Magic Ballerina 13-18

To Phoebe and Zoe, as they are the inspiration behind Magic Ballerina.

Author’s Note

Welcome to the world of Enchantia!

I have always loved to dance. The captivating music and wonderful stories of ballet are so inspiring. So come with me and let’s follow Holly on her magical adventures in Enchantia, where the stories of dance will take you on a very special journey.

p.s. Look at the end of each story to learn a special dance step from me …

Map

Holly Wilde swept her arms in a circle and danced forward with slow steps to the haunting, beautiful music. She stopped on her right leg, one arm above her head, the other out to the side. She paused, before gracefully bringing her arm down and moving around her bedroom, turning slowly again and again, lost in her dance.

Holly loved the ballet of Sleeping Beauty. Most people remembered the Rose Adagio, the famous dance that the princess did before she pricked her finger, but Holly had always preferred the piece of music she was dancing to now, where Sleeping Beauty appeared to the prince in a magic vision. It had a lilting, slightly ghostly melody. Sweeping her arms upwards, she pirouetted around as the music came to an end. She stopped, trembling with the joy of dancing. Closing her eyes, she imagined that she had just danced off stage and that the audience were clapping wildly.

Just like they did when Mum danced it in New York …

Sinking down on to her bed, Holly glanced at the photoframe on the chest of drawers of her mum, Bella. Her eyes, the same mossy-green as Holly’s, were shining. Her dark hair was caught up in a diamond tiara.

Holly picked the picture up, her own straight dark hair falling forward across her face. Her heart ached. Oh Mum, she thought, for about the thousandth time, why did you have to leave me here? Why couldn’t I have stayed with you?

She remembered the day she had come to live at Aunt Maria’s and Uncle Ted’s, back in July. She heard her mum’s words as she had left: “I’ll miss you so much, darling. But you’re ten now and you can’t keep on travelling around with me, you need to stay in one place, go to one school and make friends. Aunt Maria and Uncle Ted will look after you and in the holidays you can come and join me or your dad just as you always have.”

“But I don’t want to stay here,” Holly had protested.

“I know,” her mum had said softly, tears in her eyes. “But you have to. We’ll see each other soon.”

She had kissed Holly and then she had gone. She had phoned and emailed lots, but she was touring America and it was so far away that Holly hadn’t been able to visit her. She had seen her dad for a few weeks in August when he had been performing in London. He was a dancer too, but he and her mum had got divorced six years ago, so she only ever saw him separately.

And now here she was. Midway through a new term and taking ballet classes after school. She’d started at Madame Za-Za’s just before the summer holidays, but she hadn’t really made much of an effort to make friends with any of the other girls. She had just felt too unhappy and, anyway, with all the moving round she’d done in her life, she’d learned it was better not to make friends. You only ended up having to say goodbye. And so she’d kept herself pretty much to herself in Madame Za-Za’s class, concentrating on her ballet and coldly brushing off all the other girls’ offers of friendship. To her relief, they had quickly decided to leave her alone.

Well, all apart from one …

Rosa Maitland had been really friendly. She’d left to go to the Royal Ballet School in London, but before she’d gone, she had given Holly a pair of old red ballet shoes. Holly kept them on a shelf above her desk. The words Rosa had said as she had pushed them into Holly’s hands echoed through her head: “I hope you find out how special they are.”

Holly frowned and, getting up, went over to them. They were old and the leather was very soft, but there didn’t seem to be anything that special about them as far as she could see. Picking them up, she felt a tingle, like the faintest electric shock. Maybe she’d try them on again anyway …

“Holly! Time to go to ballet!” Aunt Maria’s voice called up the stairs.

Holly put the shoes down on her desk and hurried out of the room.

Head up, shoulders down, extend the arms, remember to smile …

Holly and the other girls in her class at Madame Za-Za’s ballet school went through the familiar sequence of exercises, first at the barre and then in the centre of the room.

Holly worked hard. Madame Za-Za was a very elegant woman with greying-brown hair held up in a loose bun and lots of bangles. Holly knew Madame Za-Za had been a prima ballerina when she was younger. Her mum had said what an amazing teacher she was, but although Holly worked hard, she longed to be back with her mum, learning from her instead.

“Into pairs,” Madame Za-Za called as she turned to change the music on the CD player.

There was usually an even number of girls in the class so someone always had to go with Holly, but that day one of the girls was away and she was left on her own, the other girls pairing up quickly. Eventually there were just two of the newer girls left, Chloe and Alyssia. They raced past where Holly was standing in the middle to take each other’s hands. As they met up, they smiled in relief.

Holly felt a pang. She didn’t want to make friends, but it was hard to be left out quite so obviously. Chloe happened to glance at her and looked suddenly guilty. “Holly, you could come with us … make a three,” she called impulsively.

