Authors: Samantha-Ellen Bound
Studio Showdown
Four friends. One dance school. A whole lot of drama.
Paige is known for doing every style of dance. But can she choreograph as well?
It's time for the end-of-year concert at Silver Shoes. Everyone is super excited and the studios are buzzing. Miss Caroline assigns Paige and Ellie a junior class and challenges them to put together a dance for the concert. Paige is thrilled to be choreographing with her best friend and can't wait to use some of the new jive moves she has been learning. But it soon becomes obvious that Paige and Ellie have completely different ideas about what they want to do! Will they learn how to work together in time for the final performance?
For Sara-Rose â the Paige to my Ellie!
âI am so exhausted!' My best friend Ellie heaved a huge sigh and let her shoulders fall forward over her knees.
âUh, Ellie?' Our other friend Riley tugged on the two braids she was styling in Ellie's blonde curls. âIf you keep moving your head around, it's going to look like Del did your hair.'
âDel has great hair,' said Ellie. âThat's one cute baby sister you've got, Riley.' She looked
over at me and grinned. âAlmost as cute as our little Paige here.'
âWho could be as cute as me?' I joked, although really, I think Del had it in the bag. Riley's family is from Fiji, and they all have these beautiful dark curls, gorgeous skin and big brown eyes. Plus Riley is so tall! I always feel like a doll when I'm next to her, because I'm a bit on the short and skinny side.
Ellie, Riley and I go to Silver Shoes, which is a dance studio built from an old church. It's the best dance school in all of Bayside! We've been going here since we were tinies. This year another girl joined our class â her name's Ashley, and she quickly became our best friend, too.
I love being at Silver Shoes. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with all the dancing I do (five styles and counting!) but the girls always make me feel like I can achieve anything.
We were sitting around in one of the studios, waiting for jazz class to start. Ellie had decided she wanted two braids to go with her bright pink Danceworks two-piece and the little stars she'd stuck at the corners of her green eyes.
âI wonder where Ash is?' I asked. âI swear I saw her before.'
As if on cue, Ashley raced through the door. âAchoooooo!' She sneezed so hard her fringe flew up out of her eyes.
âEw,' said our dance frenemy, Jasmine, who was stretching nearby at the barre. She turned to her sidekick, Tove. âWhere's some sanitiser when you need it? I don't want to catch anything.'
Jasmine and I used to be friends when we were tinies, but she seems to have really upped her snobby game in the past few years. Of course, she is a beautiful dancer. She and Ellie are always competing. I'd admire Jasmine's
dancing more if she brought a positive attitude along with it.
âSorry,' said Ash, making a show of wiping her nose and then âaccidentally' flinging her snotty hand in their direction.
âOh my god!' shrieked Jasmine, shielding herself behind Tove.
âSilver Shoes has got dust in places you never thought possible,' said Ash, grinning.
âI think it falls out of Jasmine's brain,' Ellie sniped before collapsing over her knees again.
Ash helps out around Silver Shoes, cleaning and doing odd jobs, because her family are a bit tight on money and she gets classes at a discount rate. She's achieved so much this year, though! She won a competition to be the face of Danceworks' hip hop range, and she was in a video clip for R ân' B star Fine China not too long ago. The girl sure knows how to move!
Ash leaned over and tapped Ellie on the head. âHello?' she said. âAnyone home?'
âDepends who's there,' grumbled Ellie, finally sitting up.
âNow, stay,' ordered Riley, pulling on Ellie's braids again. âYou're the one who wanted these!'
âYou didn't get your beauty sleep, smelly Ellie?' asked Ash, flopping down next to us. âOr were you up all night singing to yourself in the mirror?'
âNo, I was up preparing myself for war against your sense of humour.' Ellie grinned. She rubbed her eyes, loosening the stars stuck there. âIt's just been a crazy past few weeks, you know? With exams, and then I was in
Mary Poppins
, and we've only just finished the run of that â'
âAnd all the fan mail you have to answer,' joked Ash.
âEllie was amazing in
Mary Poppins
,' I said. âI've never seen you perform that well.'
And she really was! I saw the musical three times, and Ellie shone brighter with every show.
âAnd you know what's coming up next?' asked Riley, tying an elastic around the end of Ellie's hair.
We all looked at her.
âThe final performance,' she said. âAnd we know how Miss Caroline loves her end-of-year concerts!'
