Because I was beginning to get ideas about the Danceworks photo shoot.
While I was sussing out some lace, trying to decide if it was too yellow to be used, there was a knock on the costume room door, which I’d left open.
‘Hey Ash,’ said Riley. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Um. Just hanging with the costumes. Get it, hanging?’
Riley giggled. ‘Better luck next time.’
‘Must be all this dust clogging my funny veins,’ I said. ‘Well, actually …’ I paused, wondering if I should tell Riley the truth. She might be angry that I was getting a special deal. But then I knew I couldn’t lie. Riley was my best friend at Silver Shoes.
‘Miss Caroline said if I helped around Silver Shoes I could pay for part of my hip hop lessons that way,’ I said. ‘Because Mum and Dad don’t really have that extra money at the moment.’
I paused again, waiting to see what she’d say.
But Riley just shrugged. ‘Cool,’ she said. ‘That’s a smart idea.’ She peered around the corner of the door and made a face. ‘Looks like you got the bad end of the deal, though. What a mess!’ She pointed at an old scarecrow costume. ‘I remember that! That was for our Under 7s jazz eisteddfod – The Wizard of Oz. Paige was Dorothy and Jasmine was the wicked witch.’
‘Sounds about right,’ I said.
Riley laughed. ‘Jasmine really suited the part.’ She pointed at the little pile next to me. ‘What’s that?’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘I was thinking, if it’s okay with Miss Caroline, that I could use them for the Danceworks competition. I’m going to enter.’
‘Good!’ said Riley, sitting down next to me. ‘I hoped you would.’
‘You know how to enter you have to send in some modelling pictures of yourself and a page about why you love hip hop?’
‘Yeah,’ said Riley.
‘Well, I was thinking, because I don’t have any proper shots already, or, you know, like the latest hip hop clothes or whatever, that it might be cool if I sent in photos of me dressed up in costumes that show hip hop style throughout the years. Influences, stuff like that. I’ve been watching a lot of hip hop history on YouTube, so I’m collecting anything that I think might work for the photos.’
‘Ash, that’s an excellent idea!’ said Riley. ‘No one else will think of that. Can I help? With the photos? My dad’s got a really good camera I can ask to borrow.’
‘Yeah sure,’ I said. ‘I want to ask the other girls as well, but I know that Ellie wants to enter the comp too, so it might be a bit weird. And Paige will probably want to help her.’
‘You can only ask,’ Riley said. ‘But this will totally catch their eye. So exciting!’ She pushed me into the dusty, smelly pile of costumes. ‘Just remember me when you’re famous!’
‘Never,’ I said, pushing her back. ‘Who are you again?’
‘What!’ Riley laughed. She swung some mouldy velvet at me. ‘Maybe this will make you remember!’
And that’s how the costume room ended up looking worse than when I began.
Chapter Eight
The night before my first paying hip hop class, Brimax and Bridget took me to a fundraising hip hop gig that Brimax’s crew was putting on.
‘There’s a hip hop festival for kids in about a month,’ Brimax said. ‘My crew are organising it. Tonight is a sneak preview of all the good stuff to come – we’re having a battle showdown and the money raised will go towards the festival.’
At first Bridget turned her nose up and said it wasn’t suitable for me to watch, but then Brimax and I teamed up and won her over.
‘It’s in the name of research,’ I said. ‘Yeah, for Ash’s great hip hop career to come,’ added Brimax.
‘You two are as bad as each other,’ she said, but I could tell she was trying not to smile.
The fundraising battle was so cool. It was just like what I’d seen in some of my favourite dancing movies (which I watched without telling Mum because she didn’t think they were ‘appropriate’).
The showdown was in this community hall and there was a big space in the middle for the dancing. People were sitting around it or handing out flyers for the upcoming festival. The lights were all hazy and there was a remix of hip hop beats playing.
Brimax walked in, clapping people’s backs and being everyone’s best friend. Bridget stood off to one side, clinging onto my arm. She looked unimpressed.
While Brimax went off to warm up with his crew, Bridget and I sat on some blocks near the wall because Bridget didn’t want to be crushed by ‘smelly armpits and gold chains’.