Holly heard the horror in Alyssia’s hiss. “Chloe!”

“No thanks,” said Holly, folding her arms and turning away.

Just then, Madame Za-Za looked round. “Ah, Holly, you haven’t got a partner. Why don’t you …”

“I’ll dance on my own,” Holly interrupted. No one ever interrupted Madame Za-Za, who was quite strict, but Holly couldn’t bear the thought of being made to join a pair and watch the other two girls exchange looks. She knew she sounded haughty, but she didn’t care.

Madame Za-Za raised an eyebrow. “Very well,” she said, her eyes sweeping back to the other girls. “Now everyone, I’d like you to listen to this piece of music and imagine you are two leaves on the branch of a tree in autumn, fluttering in the breeze, about to fall …”

Holly danced on her own. I don’t care. I don’t care. She kept repeating the words in her head as she let the music flow over her, taking her away and making her feel like she was falling on the breeze, turning around, using her movements to express the feelings of wistfulness and sadness inside her.

I don’t want to be friends with any of them anyway. I don’t need them, she thought and then she lost herself in the music and thought no more.

“Very good expressive work, Holly,” Madame Za-Za praised at the end.

Holly gave her a small, tight smile. Now that the dancing was over she wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. As soon as Madame Za-Za dismissed them, Holly hurried away.

I’ll put Sleeping Beauty on again, she told herself as she changed out of her ballet shoes. Her muscles were aching from hard work, but she knew the one thing that would make her feel better was dancing.

Cramming her stuff into her bag, she left the changing rooms.

“Holly, wait!” she heard a voice call as she half-ran down the corridor.

She turned round and saw Chloe, coming out of the changing rooms. “I’m sorry you had to dance on your own today,” she said. She hesitated. “Um, you could always come round to mine sometime. I don’t know many people here, either.”

Holly was sure she saw pity in Chloe’s blue eyes. Unhappiness swept through her. How dare Chloe pity her! She’d travelled all over the world and met more ballet dancers than Chloe could even dream of.

“Why don’t you ask your mum if you can come round for tea next week?” Chloe suggested.

Holly’s temper exploded. “I’m hardly likely to ask my mum when she’s in America, am I? Anyway, I don’t want to be friends with you or with anyone here. Just leave me alone!”

And, swinging round, Holly stormed out of the front door.

Holly ran down the drive of the ballet school, her feet slipping slightly on the fallen leaves. It was October now and the sun was low in the sky.

Her Uncle Ted was waiting in the car outside. “How was class?”

“Fine,” Holly muttered, shutting the door hard.

But as they drove home, Holly’s temper faded and Chloe’s hurt face refused to leave her mind. She started to feel guilty. Chloe hadn’t known about her mum being away. She had only been trying to be nice.

When they reached the house she went straight up to her bedroom. It had been a horrible afternoon. All she wanted to do was dance and block everything out.

As she put her ballet bag down on her desk, the back of her hand touched the red ballet shoes. She felt the familiar spark tingle her fingers and picked them up. She would wear them. Shrugging off her hooded top, she quickly pulled them on and put on the same music as before.

Holly moved forward with slow graceful steps and as she danced, everything else faded away. But then, moving into an arabesque, she became aware that her feet were tingling.

She looked down and gasped in astonishment. The red ballet shoes were glowing and sparkling!

“Oh!” she exclaimed. Bright colours surrounded her and the next second she felt herself being lifted into the air and whisked away!

Holly came to rest on a bed of fallen leaves. The bright colours faded and she looked around, her heart thudding. She was standing in the middle of a wood! Red, gold and brown leaves were lying thickly on the ground. A squirrel scampered up a nearby tree, pausing to give her a curious look.

Holly’s mind was spinning. What had happened?

It didn’t feel anything like a dream. She could hear birds chirruping, smell the damp woods. She bent down and touched the leaves on the ground. They were cool beneath her fingers …

“Oh, my shimmering whiskers! It’s you! The girl with the red shoes!”

Holly looked up and promptly fell over in shock as a huge white cat came dancing towards her. He was on two legs and slightly taller than her and he was wearing white ballet shoes, a black hat with a feather in and a gold waistcoat. He leaped through the air, one leg stretched behind and one in front, in a perfect grand jeté. Landing beside her, he pirouetted around, before grabbing both of her hands.

“This is so brilliant!” he cried, looking completely delighted as he pulled her to her feet. Up close, she saw his eyes were a beautiful deep emerald green and his silvery whiskers sprang out at the side of his face. “We knew the shoes had a new owner and we have all been wondering when we would get to meet you. And now I have! Oh, how lucky I am! What’s your name?”

“Holly,” she answered automatically.

The cat bowed. “And I am the White Cat.”

He jumped into the air, spinning round in excitement. “It’s amazing to meet you, Holly.”