Riley was right. When Miss Caroline skipped into the studio a moment later, you could tell she was excited. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks flushed and her greying hair was coming out of its bun like she'd been pacing around her office, thinking up ideas.
We could tell she was about to announce the most extravagant end-of-year concert yet!
âThe theme,' said Miss Caroline, âis Hollywood glamour.'
âYesssss!' cheered Ellie.
Jasmine rolled her eyes. âMore like Hollywood
failure
,' she said in Ellie's direction.
âAs I've already told the other classes,' continued Miss Caroline, âI've been preparing various competition dances all year with this theme in mind. So we'll use those, of course,
but we'll also be doing a whole school number, as well as a few extra short pieces to bring the theme together.'
âWhere will the concert be, Miss Caroline?' asked Tove. âAt the Bayside Entertainment Centre, like last year?'
âWell,' said Miss Caroline, squeezing her hands together. A beautiful smile spread across her face and you could see why every student adores her. If I ever grow up to be a dance teacher, I'd want to be just like Miss Caroline. âThat is the terrific news ⦠because we've been lucky enough this year to secure the one and only Grand Palace Theatre!'
There were gasps all around the room. Ellie squealed and turned to me, jumping up and down and pulling on my arm. Even Jasmine looked impressed.
The Grand Palace Theatre is an old but very elegant theatre in the city. It's even listed
under the town's heritage buildings (buildings that are really important because of their age, so you have to take extra care looking after them). It has a circular stage where everyone sits around you, and there's even a low platform in the audience where special people used to sit down and eat while they watched the show.
Lots of famous celebrities have performed at the Grand Palace Theatre. Miss Caroline must have done some super hard work to book in our little dance studio! Not even Dance Art Academy, our main, rich rival school, has danced there.
It was really, really exciting.
And very scary!
But I knew that I, and everyone else, was up to the challenge.
âSo,' continued Miss Caroline, speaking over our excited murmurs, âI have prepared a
very special number for our class. It will be the finale of the first half and it's going to be over the top and big on the glamour!'
Ellie sighed longingly next to me and clasped her hands to her heart.
âWho knows the song, “Circus”?' Miss Caroline asked.
A few girls nodded their heads. Ellie's hand, of course, shot up. It's by one of her favourite singers, Britney Spears. On her wall at home Ellie has a collage of all the biggest and most famous pop stars in history. Britney is right in the middle. I guess one day Ellie would like to be in a similar collage on someone else's wall.
Miss Caroline held up her hand to get our attention. âThe theme will be how the life of a Hollywood star is like being in a circus, with everyone's eyes on you. So there'll be top hats, batons â the works. And at the
end, the tinies are going to come in dressed as paparazzi and do their own little routine around you.'
âThat sounds so cute,' Ellie squealed, grabbing my arm even tighter.
âI'd also really love a few flash acrobatic moves in there,' Miss Caroline said, looking to our two best acro dancers, Ashley and a girl called Tala.
âI don't need everyone for it, though,' Miss Caroline added.
Whew. In the sudden silence that fell over the room I heard someone's tummy gurgle. Nobody wanted to be one of the people who wasn't chosen. My own tummy got all wormy. I always worry about not getting picked. I know I can dance, but sometimes I feel like I'm a step behind all the other girls, although Ellie has told me a million times it's just a confidence thing.
âEveryone start stretching, please. But Jasmine, Brooke, Ellie and Paige, can you come and see me for a minute?'
âWhat?' Ellie, who was about to drop straight into her hamstring stretch, stopped. She pulled on one of her braids. âWhat did Miss Caroline say?'
I cleared my throat and tried not to sound too disappointed. âI think she said we weren't chosen,' I whispered.
I'd done really well in exams, so I was surprised to not be picked. I felt worse for Ellie. She'd been so excited about doing the âCircus' dance, and Miss Caroline had made it sound so special.
Riley and Ash were watching us and I gave them a small smile. Ellie couldn't even manage that, though. Her face looked awful â a mix of surprise and disappointment that made my heart ache for her.
Across the room, Jasmine was furious, her hands in two tight fists by her sides. Brooke looked like she couldn't care less.
Miss Caroline caught all our eyes and beckoned us over to her.
I gave a sigh, took Ellie by the hand, and trudged over, ready to hear the worst.