Studio Showdown (7 page)

Everyone shuffled down the thickly carpeted steps and spilled out onto the stage, talking and chatting and pushing each other, excited for the show ahead.

The end-of-year performance.

After weeks and weeks of intense rehearsal, the big night had come, and here we were at the Grand Palace Theatre, ready to show our family and friends, and perhaps a few
talent scouts, what we'd been working towards all year.

Miss Caroline had just taken warm up out on the stage and given us a pre-show pep talk. Now we were supposed to head to our change rooms and start getting our make-up and costumes ready.

I waited, though, until everyone had disappeared through the dressing room doors.

Then I let myself just sit and appreciate the big, beautiful theatre I was in, with the seats circling all around me, and the shiny, scratched floor where thousands of dancers had stepped before, and the rounded ceiling that seemed to arc up to the heavens and house a million sparkling dust motes, which gave the theatre the old, comfortably musty smell.

I closed my eyes and I let myself feel happy and proud: that I'd made it through another year training at Silver Shoes, and for everything
I had achieved in exams, competitions, auditions and, most importantly, in standing up for myself and my own dancing dreams.

I let myself feel excited about the upcoming performance, and grateful that Ellie and I – with Miss Caroline's help, and a superb remix that Jay had made of our two songs – had managed to work as a team and choreograph our two ideas into a fabulous modern jazz, jiving, rock ‘n' roll extravaganza.

We had decided that the modern jazz dancers (Ellie) would come and crash the old-school Hollywood party that was going on (me), and the two groups of girls would then try to wow and win over the boys with their two styles of dance – the old versus the new. By the end, of course, they find that mixing their two styles creates a dynamic new one that everyone enjoys better than either of the original two. Perfect.

I sighed happily and opened my eyes, blinking as they adjusted to the murky light.

That's when I saw Benji sitting in the row of seats below.

‘Ooh!' I squealed, when I saw his eyes glinting at me in the dark. ‘Were you sitting there all along?'

He smiled and his teeth shone out at me too. ‘Yep. I guess we had the same idea, hey?' He swung around in his seat and stared out at the empty stage. ‘It's kinda beautiful, huh?'

‘Yeah,' I said. ‘It is.'

There was silence between us, but it wasn't awkward or anything. I actually felt like I could have sat there with him forever, in our own little world of dust motes and humming stage lights and the soft, lovely atmosphere that felt like I was holding my breath, waiting for something great.

‘Paige?' Benji said, still looking out at the stage.

‘Mmmhmm?' I felt almost sleepy, like the theatre was lulling me into a dream.

‘I think it's really cool, everything you've achieved this year. I'm kinda, you know, proud to be your dance partner. I wouldn't want to dance with any other girl but you.'

I smiled and hugged my arms into myself so all my happiness wouldn't spill out. ‘Thank you, Benji,' I said softly. ‘It's made me really happy learning ballroom with you. You make me feel super special, even when I'm falling over your feet or headbutting you when you try to spin me.'

Benji didn't look at me, but I saw the glint of his teeth in the dark as he smiled. ‘Also, Paige …' he said.

‘Yes?' My chest was rising up and down only the slightest bit.

Benji stood up. He moved towards me, his shape only a shadow. He stopped below me and knelt forward on the seat so we could see each other better.

Then, with a cheeky smile on his face – the same smile that had calmed all my nerves before a competition, or cheered me up when I was fighting with my friends, or when I'd been miserable because I couldn't get a ballroom hold right – he craned forward and kissed me, right on the lips!

‘That's all,' he said, and then he moved away down the aisle and off into the darkness of the seats.

It felt like my heart was about to fly right out of my chest! I started giggling, and once I started, I couldn't stop. I was still at it when Ellie, Riley and Ash poked their way through the dining tables and chairs in the dinner area.

‘Paige!' Riley called. She strained her eyes in my direction. ‘What are you doing, sitting there giggling to yourself?'

‘I have a good idea,' said Ash, jumping out onto the stage and wriggling around. ‘Oooooh, Benji!'

I covered my mouth with my hands but the giggles still hiccupped out.

‘It's the giggle of love,' Ash joked. She bounded up the steps towards me, leaping over the seats to crash tackle me in a hug.

‘Ashley!' I protested. ‘You'll get in trouble for climbing on the seats!'

‘You'll get in trouble for romancing Benji here in the dark,' she teased.

‘I wasn't romancing him!' I squeaked out. ‘He kissed me!'

‘WHAT?'

Ellie stopped in the middle of the stage where she was dancing around, no doubt
imagining her hordes and hordes of fans. ‘Benji did WHAT! Oh my gosh! Paige!' In an instant she was up the steps and she plonked herself down on the other side of me. ‘Paige, are you for real? That's
so
romantic! Tell me all about it!'

