Showtime. Jean Ure

Mercutio!”

      We all watched as Tybalt’s sword (imaginary, for rehearsal purposes) found its mark, plunging deep into Mercutio’s back.

      “How cowardly is that?” said Caitlyn.

      “Only way he could get him,” said Oliver.

      We watched as Mercutio went staggering off, reeling and swaying, trying bravely to make out that he was all right, but growing steadily weaker until, in the end, his strength gave way and he sank down, mortally wounded.

      Caitlyn wailed, “Oh, I hate this scene! When I first saw it, I really didn’t think he was going to die. Now I just can’t bear to watch it!”

      “It’s one of the best bits,” said Carlo.

      “It’s not! It’s heartbreaking.”

      “But I thought Romeo and Juliet was one of your favourite ballets?” I said.

      “They’re all her favourites.” Tiffany said it scathingly. “Just name me one ballet you don’t positively adore.”

      “There are lots I don’t adore!”

      “So, go on … tell me one.”

      Roz cackled. “Anything that Sean’s not in!”

      Caitlyn’s cheeks immediately turned pink. She is so easy to tease!

      “I don’t much like ZigZag,” she said. “He dances in that.”

      And then she glanced at me, obviously worried I might think she was being disrespectful. ZigZag is one of Dad’s ballets, but it’s a very early one from what Mum calls his abstract period. No storylines, just pure dance. It’s known in the family as Dad’s bendy ballet, cos of all the weird shapes the dancers have to twist themselves into.

      “You’re just a hopeless romantic,” I told Caitlyn. “I bet you wouldn’t mind half so much if it was Sergei that got killed!”

      The fact is she has this massive crush on my brother, though to be fair she’s not alone in that. I should think half the little ballet fans in the country have photos of Sean stuck on their bedroom walls. It really was time she started to grow out of it, though.

      “Speaking personally,” said Tiffany, “I adore ZigZag. I think it’s really inventive.”

      “It hasn’t got a lot of soul,” I said.

      “So what? It’s clever! Makes a nice change from peasants doing their jolly peasant dances. You can get a bit sick of that.”

      I privately agreed with her, but I wasn’t about to say so. It doesn’t do to agree too much with Tiffany. It just puffs her up and makes her even more big-headed than she already is.

      “I don’t actually think that ZigZag is one of Dad’s best,” I said, “but I can see it might be your sort of thing.”

      Tiffany bristled, immediately suspicious. “What’s that supposed to mean, my sort of thing?”

      “Well …” I waved a hand. All I’d meant was that it suited her style of dancing: very brittle and showy without much in the way of emotion. Still, I didn’t want it to seem like I was criticising her; not on our first day back. We were bound to rub each other up the wrong way sooner or later – we always did. But for the moment I was in too good a mood to say anything that might upset her, even if she did tend to get on my nerves.

      “It’s a ballet that needs a really strong technique,” I said. “That’s all.”

      Tiffany made a little grunting sound.

      “Not everybody could manage it,” I said.

      “You could,” said Caitlyn. “You’ve got a strong technique.”

      I said, “Yes, but technique’s not everything. I prefer parts where I can act as well as dance.”

      “Obviously runs in the family,” said Oliver. He staggered and clutched at himself. “That was some death scene!”

      Caitlyn pushed at him. “Stop it!”

      “Why?” Oliver grinned. “It’s a great piece of acting!”

      “I wish he’d dance Romeo,” said Caitlyn. “Why does he have to dance Mercutio? I’m sure he could dance Romeo, if he wanted.”

      “Well, but Romeo dies too,” I said.

      “Only right at the end. At least I could enjoy it up till then.”

      “Oh, you’re such a softie!” jeered Roz.

      Caitlyn hung her head. “I can’t help it. I don’t like sad things.”

      “Giselle’s sad,” I said. “You adore Giselle!”

      Roz cackled and said, “That’s cos it’s only Giselle that dies and not Sea— Oops!” She clapped a hand to her mouth. “Sorry! I mean Albrecht.”

      We stood back as Sean and Sergei left the studio. There was a time when I might have said something, even if it was just “Hi”. To Sean, I mean. Everyone knows he’s my brother, but some people – Tiffany, for instance, and Amber, who’s her best friend – seemed to think it was gross for a lowly dance student to address one of the company’s big stars without being invited, so I’d trained myself to be discreet and make like we were nothing to do with each other. I couldn’t help it if he winked at me as he came through the door. Or maybe it was at Caitlyn. She obviously thought it was, the way her cheeks slowly turned from blushing pink to bright red. I made a mental note to tell him he really must stop teasing her like that. How was she supposed to get over him if he kept encouraging her?

      Mr Leonardo had obviously arrived early as he was there waiting for us.

      “Well, that, of course, was Romeo and Juliet,” he said. “A brand-new production. You’ll no doubt be learning some of the dances this term so I would urge you all to go and see it as soon as you can. Now, just briefly, before we begin, I have a bit of news. You all know, of course, that at the end of term we have the big summer show where you’ll be put through your paces –”

      Showtime! The most important event of the year – the one we were all working towards. How you performed then could determine the whole of your future.

      “Just put it on the back burner for the moment,” said Mr Leonardo, “because in the meantime we have another event lined up. A rather exciting one. As I’m sure you’re aware, CBS is part of the Ballet Outreach programme, taking ballet into the community. Last term, some of you may remember, a group of our senior students went into one of the local schools, Cardinal Fisher, which went down so well that the school has now asked whether it would be possible for a few of their Year Eight pupils, the ones who expressed the most appreciation – which I’m happy to say included boys as well as girls – to actually visit us here. So! I think you’ll agree that’s excellent news. We’ve arranged that a small group, about twenty in all, will be coming to us later in the term, and your year have been chosen to be their hosts! Which, I may say, is a great honour. You will, in effect, be ambassadors for the ballet.”

      He paused, to let that sink in. We preened ourselves. Ambassadors!

      “So here’s the plan. I thought that to kick off we’d show them what a normal class is like – well, a sample of a normal class. Obviously not a full class, there wouldn’t be time. Let’s say about half an hour, and then I propose we demonstrate how we put our technique into practice. Mrs Elkins and I have sat down with Ms Hickman and we’ve come up with a list, which I have here –” he waved a sheet of paper at us – “of what you’ll all be dancing. They’ll only be very short pieces, no more than about five minutes each, and they’ll all be taken from the company’s standard repertoire, which means you’ll already be familiar with them since, of course, you’ll have spent the whole of your first year learning them!”

      My