It didn’t smell that bad. But Bridget’s fussy like that. She spends two hours getting ready every morning, maybe three if she knows she’s going to see Brimax. Besides, she was trying to fit in really bad, I could tell. Her ash-blonde hair was covered by a beanie and she was wearing jeans instead of one of her usual girly dresses.
The battle started. Brimax had managed to get about eight crews to take part. Some were huge and others only had three or four people. First, each crew performed their dance and then the crowd had to vote on which crews they wanted to battle. Whoever won would go on to the next round.
I was itching to get up and dance myself, but Bridget kept a stern eye on me. She only relaxed when Brimax danced. Then she went all melty and goggle-eyed.
I loved watching the girls; they were outnumbered a bit by the boys but they made up for it in attitude. A lot of them had these really outrageous hairstyles and some of the funkiest high tops I’ve ever seen.
The best thing about the costumes was that they weren’t just something a teacher had knocked together. They were expressions of each person. I liked that. I stored away some ideas for my hip hop shoot.
In the end, a crew called ‘Reggae Fusion’ got voted as the winners. Their style was dancehall, full of Jamaican flavour. The crew weren’t big on tricks but they were smooth and so in sync. Sometimes it looked like their bodies had no bones. Jay would have called them ‘tight’.
That night my body was buzzing and I could barely sleep, I was so excited about my hip hop class the next day.
Jay didn’t disappoint.
‘And we go pop, lock, hold it, glide, heel, toe, kick, walk-it-out, knee, drop, turn and hold,’ he shouted. My feet got so tangled it felt like the only flat I would be doing was on my face. ‘Body roll front,’ he shouted next. ‘And we go floor sweep right, floor sweep left.’
A floor sweep is where you kind of sweep the floor in a circular motion with your foot and then move backwards on the other one. It sounds easy, but then you have to put the groove into it. Every time I tried to do that, things got a bit unco.
Then we did this locking sequence that reminded me of Michael Jackson when he danced, all these movements with bent knees and small freezes for emphasis. Your arms and hands are in constant motion, like you’re trying to hit the beats as they come out of your feet.
It was HARD work. At times I got totally lost and had to stop, but I always picked it back up.
‘How you going, Ashy?’ asked Jay.
‘Loving it,’ I said. ‘My feet get a bit confused, though. All these moves I haven’t heard of before.’
‘You’re doing great for your second lesson,’ Jay said. ‘And you know what? You’re thinking too much about it, I bet. Just go with the beat. Enjoy.’
‘But I want to be good,’ I said.
‘You are,’ said Jay.
‘I want to be better,’ I said.
‘Now you sound like Ellie.’ Jay grinned.
‘I’m not wearing enough pink,’ I joked.
‘There!’ said Jay, pointing at my face. ‘That’s what I need to see more of. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know everything technical or the right name for the move. You’ve only had two lessons. You’ll pick it up. All you need to do is get the feel of the music. Listen to your body. If your arm goes left instead of right, who cares?’ He slung his baseball cap on my head. ‘Except, of cou
rse, if you’re in a competition. Then we get serious.’
‘Your cap stinks like sweaty hair,’ I said.
‘Well, you got the ’tude, all right.’ Jay laughed.
He let me keep his baseball cap until the end of the lesson. I don’t know if it was a good luck charm or what, but I did relax, and I stopped listening to him calling out the names of moves and turned my attention to the music instead.
Jazz class was on Wednesday, and although it was now my second favourite style, I was so excited to see Ellie, Riley and Paige, and to fill them in on this new style I couldn’t get out of my head.
We met up in the change room and were just sharing a big packet of jelly snakes (usually one of us will bring snakes every lesson), when we all heard a voice behind us.
Our worst nightmare.
Chapter Nine
‘This is your dressing room? Ugh. It looks like where someone would go to die.’
Indianna and Daisy! Spies from Dance Art. At our school! And even worse, Jasmine and Tove were trailing behind them. They’d actually let the enemy in!
‘What are they doing here?’ Riley said.
‘Oh,’ said Jasmine. ‘Hi.’
