyone. Even Jasmine.

‘I bet Miss Caroline only put Ashley in because she wanted her to feel welcome,' I said sniffily.

‘She got in because she's a good dancer,' said Paige. ‘And she's funny. I like her.'

‘Well, Riley told me she used to go to Dance Art,' I said. Dance Art Academy is our rival dance school. They're this big, rich, posh school in the next suburb. ‘So I don't know what she thinks she's doing
here
.'

‘Maybe she heard Silver Shoes was the best dance school ever!' Paige grinned.

‘Well,' I said, ‘fancy Dance Art training or not, she couldn't get her leg very high on the arabesques.' I knew I was being a snot but I had a lot to get off my chest.

‘I'm sure that will get straightened out in technique class,' said Paige. She gave me a nudge. ‘Hopefully along with your bad mood.'

Paige never calls me out, so I knew I was definitely being a snotty snob. I didn't get a chance to apologise though, because Paige's mum rushed over to us.

‘Hiya Paigey, hi Ellie,' she said. Her hair was freshly dyed red and she had lots of sparkly purple eyeshadow on. She looked like the dressing room after a concert. I can't wait until I can wear eye make-up. Mum only lets me when I have a performance.

‘You have plenty of time to grow up,' Mum told me, when I tried to wear my false eyelashes to school. ‘You don't need to have fluttery eyes to do sums.'

My mum and Paige's mum are very different. Sometimes I don't think my mum likes Mrs Montreal. ‘A flapping, gabby parrot,' I overheard her say once, when she thought I couldn't hear. But Mum's always nice to her face.

‘How'd you go today, Paigey?' asked Mrs Montreal. ‘Did you get those switch leaps we've been working on?'

A switch leap is where you do two splits in the air, switching really fast between the two legs. Hardly anyone in our jazz class can do it. I'm good at pretending, though – it's all in the showmanship.

‘Not really,' said Paige. ‘We were working on the audition today.'

‘Audition?' Paige's mum said immediately, waving her arms around. All the bracelets on her arm jangled. ‘What for? Did you get in?'

‘Yes,' said Paige. She looked embarrassed.

‘Oh, well done!' screamed Mrs Montreal. She swept Paige up in her arms and I almost got knocked out by the tidal wave of perfume that floated after her.

‘Thanks,' said Paige, rolling the gravel under her feet.

‘Tell me all about it in the car,' said Mrs Montreal. ‘See you tomorrow, Ellie!'

‘See ya,' I said, and sat down on the church steps to wait for Mum.

Silver Shoes is actually this big old church that Miss Caroline's family had renovated into a dance school. The church was made into two studios and the little church hall out the back was turned into the drama/singing rooms.

They've designed the studios so they're all modern with these huge mirrors and bright lights, but what I like best are the hallways and dressing rooms behind the studios, where they keep the costumes and the props. It's dark and theatrical back there – I love pretending I'm some old-fashioned actress waiting to go on stage.

My mum pulled up late, as usual. She'd just come from teaching class at the gym and she was still in her workout gear with her hair
pulled up into a messy ponytail. Unlike Paige's mum, she hardly ever wears make-up, but I think she's just as pretty.

My little brother was in the front seat. He had a bandaid on his knee.

‘Hey Lucas,' I said. ‘Oh no, did you fall over? You didn't hurt the ground, did you?'

‘No,' said Lucas, giggling. ‘Got a scratch when I fell off the monkey bars.' His eyes teared up at the memory of it.

‘Awesome bandaid,' I said. ‘You look like a warrior who's been fighting a dinosaur!' Lucas is obsessed with dinosaurs and swords at the moment, so I really couldn't have told him anything better.

‘Rawr!' he said, shaking his moppy blond hair. He swiped his imaginary claws at me and then looked at his knee proudly. I guess that's as good as it gets when you're in prep.

‘I fell over today, too,' I said. ‘Right on my bum.'

Lucas giggled. Thanks for the sympathy. ‘You all right, love?' asked Mum. ‘You didn't hurt yourself?'

‘No,' I said. ‘It was so embarrassing, though. There's a new girl who started, too. Her name's Ashley. She's really good.'

‘Maybe you can make friends with her?' suggested Mum.

‘Maybe,' I said.

But I didn't mean it. First I had to see how good Ashley was. Silver Shoes was
my
dance school and no one was going to steal my spotlight.

Technique class was on Thursday, the next day. Technique class is important, but it can also be boring – I'm talking lots of stretching, strengthening, and working on jumps and leaps. But you have to do it if you want to be in the competition troupes.

The hip hop teacher, Jay, also brings in mats and we work on acrobatic skills. I have to admit, I'm not the best at ‘tricks'. That's
because I need to work on my flexibility. I practise at home sometimes, but last year I tried to backflip onto my bed, and I broke the plaster on the wall and sprained my toe. I told Mum it was her fault for buying cheap beds, and if I had an expensive one, like Paige, it would have supported me better. But Mum just said: ‘There's no support for idiocy.' And then I couldn't dance for a couple of weeks because of my toe.

Geez. A double dose of bad luck and all because I was trying to work on my career. Life is so unfair sometimes.