‘Oh great,' said Riley, rolling her eyes as she came up the steps too, although she was smiling. ‘I suppose I have to listen, too.' She curled up on the same seat Benji had knelt on to kiss me. ‘Come on, you little lip locker.'

I told them, of course, and we all giggled into our hands in the darkened theatre until Jay came looking for us, saying we needed to ‘hustle'.

It couldn't have gone more perfectly, really. The buzz from Benji's kiss followed me, and everyone else, right into the performance. Every single one of us showed the Grand Palace Theatre what Silver Shoes was all
about, and my face felt so full of happiness I'm surprised my smile didn't split it in half!

In my heart I knew I wasn't just dancing, I was celebrating everything I loved about dance and performing, and being a part of Silver Shoes, and getting to share something I loved with the people who meant most to me.

The night wore on, and I knew that soon it would all be over, and Silver Shoes would come to the end of another big, exciting year.

But the happiness dancing gave me would last for a very long time.

Fun facts about jive:

• The jive gained popularity in the United States in the 1940s. It was influenced by boogie, rock ‘n' roll, swing, jitterbug and the Lindy hop.
  
• The jive can take on many styles but they can be roughly grouped into three categories: 
  

Traditional jive
(like the Lindy hop, swing, rock ‘n' roll etc.) is the fast-paced, energetic dancing associated with the jive when it first hit dance halls 

Ballroom jive
is a more refined style, usually taught in the classroom 

Modern jive
is popular at local dance clubs, where it is known as ceroc, LeRoc or the French jive, and is much more freestyle 

• The jive has tended to change along with musical tastes throughout the decades (like from the big band style of dancing to the steady rock ‘n' roll beat), which is what has led to these three categories. But the basic structure and style remains the same.
  
• The basic look and feel of jive is tonnes of energy, with the legs seeming to be in a constant pumping motion, and a lot of rocking of the hips.
  
• Jive is one of the five international Latin dances in ballroom dancing. The others include the cha-cha-cha, samba, rumba and paso doble. The five standard ballroom styles are the waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, foxtrot and quickstep.
  
• Jive is the fastest of the Latin dances, and uses a lot of flicks and kicks; therefore, the woman does not move around the floor as much as in the other dances.
  
• Jive used to be called the ‘Jitterbug Jive' when it first got popular. The word ‘jitterbug' came from a well-known band who described the jive dance as looking like a heap of bugs in a frenzy (that's how energetic it was!). The word ‘jive' used to be a slang word, meaning people were just fooling around or exaggerating. You can see how this fun, over-the-top style of dancing then got the name ‘jive'.
  

Movies with jive dance

• Grease
  
• Hairspray
  
• Mad Hot Ballroom
  
• High School Musical 3
  
• Hellzapoppin'
  

Paige's favourite modern songs to jive to

• ‘Moves Like Jagger' – Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera 
  
• ‘Let's Get Loud' – Jennifer Lopez
  
• ‘The Edge of Glory' – Lady Gaga
  
• ‘Runaround Sue' – Dion
  
• ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love' – Queen
  
• ‘Candyman' – Christina Aguilera
  
• ‘Shake It Off' – Taylor Swift
  
• ‘Happy' – Pharrell Williams
  
• ‘The Boy Does Nothing' – Alesha Dixon
  
• ‘Great Balls of Fire' – Jerry Lee Lewis
  

Hello everyone!

It's Paige again. I'm so excited to share the jive with you – it's such a fun dance! Jive moves can be very hard to try to do (and explain!) if you're reading them off the page, because they involve so many turns and hold variations. That's why Fleur always shows Benji and me everything in our lessons. So I'm going to give you a list of basic jive terms, as well as a few you've read in my story, and the best thing to do would be to see if you can find some videos of them online (Ash says try YouTube). 

Jive involves a lot of turning in and out of, and under and around your partner. Don't be too worried if you get confused about the
direction, it's hard when you're learning! I got so dizzy when I first started! But always smile and hold your partner gently and be clear about who is leading and who is following. Hopefully you will find a partner as cute – I mean, as talented – as Benji. 

 

Terms:

• Arm Jive
  
• Basket
  
• Bowtie
  
• Comb & Sway
  
• Continuous Pretzel
  
• Half Nelson (hold)
  
• Hand Jive
  
• Hatchback
  
• Mooch Step
  
• New Yorker
  
• Octopus
  
• Pushspin
  
• Teapot Spin
  
• Windmill
  
• Wrap & Spin
  
• Yoyo
  

Samantha-Ellen Bound has been an actor, dancer, teacher, choreographer, author, bookseller, scriptwriter and many other things besides. She has published and won prizes for her short stories and scripts, but children's books are where her heart lies. Dancing is one of her most favourite things in the whole world. She splits her time between Tasmania, Melbourne, and living in her own head.