‘Bye,’ said Riley.
‘Not only is this school poor, it’s also unfriendly,’ sniffed Indianna. Her lips looked extra pouty today.
‘What are you doing here?’ asked Ellie again.
‘Jasmine’s mum ran us home from school,’ said Daisy. ‘We’re waiting to get picked up.’
‘Wait outside,’ said Riley.
‘We don’t want spies in here,’ added Ellie.
‘Too late,’ said Indianna, looking at me. ‘Oh, hi again, Ashley. Where’s your protector this time?’
‘Waiting with the hose,’ I said. ‘You look like you need cooling down again.’
‘As if we came in here to spy,’ said Daisy. ‘Like there’s anything to steal around here. It’s an old church.’
Silver Shoes is in an old church, but it isn’t as bad as Daisy suggests. It was a huge church to begin with, and it’s been renovated, with mirrors and new shiny wood.
It’s also divided into three different studios: two main ones in the church and a smaller one in the old hall out the back. There are lots of long corridors that seem to lead nowhere. Even though it’s kind of kiddie, Paige and I have often played hide-and-seek in the dark rooms and shadowy hallways.
‘Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to let them in, Jasmine,’ said Paige. ‘I’m not sure Miss Caroline would like it. We do go up against them at comps and stuff.’
Jasmine sighed. Out of all of us, she probably likes Paige the best. That’s because Paige is rich, and so is Jasmine. Their mums hate each other, though, which they both find embarrassing, so they have this uneasy truce.
But Jasmine had her minions today. Jasmine, Tove, Indianna and Daisy go to the same rich girls’ school. And so that meant bad news for Paige.
‘How’s your boyfriend, Paige?’ asked Jasmine. She twirled her long caramel ponytail and looked out slyly from the corner of her eyes.
Paige went beet-red. ‘What?’
‘Didn’t I see you dancing with some boy the other day?’
‘He isn’t her boyfriend, he’s her dance partner,’ said Ellie. The freckles across her nose were standing out; it always happens when she gets angry. ‘Duh. Some of us want to try new styles to better ourselves. Others are just happy with the same old stuff.’ She made a point of looking at all four of them. ‘Whether they’re good or not.’
‘Guess that’s why at the last comp I beat you,’ said Jasmine.
‘Where’s that grace dancers are meant to carry themselves with?’ I said.
‘What class are you all about to do, anyway?’ asked Indianna. ‘Jazz, just boring old jazz? Not all these new styles you’re trying to do? Hip hop?’ She blinked her long lashes at Ellie. ‘Musical theatre? Ballroom?’ This one was to Paige. Then she looked at Riley. ‘Whatever you do.’
‘State athletics team, long jump, triple jump, and two-hundred-metre champion,’ said Riley. ‘But you should know. Weren’t you at the inter-schools athletics carnival this year? You know, you were the team that dropped the baton in the relay? If I remember right.’
Indianna seemed shocked but then she looked at her minions and made a quick recovery. ‘Like I care about some relay,’ she said. ‘I go to Dance Art Academy. I’m going to be a famous dancer.’
‘Don’t see why you’re hanging around here then,’ said Riley.
‘I just thought that was normal,’ said Indianna. ‘I mean, look at Ashley. She started hanging around here. Why was that again? Oh. Because she couldn’t afford to stay at Dance Art.’
‘It’s none of your business why she did or didn’t leave,’ said Paige. ‘And we love having her here anyway.’
‘Why? Because she makes you all look good?’
‘Or because she thinks she’s going to be the new face of the Danceworks dance range?’ sniffed Jasmine.
Gosh. There are no secrets in dance school! Jasmine must have had her spies out to learn I was going to enter the competition. I hadn’t even told Ellie yet!
‘Why would they pick anyone like you?’ said Indianna. ‘They’re not going to choose some school-swapper. Or someone who can’t even dance.’
‘You’re very hung up on the fact that Ashley left Dance Art,’ said Riley. ‘Probably jealous. Why else would you be here now? I think you’re the spy, and you’re trying to find out what it is that makes Silver Shoes so much better than Dance Art.’
