Ballet
Girl
BY TORI PHELPS
“Hi,
Just then Miss Amelia starts giving us
instructions. Ok, time for barre warm-ups. I
enjoy doing barre warm-ups very much. Miss
Amelia is a great teacher. “…tendu, and
close, tendu, and close…” I have a feeling
that this is going to be a very fun class.
After some more barre work, we move
on to floor exercises and combinations. It is a
lot of fun. We soon move on to learning a
dance. They already know the first part, but
apparently Alex has not had a partner until
now, so we are kind of learning it together.
“So, Miss Amelia said that you wouldn’t be as good as Emma to start off, but I am
getting the feeling that you are just as good, if
not better,” Alex says to me.
“What can I say? When you take ballet
lessons everyday since 4 years old, you tend
to get pretty good.” I smile. He looks astonished.
“You have been taking ballet lessons
everyday since 4?”
“Well, I don’t have lessons on the
weekends, and recently I got my mother to
change it to four days a week so that I could
come here, but basically, yes.”
“Wow, Emma was pretty dedicated to
dancing, but nothing like this.”
“Who is Emma?” I ask.
“She was my dance partner for the past
2 or 3 years.”
“Why isn’t she still here?”
“She sprained her ankle rea0lly badly at
summer camp, and because she dances so
much they want to make sure that her ankle is
completely healed before she is allowed to
I was wondering if I could sign
up for class.” I ask.
“Yes, of course! My name is Miss
Amelia. Have you taken classes before?”
“Yes, I have taken some classes in ballet.”
“Have you ever done pointe?”
“Yes, I have.”
“Great! Just fill out this form real
quick, and you’ll be all set to go. Would you
like to start classes today?”
“Yes, I would.”
“Wonderful! After you finish the form,
I can show you around a bit. Class won’t start
for about another hour, but you are welcome
to hang around here until then.”
“Thank you very much!”
-an hour later
I finish trying my pointe shoes and
walk over to where Miss Amelia is motioning
for me to come over.
“Class, this is ?1????M???????????????)????????????????????$?????????????????)????????????????t?]???5??????????????????????q?????????????1?????e??????????????????Q??????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????t+?qM???????????????t?????????$????????????????????????????????????+?q!??????1????'?e?????t?!?????????????)?????+?q!??????????????????t((?((