Chapter 8

Sharvona waited for Megan outside the school gate, she felt very nervous and fiddled self-consciously with her bag strap. She could see Megan approaching from the main building.

“Megan, come here a minute I need to talk to you”, called Sharvona.

Megan turned and looked at her before walking over with a very unpleasant look on her face.

“Well!”

“Look I understand how you feel about us not being able to meet after school much, but we’ve got lunchtimes and Saturdays to see each other. You don’t need to make an argument out of it; I’m going to see if you can come to the gala on Saturday the 18^th of July”.

Megan smiled at Sharvona and hugged her.

“Sorry, I should never have gotten mad at you, I should have known you weren’t like that.

Sharvona could not have been more relieved, the last thing she wanted was an argument. She took hold of Megan’s hand and pulled her along with her.

“So when do you have the costume fitting?”

“I think it might be today, Madame Tarknova always does these things in advance”.

Megan gave Sharvona’s hand a squeeze before turning into her own street. Sharvona shouldered her rucksack and jogged the short distance to the ballet school. She had only started going here recently but to her it was almost like a second home, she felt comfortable and relaxed. Sharvona ran up the stone stairs and heaved open the door; she was greeted by the sound of waltz music floating out of the ballroom class. She hurried along the corridors until she came to Madam Tarknovas’room. Madam Tarknova was flicking through a pile of designs and was so absorbed that she did not notice Sharvona until she felt a slight tap on her shoulder.

“Oh sorry Sharvona, I never noticed you were here. I am looking at some possible outfits for the gala and I’m sure you will agree that a shade of pink would be very appropriate hmm?”

“Oh yes, I was thinking the same, what about a headdress and will I need to wear wings?”

“Wait a moment sweetie” laughed Madam Tarknova “you will most definitely have wings for your costume, I have ordered a pair of artificial gauze affect wings that can be attached to your tutu. We don’t want it to look fake now do we? As for the headdress a miniature tiara should be appropriate, just something that catches the light when you dance”.

Sharvona studied the costumes; there was a wide range of colours and designs so that one was almost spoilt for choice.

“Could I have design number 45 please? I think that will suit the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy very well”.

“You know I was thinking the same thing, I’ll place the order as soon as possible and the dress should come by Thursday, then you can have a dress rehearsal on Friday and practise again on Saturday; which leaves us exactly one week until the gala. Which reminds me, I need to give you this letter to give to your parents, it gives all the details of the gala and I have included 5 tickets.”

Madame Tarknova handed a cream coloured envelope to Sharvona. Sharvona put it into her bag and laced up her practise shoes. Madame Tarknova was flicking through a sheaf of sheet-music. Sharvona moved over to the barre and began her warm-up exercise. She knew she needed to concentrate on balance, so far she had not been told if it was a competition or a concert.

“Well I’ll just pretend it is a competition at least that way I’ll be in the correct mind-set”, mused Sharvona as she swung her right leg into the air holding it above her head with her left-arm. She lifted her right leg over her head and sank down into the splits before moving both legs around and standing up gracefully.

“Very good Sharvona, your balance is improving. We just need to work on your arm positions for a bit today… so did you practise the dance at all?”

“Not really”, admitted Sharvona “but I believe I remember most of it”

“Right then we’ll go with that, move into the centre and I’ll put on the CD”.

Sharvona did a grand jeté right into the centre of the room. She had timed it perfectly landing softly and not heavily. She tried to think of herself as a fairy, so she would need to be light on her feet if she was going to convince the audience and any possible judges. The first few bars of music played and Sharvona shut her eyes to try and focus more on her dancing. She rose of tiptoe and took dainty steps, leaping high in the air for the jumps. She forgot herself completely and was absorbed by the role. When the music drew to a close she sank gracefully into a curtsy.

“How did I do Miss?”

“Brilliant, absolutely brilliant just make sure you keep on practising for the gala”.

“Is the gala a competition?”

“Yes, I didn’t want to tell you too early because I know what your level of confidence is like … I did not want you to be scared. The competition will have a panel of judges, all ex-dancers who will be assessing each competitor. There will be three winners; third prize £250, second prize £ 500 and first prize is a 6 week summer school at The Shelham Dance Academy. Now Sharvona I want you to aim for first place, I know you can do it but I will equally proud of you no matter where you come.

Sharvona’s head was in a whirl. The Shelham Academy was one of the best in London; it was the dream of all dancers to get to learn from its teachers. If only she could pull off the performance she would have the once in a lifetime opportunity to study there, even if only for a short amount of time.