Читать книгу Magic Ballerina 7-12 - Darcey Bussell - Страница 9

As soon as Rosa got to the studio, her anger faded. She felt awful. She shouldn’t have snapped like that. All Olivia had done was make friends with the others.

I’d better say sorry, Rosa thought guiltily. She felt annoyed with herself. Her mum was always telling her she needed to control her temper and think more before she acted but sometimes she just couldn’t help herself. It just welled up inside her and came out – like all the times in her old school when the girls had teased her about her mum. Just then, Olivia came into the studio with the other girls and gave her a hurt look. But before Rosa could run over and apologise, Madame Za-Za also came in. The ballet teacher was wearing a calf-length dress and bangles on her wrists. Her hair was tied back in a loose bun. Her face was lined but her eyes were very bright. She clapped her hands for silence.

“Welcome, girls. Let’s start at the barre. No talking please!”

Rosa knew there would be no chance to say sorry now until the end of the class. Madame Za-Za got very cross if she thought anyone was chatting and not listening. “Facing the barre, first position please.”

Rosa followed Madame Za-Za’s instructions wishing she could apologise.

After they had worked at the barre and then in the centre of the room, Madame Za-Za told them that they were going to learn a dance from Swan Lake.

“Who can tell me the story of Swan Lake?” she asked.

Rosa put up her hand. It had been the last ballet her mother had ever danced in and one of her favourites. “It’s about a magician who enchants a princess called Odette. In the day time she’s a swan – the Swan Queen – but at night time she turns back into a girl.”

“Very good,” said Madame Za-Za. “That is indeed the basis of the story. One night, a prince sees the Swan Queen, falls in love with her and invites her to a ball. But the evil magician stops Odette from going and instead uses magic to disguise his daughter, Odile, to look like her. The prince thinking Odile is Odette asks her to marry him.”

Madame Za-Za smiled. “You will all be swans dancing with the Swan Queen. Rosa, I would like you to be the main part.”

Rosa gasped. “Me!”

Madame Za-Za smiled at her. “I am sure you will dance it very well.”

Rosa was delighted. She listened intently to Madame Za-Za’s instructions as all the swans surrounded the Swan Queen.

There was one tricky bit where she had to dance to one side and then the other, before turning another pirouette while the others danced in towards her and then out, over and over again. They practised it quite a few times without the music and then Madame Za-Za put the CD on. Rosa really wanted to get it right. But she overbalanced on her pirouette and bumped into Olivia, treading heavily on her foot. Olivia gasped and stumbled into Asha, knocking her over.

Madame Za-Za snapped the music off. “Honestly, girls. Come along, you can do better than that! Up you get, Asha. Let’s try again.”

Rosa looked quickly at Olivia. She tried to mouth “sorry” but Olivia turned away. Rosa groaned inwardly. She was sure Olivia thought she had stood on her foot on purpose.

When the class finished, she hurried towards her friend.

“Rosa!” Madame Za-Za called. “May I have a word please?”

Rosa shot a look at Olivia’s disappearing back but there was nothing she could do. She walked back to the teacher. Madame Za-Za was putting away the CD. Rosa waited as she finished.

“I see you have the red ballet shoes, Rosa,“ Madame Za-Za said.

Rosa nodded. “Delphie Durand gave them to me.”

Madame Za-Za smiled. “So they found the perfect home. Did you know they used to belong to me a long time ago?”

“No,” Rosa said, in her astonishment forgetting about Olivia.

Madame Za-Za nodded. “They are very special shoes, Rosa.”

“Delphie told me that,” Rosa said.

“I hope you find out quite how special they are,” Madame Za-Za smiled warmly. “Now, go and get changed.”

Part of Rosa wanted to ask Madame Za-Za what she meant about the shoes being special but she also wanted to catch Olivia before she left. She hurried out but saw it was too late. Olivia was just going through the front door with her mother.

“Olivia!” Rosa called.

But Olivia had already walked out and the door was shutting behind her.

Rosa’s heart sank. I’ll phone her and say sorry as soon as I get home, she thought as she went to the changing room.

The other girls were just leaving. They called goodbye and soon Rosa was on her own. She sat down and bent over to untie the ribbons on her red shoes. As she did so her feet started to tingle. She gasped. The shoes were sparkling and glowing!

She jumped to her feet and then cried out in astonishment as a swirl of rainbow colours and a sweet tinkling of music surrounded her. She started to spin round!

What was going on? She shut her eyes tightly, her heart pounding. Round and round she went until her feet met solid ground. She blinked.

She wasn’t in the changing rooms any more, she was standing in a forest, and through the trees she could see a shimmering dark lake with a single swan swimming on it!