“Where … where am I?” Holly stammered.

“In Enchantia, the land where all the characters from the ballets live,” the cat replied. His fluffy tail flicked over his shoulder and he pointed at her feet. “The ballet shoes you’re wearing were created with some of the strongest magic in Enchantia. Whenever we are in trouble, they bring their owner – a human girl – here to help fix things. Someone from Enchantia gets to meet them first and be their friend, and this time it looks like it’s me!”

Holly stared at him. Was she really in a strange magic land full of people like talking cats who came from the different ballets? Had she been sent there to help them solve their problems? Although she had to admit it sounded very exciting, an image of Chloe came into her head followed by a picture of her mum waving goodbye.

“Look, I’m sorry, I’ve enough problems of my own right now,” she said quickly. “I just can’t fix other people’s problems too. Maybe another time.” She turned away, wondering how she got the shoes to take her home. She tried wishing.

I wish I could go back, she thought. But nothing happened.

Remembering The Wizard of Oz, she clicked her heels together three times. Still nothing happened.

The White Cat walked curiously round her. “What are you doing?”

Holly turned away. She didn’t want to see him; she wanted to get back to her bedroom. Think carefully, she told herself. She’d been dancing when the shoes had worked before, so maybe that was what she had to do?

She ran forward and turned a pirouette. Home, home, home, she thought as hard as she could, shutting her eyes. But when she blinked them open again she was still standing in the wood.

The White Cat leapt joyously in front of her. “Oh, is this a game, Holly? I like games! Look how many pirouettes I can do!” He turned round on the spot so many times that Holly’s mouth dropped open.

“It’s not a game. I just want to go home!” she exclaimed. “I have to. For a start, my aunt and uncle are going to be really worried about me …”

“No, they won’t be,” interrupted the cat. “No time will pass in the human world while you are here. You’ll go back and it will be as if you haven’t been away.”

“But I can’t stay,” Holly protested. “Look, will you please just tell me how I get these shoes to work and take me home?”

“You can’t make the shoes do what you want.” The White Cat’s brilliant eyes met hers. “They’ll take you back when the problem is solved, but you won’t be able to make them take you back before. The magic doesn’t work like that.”

“Oh.” Holly sat down on a fallen tree trunk. “So I’m really stuck here?” she said faintly.

“It’s not that bad, is it?” the White Cat said, giving her a hopeful look.

Holly felt tears prickle her eyes. She dashed them away with the back of her hand.

“Oh, I see.” The cat looked suddenly deflated, like an old balloon. “It really is that bad.” He sat down on the log and shook his head. “I don’t understand it. I’ve never heard of a human girl not wanting to help before.” He twisted his tail anxiously in his paws. “It must be me. I must have messed things up. I was just so excited to meet you.”

His pointed ears flattened unhappily.

Holly began to feel bad. “It’s not your fault,” she said.

“But it must be,” the cat muttered sadly.

“It isn’t.”

Holly looked at his drooping ears. She couldn’t bear it. “OK. Look, I will stay and help you.”

The change was instant. The cat leaped up from the tree trunk, his ears back in points. “Oh, my shimmering whiskers and glittering tail!” He jumped high into the air, crossing his feet over and over again. “That’s wonderful! Thank you! Thank you, so much!” He grabbed her hands and twirled her around as fast as he could.

Despite her reluctance, Holly unexpectedly found herself starting to smile. His excitement was infectious. “So what do you need help with?” she gasped as they stopped and the world spun dizzily around her.

The White Cat smiled at her. “Sit down and I’ll explain …”

“It all started this morning,” the White Cat began to tell Holly. “It’s exactly a year to the day since Princess Aurelia and Prince Florimund got married. The King and Queen are having a party this evening and the King has said that everyone who was at the wedding has to be there tonight to do the same dance that they did at the ceremony.

“I’ve been put in charge of organising it. All the others arrived yesterday: the princes’s brother and two sisters; Princess Aurelia’s fairy godmother, Lila; the other fairies who were at Aurelia’s christening; Puss in Boots, Goldilocks, Bluebeard and his wife, Little Red Riding Hood, the bluebird, the enchanted princess and all the palace courtiers as well. We started practising the dance, but then suddenly, just a few hours ago, Red Riding Hood decided to go home.”

“She just left?”

Holly still wasn’t sure about being in this land, but she could feel herself being drawn more and more into the story she was hearing.

The White Cat nodded. “All of a sudden. I found a note from her saying she’d decided to go home. The trouble is that means we are now one person short for the dance. I was just on my way to her house to try and persuade her to come back, but now the shoes have solved the problem. You can take Red Riding Hood’s place!”

Holly felt a rush of excitement. So to help him, all she had to do was dance with the characters from her favourite ballet? That sounded OK to her!