A Change For The Better

• Dominique Pringle, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2008

I walk in to the room, feeling goofy in my incorrect attire. Grace introduces me to a few girls, but that doesn’t make me feel any better, the girls at my old ballet school were so nice on the first day, but they changed. I tiptoe in to the change rooms, trying not to draw attention to myself, but it doesn’t work. Everyone turns to look. I smile awkwardly and sit down nervously to put on my shoes. We all go to the hall together, my body very tense.
The teacher gives a little smile. She has blonde hair, tied back with a black cap on and is wearing a blue shirt and leggings.
“All right, let’s get started! Everyone find a spot. We are going to go 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.” She continually counts and expects us to pick up the hip hop moves. I feel like a worm, doing all those body rolls and step ball changes.
We all pick up the moves eventually and we learn the dances quickly. There is still the contemporary class to go. So we all take our shoes off and get a drink.
“Hi, what school do you go to?” a girl asks me.
“Oh I go to Sion…do you know it?” I reply.
“Yeah that’s where I go!” she exclaims “What year are you in?”
“Year nine.”
“Oh I’m in year ten,” she smiles, “Nice to meet you.”
I smile. “You too.”
I had met someone in my dance class…but I just figured out that I was dancing with 15 and 16 year olds. AND I’M ONLY 13!
So I skip to Contemporary, breathing heavily. This is where my flexibility would be tested, and I knew I wasn’t up to scratch…I hadn’t stretched at all during the holidays.
A different teacher now, she is crouched at the CD player switching tracks. She has a black leotard on with black leggings, her hair is brown.
“Hi girls, come and sit down,” she is much softer than the last teacher. “Okay, so you’re Dominique?”
“Yep,” I reply
“Yes Siobhan told me about you,” she smiles. “Okay standing up, we’re going to go…12345678 and 12345678” she counts and dances, just like the other teacher.
I have a fixed smile on my face. Contemporary is so free flowing compared to ballet! It’s almost like flying. Flexibility is definitely a problem; I’ll have to stretch more at home…a lot more! We do leaps from the corners and we learn the most graceful dance.
The lesson draws to a close, and I am exhausted. I still have a ballet class to go but my legs feel like jelly. I don’t think I will be able to dance anymore. I say goodbye to the girls and to Siobhan, the owner of the ballet school. The girls are so nice here, I guess it’s true what they say, it isn’t necessarily what you do…it’s who you do it with. I truly think this change was a change for the better!