Centre Stage: A Novel

any of the dances!’
    My outburst seemed to startle Dizzy. She put a hand on my arm and as she did, she looked into my face. ‘Hey, calm down, Sophie. What’s brought this on? What’s all this about you being useless?’
    ‘I am,’ I said miserably. ‘I should have asked for help but I thought people would think I was stupid, so I didn’t. I keep making mistakes and getting things wrong.’
    ‘But it’s normal to make mistakes when you’re learning a new dance,’ Dizzy said. ‘All the others get things wrong too.’
    I looked at her. What did she mean? The others hardly ever seemed to get things wrong.
    ‘You don’t see it because you’re dancing with them,’ Dizzy went on. ‘But they all make mistakes. Have you been really worried about this?’
    I nodded. ‘I thought I was the only one.’
    ‘Oh, Sophie.’ Dizzy shook her head. ‘You should have said something to me. OK, so maybe you’re not the quickest at picking up new dances but you’re certainly not useless. The only dance you’re really having problems with is your solo and I’m sure we can sort out your problems with that. But you’ve got to let me help you.’ Her eyes bored into mine. ‘And you’ve got to let me help you even when the others are watching. Do you understand?’
    ‘Yes,’ I said.
    ‘Good.’ Dizzy smiled. ‘Go and get changed and we’ll go through it before the others get here.’
    It only took me two minutes to pull on my dance things and then I hurried back to Dizzy.
    ‘We’ll go through it from the beginning step by step,’ Dizzy said, ‘just to make sure that it’s clear in your mind.’
    We started working slowly through the dance. We were just finishing the end sequence when the rest of the cast started to arrive.
    ‘Good,’ Dizzy said as I finished the last spin. ‘And now I want you to dance the whole thing. I don’t want you to worry if you make mistakes. I just want you to imagine you’re Lucy. Show me her dancing for happiness, really believe that you’re her.’
    I glanced round. People were taking off their coats and looking at me curiously.
    ‘Ignore everyone else,’ Dizzy said softly. ‘What they think doesn’t matter. So you make some mistakes; I help you through them. It’s nothing to do with anyone else. All that matters is that you get this dance right.’
    I knew she was right. Trying to block out the rest of the cast, I took up my starting position.
    ‘Try and imagine you’re Lucy,’ Dizzy said. ‘In fact —’ she paused as if she’d had a sudden idea — ‘do you know the lines in this scene?’
    I nodded.
    ‘Well, let’s go from about ten lines before the dance. I’ll get my script and read Mr Tumnus’s part.’
    She fetched her script and a chair. ‘OK, let’s go from line twelve where Lucy says, “That was a lovely tea, Mr Tumnus.” ’
    I thought for a moment and got the lines clear in my head, then I sat down on the chair — just like I would if I was Lucy — and I started. ‘That was a lovely tea, Mr Tumnus.’ As I said the lines I started to forget I was me and began to believe I was Lucy and I was really happy.
    Suddenly the music began and I started to dance. It felt so much better. I didn’t get everything right. I missed at least two turns but I remembered what Dizzy had said. A few mistakes didn’t matter. I just had to really concentrate on being Lucy.
    As I finished the final spin, Dizzy clapped. ‘That was much better, Sophie. Well done!’
    I glowed with pride and happiness. OK, it hadn’t been perfect but I’d felt like I was dancing — really dancing. ‘Take a quick break now,’ Dizzy said. ‘We’ll be starting in five minutes. I’ll just go and find out where Stefan and Claire are.’
    I headed over to my bag, wishing I’d asked for help sooner. Maybe if I had, I’d have been able to do all the dances really well by now. I tried to remember what I’d thought that morning. Being chosen today to do the first performance wasn’t really important. What mattered was being good enough by the time I got to perform on stage in three weeks’ time — whether that was for the first performance or not.
    I tried very hard to believe it.
    ‘Sophie.’
    I glanced round. It was Justine.
    ‘You… you danced that solo really well,’ she said.
    She was being nice to me! Why? We’d hardly said a word to each other for the last three weeks. I stared at her warily.
    The silence lengthened and a faint blush spread across her cheeks.