Technique class is compulsory for every student who wants to be in the competition troupes. You also have to do at least two other classes per week. I do jazz on Wednesdays and lyrical on Saturday mornings. When there's a competition coming up, we also have an extra practice. Miss Caroline
says if we're serious about dance, we should be taking classes every day. I've tried to talk to Mum about doing more, but every time I bring it up she has to go prepare for her next class or check her emails or something. You'd think she'd want her daughter to succeed in life, but no.

When Paige and I walked into technique class, I really wanted to make up for falling on my bum yesterday. I noticed Ashley sitting with Riley. Paige and I don't go to the same school as Riley, but we've all been in dance class together since we were tinies. Some people think Riley's a bit snooty, but she's got nothing on Jasmine.

Riley's family is from Fiji – that's so cool, I wish I came from somewhere interesting like that. Sometimes when people ask me I pretend that I'm from America, because that's where all the famous dancers are.

Riley is tall with super long legs and this afro hair that she often wears in two braids. She's an awesome dancer, but I get annoyed with her sometimes. She always gets into performance troupes because she's got great technique, but she misses so many classes because she's on about a hundred sporting teams. I haven't missed one.

‘Hey,' said Riley, waving to us. ‘You guys remember Ashley?'

Ashley had a hole in the bottom of her tights that had been mended with cotton but started to rip again. She was also missing her ballet flats. ‘They're getting resoled,' she said quickly, when I asked about them.

Miss Caroline likes us to look proper in technique class. Remember those boring pastel leotards I was talking about? Well, technique class makes all my worst nightmares come true.

‘How come you moved to Bayside?' I asked Ashley.

‘My parents got new jobs,' Ashley said.

‘What school do you go to?' I asked.

‘Bayside Primary,' said Ashley.

‘Yuck,' I said. ‘Bay
slime
Primary. Why did you come to Silver Shoes?'

Riley started laughing. ‘Maybe you should ask her what brand undies she wears as well.'

‘I don't wear any,' Ashley said.

Paige looked shocked.

‘She's joking, aren't you, Ash?' said Riley.

Ash
? What, were they best friends already or something?

‘It's not a good idea to go without undies when you're wearing a leotard,' I said, grabbing Paige. ‘They go right up your bum and no one wants to see that kind of wedgie.' I hauled on Paige's arm. ‘Come on,' I said. ‘Let's go warm up.'

‘Guys, it was a joke,' Riley said to our backs.

Well, guess what, Riley? Some people don't have time for jokes.
Some
people have their eyes on the prize.
Some
people don't want to get called last for the performance troupe.

I had work to do.

Miss Caroline called an extra rehearsal every week for the performance troupe. That meant that instead of class on Wednesday and Thursday nights and Saturday mornings, I was now also practising after school on Fridays. I didn't mind. I was in my element.

Miss Caroline taught us the whole dance in one lesson. Does that sound crazy to you? Maybe. But don't forget we
were
the
performance troupe. We'd all been in competitions before, and we were the best dancers (for our age group) at Silver Shoes. You'd be surprised at what you can learn in two-and-a-half hours.

The choreography was amazing. Miss Caroline had picked ‘You Can't Stop the Beat' from the musical
Hairspray
. It was this fast, bouncy rock and roll music, and it was so upbeat when she first started playing it that we all started dancing on the spot.

I loved the choreography. It was really jazzy and jivey and it also had a bit of swing in it, which I'd seen on one of my favourite dancing reality TV shows. Miss Caroline already had mock costumes to show us – they were these cute tank sleeve dresses, a different colour for each girl, and made out of awesome shimmery material. A couple of layers of tulle made the skirts flare out at the waist.

The dance was fun but hard. Miss Caroline had us doing jazz, swing, partner work and also using a lot of technique for all the lifts and jumps we had to do. Riley and Jasmine absolutely shone at that, of course.

And guess what? Ashley was really good at it, too.

‘I did a bit of gymnastics when I was younger, before I started dancing,' she told me, while we were having a water break. ‘Then Mum told me I had to pick between the two.'

‘Why couldn't you just do both?' I asked.

‘Well, I don't want to show everyone up by being good at everything!'

I knew she was just joking around, but I felt like she'd avoided the question. I tried really hard in the dance. My axle jumps might not have been perfect, but I did them, every single time. And when we were doing a swizzle move,
I almost face-planted into the floor. Riley, my partner, started laughing.

‘I'm sorry,' she said, ‘but you were swinging so hard on my hand.'

‘Don't worry about it,' I said. ‘Let's just do it again.'

And we did. When I was sure I'd nailed all the choreography, I focused on just having fun with the song, and getting caught up in the energy of the music.

It paid off.

At the end of the class, Miss Caroline told us our positions for the dance. You know where Riley and I were? Yep, right in the middle, up the front. That's the best position for any group dance. Behind us, to either side, were Tove and Jasmine and Bethany and Paige. Ashley and Serah were at the back. I tried not to be too happy about that.

But the best news came after class. As everyone was drifting out, Miss Caroline called me over. ‘You worked really hard today, Ellie,' she said. ‘I was very impressed with your energy.'

‘Thank you, Miss Caroline,' I said.
I bet you regret picking me last
, I thought to myself.

‘I'd love for you to do a solo at Jazz Groove,' Miss Caroline said. ‘I've got a fun jazz number I think would be perfect for you. Would you like that?'

Do I really need to tell you that I said YES?

But it wasn't until later that I found out Jasmine and Ashley had been given a solo, too.