‘Ugh,’ said Daisy. ‘We’ve got better things to do.’
‘So have we,’ said Riley. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse us, I think we’ve breathed enough germs for one day.’ She shut the dressing room door in their faces.
‘I hope they’re gone when we go out to class,’ said Paige.
‘Jasmine’s gonna get in so much trouble from Miss Caroline for bringing them inside,’ said Ellie, gleefully.
‘It’s sad if they’ve got nothing better to do than to come in here and be all snotty,’ said Riley.
‘Are you really entering the Danceworks competition?’ Ellie asked me.
‘Yep,’ I said. ‘Sorry. I know you want to, as well.’ Ellie was quiet for a moment. It was like watching a volcano – would she erupt or just simmer along quietly? I felt like our friendship was hanging off what she’d say next.
‘Oh well, good luck, I guess,’ she finally said. But she didn’t look at me.
‘Well, Ash,’ said Riley, jumping in, ‘you’re lucky you did come to Silver Shoes. Imagine if you’d stayed at Dance Art. You’d turn out like them.’
‘Oh, the horror,’ I joked.
‘Have a snake,’ said Paige, holding out the packet. ‘You can pretend it’s Indianna and Daisy’s heads.’
I grabbed two and took a big bite. Snakes never tasted so good! But when I became the best hip hop dancer ever, and the face of the Danceworks Freestyle range, I knew it would taste even better.
Chapter Ten
All week I’d been watching hip hop videos on YouTube, to the point where Bridget got angry at me because she said I was using up all the download limit.
‘Sorry,’ I said, but when she was cooking dinner, I got Brimax to help me with a playlist of the ‘best hip hop songs ever’.
‘These are the must-haves,’ he said proudly, handing me the iPod. ‘And so begins your education.’
I turned the iPod on and jammed along to all my new songs while I was cleaning out the costume room at Silver Shoes. It was shaping up well, and I was getting a nice little pile of outfits for my shoot. On top of that, I couldn’t believe I was up to my third hip hop class already!
Jay made us stretch a lot. It wasn’t like jazz, though, where you spend a lot of time doing one stretch, and you switch cleanly from one to the other. Jay’s style was really fluid. It reminded me of yoga, which I’d seen Bridget doing in her bedroom (when she thought no one was watching).
‘’Cause we g
otta get limber,’ Jay said, as we did side lunges, bam, bam, bam, left to right with barely a pause. Then we did ten minutes just on abs. I was used to that, because we did a lot of core work in jazz, but my abs were grumbling at me by the end.
I looked over at Tove, and she pulled a face like she felt my pain. It made me laugh, which made my abs hurt more.
As soon as we got up to dance, my shoe decided to fall apart. The whole sole of my left Chucks began to peel away, and a big split appeared on the side. I tried to keep dancing with it, but Jay’s eyes were as sharp as his moves.
‘Lose the shoes, Ash,’ he said to me while the others were getting a drink. ‘You look like a seagull flapping about.’
Of course once the shoes were gone and I got over the embarrassment of being barefoot (no one noticed anyway), I found myself hitting everything that Jay showed us. I was getting familiar with my own hip hop style and the moves came out the way my body told them to, instead of me trying to mimic everyone else.
There was even partner work in the sequence that Jay taught us.
Guess who my partner was.
Guess.
Tove.
I thought she would drop me, because she had to catch my hands and help flip me over so I did a mini somersault in the air. Then we both did a front aerial.
It sounded scary but we practised on the mats first, and having someone else’s hands supporting me and holding me up meant it was unlikely I’d go splat on the floor.
Plus I’d done gymnastics for a few years when I was younger, so I was pretty good at tricks or anything acro.
Tove and I kept hitting it, over and over again, and eventually Tove was flipping me over so fast and we were doing our aerials in sync that Jay started hollering, ‘Look at Cirque du Soleil over here!’
You know what? I started to feel like Tove and I could be friends. I guess having someone stop you from face-planting into the floor makes you start liking them a bit.
Jay called us over after class. ‘Girls, girls!’ he said. ‘Killing it! Those flips! You come straight from the Olympics or what?’
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